Pro Speed vs. Amateur Speed: What is your Yngwie Speed?

[GodOfRhythm]

For those who are truly interested in getting the left and right hand to work together, don't spend as much time on the exercises above...they're ok for single string runs, but how often do you play that way?

Exercises 51 to 54 are the best exercises in Stetina's book...IMO. Woodshed those for a few weeks and watch all your other guitar playing technique improve....then take those, and instead of using the minor pentatonic, use different shapes....and the major scale. Great stuff.

Not trying to endorse piracy here, but could you post those two exercices (51 and 54)?

[toejam]

I'm the opposite of delt and slayer, my picking is WAY better than my legato.

Same here. I'm in the Dan Spitz school of picking, where I pick just about every note.

[Trem]

No, technical exercises are not the same as music. Good technique is a prerequisite for playing music well, though. Claiming that it's a waste of time is like saying a football or hockey player is wasting their time running or working on their technical abilities in practice. That's just nonsense.

The key to all learning is repetition, whether you are learning math, guitar or shooting a puck. Exercises like those in Stetina's books let's you organize and focus your practice and give you many repetitions of particular aspects of playing.

i didn't say it was a complete wast of time.
i agree with all your points, and i also stand by what i said, for me,
once i stopped doing excersises, and started just playing, and practicing what i could not do well, is when i started progressing, for warmup i pick scales or do counter point ect,...not 1234432123413241 anymore.

[javert]

i didn't say it was a complete wast of time.
i agree with all your points, and i also stand by what i said, for me,
once i stopped doing excersises, and started just playing, and practicing what i could not do well, is when i started progressing, for warmup i pick scales or do counter point ect,...not 1234432123413241 anymore.

Trem, I agree that you often get to a point where you need to catch up musically, i.e., integrate your technique in your playing and it's not necessarily going to be easy. And I also agree that you should focus on your weaknesses--that's exactly why the exercises discussed above (51-55) are so great. Doing hours of boring exercises like 1234321.... also wears me down, so I tend to work on exercises for periods of time and then go back to learning new songs.

[javert]

Not trying to endorse piracy here, but could you post those two exercices (51 and 54)?

It's 51-55 (at least in my copy) and they consist of different cross-string picking patterns.

(51)
-15-12-------
-------15-12-

(52)
-12----------
----15-12-15-

(53)
-12-15-12----
----------15-

(54)
-15-12----12-
-------15----

(55)
----12-------
-15----15-12-

For each of these exercises you repeat the above ad naseam and then proceed to change strings. For example (51) that would be

-15-12-------------------------------------------------------
-------15-12-15-12-------------------------------------------
-------------------14-12-14-12-------------------------------
-------------------------------14-12-14-12-------------------
-------------------------------------------14-12-14-12-------
-------------------------------------------------------15-12-

And then the other way (from the 6th to the 1st string). You should use strict alternate picking for all of these starting with a downpick.

[GodOfRhythm]

Hey man! Thanks for those!

They look a lot like some exercises I had made for myself.

[javert]

Hey man! Thanks for those!

They look a lot like some exercises I had made for myself.

No problem. When I started doing these exercises, I discovered that there were certain picking patterns that I never used and couldn't play at all. I never thought about until then.

[Trem]

Well those are certainly usefull, that is what i was talking about, yeah, that's the kind of stuff i do, those are basically licks, or the building blocks of licks, so that's the stuff to practice.

[Frigo89]

I'm a slow-poke on the guitar

think Zakk Wylde minus a wah pedal, plus a floyd rose

I dont like Zakk Wylde though...(well, atleast not his gear, or his attempt at being a "badass")

[jwoods986]

I see Trem and javert's points. I used to do "exercises" to work on my technique, and it gets boring as hell! Nevermind the fact I didn't know 5 complete songs (knew plenty of riffs, solos, parts, etc. but not whole songs that I could jam to). I picked up playing again in '02 and worked more on playing songs (especially in '03/'04 when I joined a cover band) but my technique wasn't what it was before. I would try working on my exercises again but, again, they get boring after a while. A few months ago, I had the idea of using parts of songs to work on specific techniques (picking, legato, sweeping, tapping, etc.). So I wrote down the techniques I wanted to practice then listed songs for each area, i.e. the first half of the Tooth and Nail solo for tapping, On Fire solo for legato, interlude of Liar by Yngwie for sweeping, etc. Now, I do still do the 1234 4321 123 124, etc. stuff to warm up but then I'm working on these song bits which is working my technique but with some musical value. My $.02

[DocNrock]

+1 to jwoods above. I do the exercises to increase speed, but then break out into riffs that are more fun and seem to accomplish the same thing.

Good tremolo picking exercises: Somewhere in Time intro and the main riff of Phantom of the Opera.

[Trem]

I see Trem and javert's points. I used to do "exercises" to work on my technique, and it gets boring as hell! Nevermind the fact I didn't know 5 complete songs (knew plenty of riffs, solos, parts, etc. but not whole songs that I could jam to). I picked up playing again in '02 and worked more on playing songs (especially in '03/'04 when I joined a cover band) but my technique wasn't what it was before. I would try working on my exercises again but, again, they get boring after a while. A few months ago, I had the idea of using parts of songs to work on specific techniques (picking, legato, sweeping, tapping, etc.). So I wrote down the techniques I wanted to practice then listed songs for each area, i.e. the first half of the Tooth and Nail solo for tapping, On Fire solo for legato, interlude of Liar by Yngwie for sweeping, etc. Now, I do still do the 1234 4321 123 124, etc. stuff to warm up but then I'm working on these song bits which is working my technique but with some musical value. My $.02

same.
i just came back to guitar after 10 years, and honestly in 8 months, my picking is getting better than i think it was before, in some respects.
I don't know how to describe it, just more focus, i've always had a problem with some licks, where i could do them to a tempo that they sound the same but fast, but once you go past a certain speed, the lick wraps around itself, and it starts to sound different right? That's where i choke sometimes i can't envision what a few repetitions of notes will sound like once they cross that threshold, so, my playing has kinda devolved or evolved into, i don't do alot of repeating phrases, i more wander around the neck, and i'm sure i've listened to to much Zappa, and i think utter wankism is kinda cool
but i'm working on it, because it's eternally usefull, and it grabs the ears attention well.
What i've figured out, and in life in general, is, If you can see it in your head clearly, you know, envision something in your mind, then say to yourself, or your fingers whatever, Do it.
And just do it, there is no try only d.......um, oh yeah, yoda said this shit a long time ago.

[GryphonGuitar]

Back in the day when I practiced guitar for over six hours a day I could do 1280 notes per minute - that would translate to a BPM of about 300 for these exercises, but Jesus was it not worth it *lol*

I agree with the people here who have said that if You can't write something interesting, You shouldn't bother with speed. It's like typing. No novel was ever published based solely on the author's speed of typing.

It's also not just a question of how fast You can play - but how clean You can play. I'd rather recommend some exercises from petrucci's DVD for string skipping and picking, which is a lot more useful when in real situation. It's important to be "ambipickstrous"!

[petedz]

Eh.... this is like judging sexual performance in thrusts per minute.

[Ace]

I don't have speed mechanics for lead guitar, and I'm not doing any "excersices" but I clocked myself playing 8th notes at 300bpm last night. Not fan picking, single note patterns. Some chords, lots of changes and single note runs.