Help improving speed and accuracy

[Cliff]

my best advice is to pick up Troy Stetina's books. They're awesome. If you're mostly interested in technique, pick up Speed Mechanics.

Hey Javert - just wanted to say thanks for the recommendation. I've been working through this book for the last ten days or so, and I think it's awesome. It addresses many of the points you and others raised here. I've had to back off from where I thought I was at 80-115bpm, but I also feel like my ear and rhythm are getting better, and I'm definitely improving with practice. Bit more work than I'd hoped, of course...

[javert]

You're welcome! I used his books myself when I started playing again after a long hiatus. There's still some things in there that I know I should be working on

I wonder why he hasn't done a video version. Seems like the perfect time to do an update in a new media.

[BenoA]

Interesting thread!

I wonder why he hasn't done a video version. Seems like the perfect time to do an update in a new media.

May be it's coming...

[javert]

Cool, thanks for the link!

[Shawn Lutz]

do you know scales? do you know arpeggios? do you have a metronome? if you answered yes to all three you have your answer on how to improve accuracy and speed

Seriously just pick every possible sequence of notes, run through the scales/arpeggio/sequence and use an metronome, start slow and gradually increase the speed as you clarity and accuracy improves. Keep doing it. The key is to start out slower with accuracy, although it is boring don't jump ahead of yourself before you increase the BPM's until you accurate on a slower speed. key to all of this is practice. Although I don't woodshed anymore I did back when I was learning Yngwie stuff. I lose the speed if I stop playing for a week or so but rhythmically I seem to get sharper like DM sorta implied. I then break out the metronome and practice for an hour or so and the chops come back.

[rdamaral]

+1 on the Stetina books. Just got them and started reading them last weekend. Looks like he has a knack for simplifying things and helping you through them. I will actually start on the CD this weekend.

[clifffclaven]

Lots of good advice here. I teach 2 days a week, and have had countless students with the same problem. Ive found that most of the time, its pick mechanics--- angle of the pick and motion. From your vid, "imho" youve got waaay too much movement with your right hand.The motion isnt too bad, but you need to shorten up the pick stroke.

Also, what kind of pick are you using? Ive found jazz III XLs to be incredibly good for speed and accuracy.

[Cliff]

Thanks for the advice. Now that I'm working through the Stetina book, my pick strokes are indeed much shorter than on the video I posted. I'm using an orange tortex pick (was using a yellow ultrex, cause the name sounded cool, but I found it was leaving tiny bits of plastic all over the guitar).

[Cliff]

4) I spent a LONG time figuring out where to position my right hand and arm so I didn't have to re-position when playing from low E to high E and vice versa.

Could you elaborate on this? I'm realising now I also need to concentrate on this aspect, and I want to get it right before devoting too many hours learning a new bad habit.
Are you saying you more less keep your hand at a fixed position and just rotate at the wrist to get to different strings? I'd be worried that this might make it difficult to pick fast when the wrist is at rotated at the extremes. I've been trying to work by using my elbow and shoulder to move my hand across the strings, so the pick angle stays constant with the strings. In theory, a side benefit will be I'm picking closer to the neck on the top E and closer to the bridge at the bottom E, which is how I'd like the tone to be. This works fine at 80-100bpm or so, but I'm not sure how it's going to work out once I try and go faster. I'm also not sure if it's practical if I'm skipping between strings with only one or two notes on each.

(I remember YYZ - sounds very tricky!)

[Animus]

Best way to improve speed and accuracy? Do most your practicing on an acoustic guitar. I do and when I do get on electric it's like butter.

[BenoA]

OK guys, I have had that book for too many years. Never really spent much time as I never knew how to really use it.

So how do you proceed? Do you take a few pages and work on them until you get to a decent speed and then move to the next pages?

How have you got the best out of these exercices? Advice would be welcomed.

Thanks in advance.

[len]

damnit cliff just post more video's!!!

i need To see ImprovemenTS....

[Cliff]

I'm never going to be able to post another video again, am I?

BenoA - I'm still trying to figure out the best way myself. There are so many exercices, and some can be quite time consuming, that there doesn't seem time to do them all. Here's what I've been doing:
I've played all the left-hand exercices from the beginning a few times, then settled on a couple (mostly the very first, with the chromatic hammer-ons and pull-offs all the way up and down the fretboard and across the strings) to do regularly; the ones I think are going to give the best bang for the buck. The book says to take this slow, which I have done (30-40bpm), but then I listen to the CD and he's got first slow versions then a super-fast ones, though the text doesn't mention anything about trying to improve speed here.
I'm now concentrating on the right-hand part. I spend most of my time on the very first exercise here - just plucking the open strings and fretting one note out of very four. The advice he gives is to reach top speed, then drop down by 20bpm, then increase by 2, drop by 1, until you reach top speed again. I've been doing this for a couple of weeks now, and I've gone from 16th notes 60-80 to 150-170. Admittedly, it's a little flaky at 170, but up to 165 it feels good and solid to me.
I've moved on a little from there, and the next big exercise for me is playing chromatic runs across the strings then up and down the fretboard. I've reach 95-115 here, and find my left-hand is slowing me down. Not sure if this means I should go back to the first part but, as I say, that first part mentions nothing about improving left-hand speed. I hit a bit of a wall here over the weekend at around 100, but seemed yesterday to break through that. A very light touch on the fretboard seemed to be the trick here, but occasionally I find my fingers just falling over each other, particularly on the bottom E string for some reason - maybe 'cause it's the biggest stretch?
Finally, I've started a little on the next exercise which is playing two notes per string. I'm a little slower again here (topping out at 100 or so), but in this case I think it's my right-hand causing problems as I switch strings, hence my latest question (can't find any advice in the book about this).
So I'd say the progress I've made is well beyond what I'd hoped, though I've yet to get to the point where I can play what I was trying to play in the original video. I've been practicing a lot to get this far - at least two hours every day, and more at the weekends. And still lots of hard work to put in.

[RacerX]

I'm never going to be able to post another video again, am I?

At least all the pervs here would watch it all the way through!

[VitaminG]

Cliff, apply the same approach to increasing the speed of your left hand as you are for your right.

Speed Mechanics isn't intended as a regular instructional book. You don't get to the end of the book and win a prize. It is a toolbox of techniques to address deficiencies in your playing. So you don't have to work through the book from start to finish. The beginning sections of the book are about building a foundation. From there, use the different exercises to address specific problem areas in your technique.

He has written method books which you will work through and move on from. But Speed Mechanics is an ongoing resource to return to whenever you feel a need to sharpen your chops.