So for the last few weeks I've been practicing playing 16th notes in Am at the fifth fret, three notes per string, using strict alternate picking. At first, I felt like I was making progress, and was getting quite a buzz off it, mindless though it is. For the last couple of weeks at least, though, I feel like I've hit a wall. I get as fast 115bpm on a good day, and on a bad day I can't really do 80bpm consistently. If I play without a drumbeat, I'm sure sometimes I can go significantly faster. When this happens, there's a change of feel, almost as if my hands are flying across the fretboard. But I don't know how to do this consistently, or what's different between this and my more normal, stumbling playing. I was originally aiming to play Crazy Train, which, at 140bpm, seems impossible at the moment. I'd also like to join some old farts' band and do some gigs just for fun, but until I've nailed my basic technique I'd be too embarrassed to go and audition.
Here's a video showing my current progress on the scale practice. I played at each of these speeds (and some intermediate ones I didn't record) for 5-10 minutes each. I've just selected clips towards the end of each session without regard for quality, so they give a pretty good impression of my true ability:
I'd really appreciate any advice on how to focus my practice to improve this. I'm aware, as well as the timing issues, I need more control to prevent other strings from sounding while I'm playing. I'm not sure whether I should be practicing at a reasonably comfortable speed, and nail that, or I should be practicing at 115bpm or so, at what seems to be the limit of my ability. Not even sure if I've just hit some physical limit of my own. I think, but can't be sure, that I tend to go wrong on the change from 5th to 4th or 4th to 3rd string, which slows me down just a tad and sometimes causes me to introduce an extra beat. I'm not even sure whether the problem is with my right or left hand.
If anyone's been in a similar position and worked through this, I'd love to hear your input.
Thanks!
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