Help improving speed and accuracy

[Cliff]

Don't have the book to hand, but I think numbers 28-31 - the single string stuff, like Trem's been working on.

[BenoA]

Thx Cliff! More fun for the next practice session

[Cliff]

How you getting on?
I've worked my way up to 92bpm, taking it nice and slow. I'm working on #1, 25, 29-33, 35 and the mechanics 51-55. I'm trying to get comfortable with all of them at a given speed before I advance. 54 is for some reason the trickiest for me.

[BenoA]

Slow weekend my friend. Stuck around 140 bpm for #25 and haven't practice as much as I would

My only major bump lately was on the Mozart tune. I'm all excited about it. I also started working on another one from Mozart: Sonata in C. There is a few licks in that one that are good for 3 notes per scale work-out.

Good job Cliff on "taking it nice and slow". For some exercises, I've been doing the same as you.

[Cliff]

Keep at it! Sounds like learning to play a tune or two alongside the exercises is a good strategy.

[micha]

Now you got me to have a closer look at my long-time-lying-around copy of speed mechanics again as well.
Great thread!

I'm on my second day, so there's not to speak of any progress yet, but my picking arm feels really heavy right after.

I start out at 80 and stop when it's not clean anymore, do another whole set over all strings and move on.

So far I'm at 120Bpm for 25, 116Bpm for 26, 144Bpm for 27 and 72Bpm for 28.
For legato I chose number 7 which I'm somewhere at 138Bpm at the moment.

Not spectacular really, but if my arms feel tired right after it's gotta be good for something. right?

Surprising is I can't get past 144Bpm for 27 whereas my "Gilbert-Lick" (three notes per string, one note next string and down again) get's a solid 160Bpm without any special practise.
Well, you get good at what you do I guess...

But I'm in holidays for now, let's see what Stetina can do for me in a couple of weeks.

[Twitch]

So, Im pretty sure you guys have moved past this point, buuuuut, I made a quick video for you showing my warm up scale I use to get limbered up and improve my coordination. Its super simple. I do mess up, I was too worried about being in front of the camera (lol), and Im not use to playing slow. Im no guitar god, besides, watch Some Kind Of Monster and youll see the pros fuck up too, its nice to see that. Len, theres no titties. Theres some smart assery at the end.

The quick break down is, where Im playing it in the video, 5-7-9 on A, 5-7-9 on D, 5-7-9 on G. I make a step back to the 9th of each proceeding string after the first note of each string change. Coming back down is reverse order, 9-7-5 with no step back to the previous string. This can be played anywhere on the neck in the same pattern, try doing it around the 12th, its a different ball game, and good practice. The smart ass thing at the end, you guys are more than welcome to try it too, though Im not gonna explain it just yet, but its basically the same pattern, just faster and a different technique. Anyhow, here you go:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/emerson47201/5989515418/in/photostream

[BenoA]

Thanks Twitch! Doing great!

Found this on the Guitar World web site. For those who don't want to get Stetina's book, this page got similar exercises:

http://www.guitarworld.com/guitar-101-how-play-fast-part-1

Figure #2 is very similar to the exercise #25 that we've been chatting about in some previous posts.

[Cliff]

Yeah, thanks Twitch! And welcome aboard, Micha!
Benoa - I just checked out your 'Bored In A Hotel Room' piece on the page you linked - fantastic playing!
Last weekend I noticed my picking wrist beginning to feel numb and stiff. I played through it, but by Monday evening it was getting painful, so I gave it a rest until Friday. Instead I concentrated on some of the earlier left-hand exercises - 1, 6, 7, 8 and 14. These are at 100bpm now, although I struggle with #8 on the bottom E string.
Even though my wrist still felt numb on Friday, I decided to give it another go. I guess the good news is I haven't lost any speed. I got my right-hand exercises all up to 102 by today, though exercise 54 is still one I can only nail 50% of the time. I gave some extra concentration to this one, taking it from 80 to 105 or so. Also, I decided for the first time in a couple of weeks to see how fast I could go at 25. I got up to 130 nice and solid, but it was falling apart at 140. And that's when the wrist pain set in again .

[clifffclaven]

Cliff- DO NOT try to "play thru pain". Stop immediately. That can cause permanent damage. If you still have numbness/pain.... Go see your doctor.

[Cliff]

When I say 'pain', I mean 'twinges' really - I'm not in agony or anything. And I hate doctors . But yeah, thanks - advice heeded.

[BenoA]

Benoa - I just checked out your 'Bored In A Hotel Room' piece on the page you linked - fantastic playing!

Thanks for the good comments buddy! It's there as a "Boss Micro BR demo" more than to show off my playing... That tune is just a jam I had done with my "new-then" BC Rich Gunslinger Retro that I had got shipped to my hotel room.

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As for your pain in your wrist, is it more like a soar muscle pain? Make sure you strech properly before doing the guitar exercises?

For me, I've noticed some changes in the way I hold the pick now and also how I move my wrist.

[Cliff]

If it's just a jam, then very nice improvisation .
I don't think it's just muscle pain (I'm getting a little of that in my forearm from the picking mechanics exercises). I am trying to stretch my hands a little before playing now. Some pain seems to be at the base of my thumb, and I think this is because I get tense and hold the pick too tight when the going gets tough. I noticed myself doing this over the weekend even when I was just using my lefthand for legato work.
I've listened to Stetina's CD a couple more times now, and I'm finding it hard to imagine the techniques I'm working on being able to scale up to that sort of speed (like when he plays at 160bpm). The basic single-string picking and legato are okay, and I'm seeing good improvements, but with the mechanics I feel like I'm right at the limits of my ability. I feel like there's a trick missing in terms of being able to move from one string to the other quickly. He makes the point that you need very small motions to be able to pick quickly on a single string, but some of those mechanics involve two string changes in a single beat - how do you do that quickly?

[javert]

Cliff, #51-55 are aimed at training exactly that part (or maybe you know that). He calls it cross-string picking mechanics.

[Trem]

I checked out the 51 -55 examples.
These are the same kinda idea i posted back on the first page. I think they are probably a common bottleneck for any player getting their technique together. Never fear Cliff they can be hard. You'll probably be practicing them for a long time to come.
# 51 is a typical i call Zakk Wylde thing - millions of other guys have played the lick as well, but he does it all the time. In fact it's gotta be one of the most used licks in history. And i forever cannot do that one very well, and as it is fuck it cause it sounds like Zakk Wylde anyway, lol.
Nah but it's good to have the mechanic. All i can say is i've dabbled over it forever and actually now a days i can actually alternate pick it where before i would always just use pull offs. But what i see most guys do and others who teach that lick is they do a pull off on either the first string or second- one or the other. I've see that Andy James guy teach the same type thing and he does it with a pick and pull off and super fast it's hard to tell the difference. I figured hey that seems easier, but i can't do that for shit, lol.
I do better full alternate picking, and still not great.
Guess what i'm getting at is you can "cheat" some of that if you want to call it that - or if you find it easier and can still get the same effect, many do.
Also like i mentioned before sometimes if i come across something that seems so alien for my hand to contort to i'll try and come up with another way of playing the same thing like 3 notes per string or whatever if i can and it gets the same effect, but i still plug away at the foreign way here and there to eventually get it to sink in.