Help improving speed and accuracy

[leftykingv2]

When you're playing all of the stuff you're playing on the video you should have your picking hand anchored to the bridge Cliff. At least that's how I do it and teach my students as well. When I want to play fast and clean my hand always rests on the bridge. During Legato you should always keep your palm on the bridge. Very important to having a clean fast sound. Being fast is more about being clean sounding more than fast buddy. Remember that. Speed is an illusion created by the backing track a lot of times.

[RR2772]

Well I been thinking about doing a video for you Cliff. What kind of content? Some SM stuff like 33 and Flight. I am going to plan some more of the SM too. I am going to put Far beyond the sun. The bits I got so far. I am currently getting up to speed and I got the first couple of pages down.

I got the intro to Blackstar down but maybe the rest some other day. I like Yngwie but its like the first album and then its kind of the same to me. So never that big a fan.

Could you post Black star?

[BenoA]

Well I been thinking about doing a video for you Cliff. What kind of content? Some SM stuff like 33 and Flight. I am going to plan some more of the SM too. I am going to put Far beyond the sun. The bits I got so far. I am currently getting up to speed and I got the first couple of pages down.

Please do so. Would be appreciated.

[Cliff]

Yes, please do. 33 and Flight would definitely be good. It'd be cool to hear Far Beyond The Sun too. As far my Black Star, it's probably not ready for public consumption just yet .

[RR2772]

Right then. I will get into planing and a bit of practise here and there (did I just write that?). Far beyond is 12 pages and I am about to go to 5. As for Fight section A and B + part of C is down. I am going to learn the rest of C (not much) and see if I can remember the patterns. Playing at 132-138 bpm is not the problem. As for Blackstar I mean the clean intro is what I got down the classical bit.

What is the problem Cliff? You can't see yourself be able to play it or what?

[Cliff]

Yeah. I can play individual phrases, but they're pretty messy, and I haven't really got the timing down. It doesn't sound pretty at the moment . Looking forward to hearing your stuff though. For me, I still can't play cleanly at 130+ bpm.

[BenoA]

BTW, I just noticed that this thread is over 2 years old! Time flies!!! Today I was (for fun) tryin got play back the "Mozart's Rondo" I had posted in January 2012 and could not play it as quickly as I used to be... Back to practicing...

[RR2772]

Are you using a metronome or what?

I have done it so far with every single note so my fingers get used to it. Far beyond has a tempo of 160 bmp and I do try at that we will see and hear how it goes. However to break free from the 130+ bmp I played 26 and 35 a lot slowly pushing the bmp up. Maybe the ability came back from the '90s (the more heavy metal years) but I quite quickly got my left hand used to it. Something like 25 is 160+ for me. If I hear a part that is messy I find it is not up to the speed correctly. I then single out the problem even if its 1-2 notes and go against the metronome with the finger position I want to use in that phrase. So say sweep picking. I try against the 160 bmp to get my hands get used to it. After a while it sits with no problem and that is basically how I learn the phrases in order.

Keep in mind that I never had a practice rutine and used the metronome despite owning a working one and properly bought it with SM around '93 or '94.

At present I do have some amp trouble but I will be working on a video for you.

[Cliff]

Yep, more than two years... and I still suck! .

Yes, I use a metronome nearly all the time. I've tried pushing the bpm up but it never seems to stick. Next time I come to practice, I can't match the speed I reached previously, and more or less have to start over. I don't feel like I've gotten much faster at all. Maybe I can play a bit more cleanly at the sort of speeds that before I was struggling with.

(There's a little bit of my attempt at Black Star in my new amp post here: http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/140...D-Blackstar-1W ) Right at the very end of the video clip.

[RR2772]

It sounds like the stuff you can do sits and then it goes into non sitting territory which makes the whole sound like it does. The major point is that I could hear the Black star bits and not that bad.

After 2 years it sounds like your mind is holding you back. Do you expect your speed to go down? Do you think get better or worse? Or in between which it seems like. I still suck does not really help here. That is yourself image at play. There is the limit. Really you must expect and believe in the idea that you will master Blackstar for instance for whatever it will cost. You got a recording of it right? You got the sound and mental picture, hold on to that and you will get there. This is about getting the results and if you have the time find you were born rich on youtube. Fear, doubt, worry etc. Do not listen to your surroundings they allready put the negative belief in you.

Anyway I have finally have made a cassette copy of the original vinyl (yes sounds better than lousy mp3s any day)of Malmsteens first record. I am a bit behind in speed but now I can hear it at least (where it should be to sound right not imposible!) and the parts are growing slowly.

[Cliff]

That sounds really cool - good luck with it.

As for me, well, if I look in my heart of heart's, I don't really believe I'll be able to play a Malmsteen track at full speed and cleanly. But, reading what you just posted, I've gone away and spent a good while practicing each of the difficult phrases with a metronome and really drilling them in. Sounding better. So thanks for the encouragement!

[RR2772]

I thought so. If you find it difficult find it a challenge and be the master even if it means to correct one simple note wrong that makes the mess. Also listen to Blackstar untill its in your subconscious mind. You have your conscious mind which can accept and reject what ever you think of. After sometime the results go into the sub conscious mind which only accepts so when you say can't not guess what you can't. To reverse this believe you and expect it. That's it period! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mOXzkLyQko is from Yngwie and you can understand where he came from.

[Cliff]

Thanks for the link - very cool stuff. I really like the fact that Yngwie has no false modesty. Always interesting to hear him speak.
What you're describing about the sub-conscious and so on sounds a little bit like the wizard of shred:

http://www.thewizardofshred.com/

I think in the past I've been too impatient to increase speed without having something down cleanly (probably not the first time I've typed this sentiment in this thread). At any rate, I'm going to keep on trying.

[RR2772]

That is what I get from the you were born rich videos on youtube which is really about getting to who you want to be.

My mindset is that whatever I want to learn I just got to drill it down to a certain level. If you put a lot in you get a lot out. If you put a little in you get a little in.

So when it comes to a Metalica style riff which today is second nature to get into there is not a lot of hardwork to do other than keeping down stroke rhytm playing in form.

Then I was playing Jimi Hendrix in a power trio and I knew the songs the most but not 100% like it sounds on the records. It was mostly jams and improvisings within the structures of the songs which was what Jimi did anyway.

With Yngwie and SM for that matter the drilling is the challenge and mine currently is working on getting up to speed since I have the recording fresh in my mind. So it is not I suck it is what do I do now in order to get it down? The answer seems to be practise 26 SM form 138 bpm and up + the Far beyond phrases until I am there.

If you jump from one thing to the other without getting anything down then you must just get down to only 1 thing at the time to learn and master. Then only play what you know. I can get away with improvising as I have nearly always done it and I can be quite comfortable with it but I still need to grow as a player. That could be music or mechanics. Yngwie or SM.

Your past results are in the past and you should leave them behind to an extent.

[RR2772]

I hope it is usefull enough. I have to practise standing up if I am going to master Yngwie songs/licks on my Strat. However I do improve every time slowly that I do it.

For me it is to polish the nuances which are making sure the picking, hammerons, pull offs and slides goes smothly and the working against the bpm while pushing the tempo 160 (Far beyond tempo)as shown shortly in the video helps me get it. I will be adding vibrato later as I do not use the vibrato system much at all but my strat stays in tune with the 10-46 Fender bullit strings and other bits of the general setup of it.

Lastly I can't recall when I last put so much time into learning anything. I play now and then but never something new as a challenge. This is my first video and I will do more and better next time! Enjoy!