Guitar Speed - Developing Speed & Accuracy Part. II

This is the last installment of Developing Speed & Accuracy. In this part, we're going to learn more tricky exercises. Don't forget to use the metronome and use the method I've mention in the last post. If you haven't read the part I, click here to read.

D = Downstroke
U = Upstroke
/ = Slide Up
\ = Slide Down
h = Hammer On
p = Pull Off

Exercise #1

D U D U
|-------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------|
|--------7-------------7-------------7------------|
|-7-8-10---10-8-7-8-10---10-8-7-8-10---10-8-7-etc-|
|-------------------------------------------------|
*Just repeat the note above again & again

Here's another exercise .....

Exercise #2

D U D U etc...
|--------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------10----|
|--------------------------------10----10-12-------|
|--------------------10----10-12----12-------------|
|------8----8-10/12----12--------------------------|
|-8-10---10----------------------------------------|

|----------10----13/15-13----13--------------------|
|----10-13----13-----------15----15-13-15----13----|
|-12--------------------------------------14----14-|
|--------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------|

|-----------------||
|-----------------||
|-12-14-12\10-----||
|--------------12-||
|-----------------||
|-----------------||

And now this...

Exercise #3

D U D U etc...
|---------------------------------10-13/15-13-----|
|---------------------------10-13--------------15-|
|---------------------10-12-----------------------|
|---------------10-12-----------------------------|
|------8-10/12------------------------------------|
|-8-10--------------------------------------------|


|--------------------------------||
|-13-----------------------------||
|----14-12\10--------------------||
|--------------12-10-------------||
|--------------------12-10\8-----||
|-----------------------------10-||

The next exercise will uses hammer on & pull off a lot....

Exercise #3

D       D         D U       D
|---------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|
|-----------------------------4h5h|
|---------2h3h5p3p2---2h3h5h7-----|
|-0h2h3h5-----------5-------------|

  D       D         D
|--------------------------------|
|--------------------------------|
|--------------4h5h7p5p4---4h5h7h|
|7p5p4---4h5h7-----------7-------|
|------7-------------------------|
|--------------------------------|


S S S S
|--------||
|--------||
|9p7p5p4-||
|--------||
|--------||
|--------||

You can use a lot of Palm Mute technique for the exersices 1 & 2. Do it with & without palm mute and so on..

I've already mastered all the exercises above. So, what's next?

Try to learn Sweep Picking and arpeggios. Sweep Picking is a technique used by Yngwie Malmsteen, Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai, John Petrucci and the new modern guitarist, Synyster Gates from Avenged Sevenfold. Here some sweep picking lessons :
Guide to Sweep Picking
Playing Arpeggios Fast. Part 1
Playing Arpeggios Fast. Part 2
Playing Arpeggios Fast. Part 3

Other recommendation for learning is to watch Intense Rock Video by Paul Gilbert. This video cover lots of exercises & techniques for faster fingers. Click here to get it now!

Learn from Your Favorite's Songs

This is one of many ways to learn guitar. If you already knows about chords, scales, technique, warm-up exercise, etc. Now it's the time to play your favorite's songs. Why? To give you an influence, to practice solo, to train your ears, to practice chord progression & chord movement, strumming, picking, your guitar technique, etc. After you practice your technique or speed picking, you might get bored. Why don't just pick a song for learning.

Choose the song based on your skill level. If you just learn guitar, choose the song that is easy to play. Once you've succeed increased your skill, try to play the harder songs.

Find the tune by your ears

How need to fine the tune first before you can play any song on your guitar. You can use your ears. Make sure your guitar is in-tune. Try to find the chord progression first. Divide the song part by part. Start with the intro and then the verse. Continue to the chorus, bridge, etc.

I know it is hard at first, you have no idea where to start. Play the song on your stereo, pc or ipod. Repeat it until you familiar with the song and then try to find the chord proggresion of the song. After that, try to find the guitar fill, variations, and the solo (if any).

There's a lot great articles about ear training. I recommend you to read one of these articles.
Ear Training @ Cyberfret
Ear Training @ GuitarNoise
Ear Training Exercise @ Wholenote
Ear Trainer Online (quicktime plugins required)

Solve the song using tabs

Another way to solve the song is using guitar tabs. But you have to know how to read the tabs. There's a lot of guitar scattered around the internet. Just 'Google' it. But still, even you can use the tabs, it doesn't mean that you don't have to train your ear. You still have to train your ear. It will give the sense of musicality. Btw, you can find how to read the tabs here.

There's a great guitar tabs sofware. It's Guitar Pro. It's not just act as tablature editor but it have audio playback, midi/ascii export import, guitar fretboard, scales tools, digital tuner, speed trainer, metronome, etc. Also you can use it for drum tabs or bass tabs and any other instruments. You can try it here.

There's also another software for guitar tabs. It is Power Tab. Power Tab is good guitar tabs software too. It doesn't have feature as much as Guitar Pro. But it still a good software. You can download it from here.

For Guitar Pro and Power Tab files, you can find it at ultimate-guitar.com or just 'google' it.

P.S : You can import Power Tab Files into Guitar Pro

Wanna Play Guitar Solo?

Wanna Play Guitar Solo?

If you say yes, read on! Maybe you've learn about chords like C, D, E, F, you named it. And then you listen to some songs from Mr. Big or Metallica or your favorite bands. You can guess or play the chord progression from their songs. But when it comes to solo, you have no idea on how to play it. So, in this post I will explain some basic soloing. Hope it useful.

The first step to learn solo is to learn scales. What is Scale? Scale is basiclly playing a bunch of notes from low to high or high to low in a good sounding order. There's a lot of scales, such as Major Scales, Minor Scales, Pentatonic Scales, etc.

A Scale is constructed by lots of notes and each scales has it own root. Root is like a starting note. I'm gonna give you some example. Below is C Major scale :

r = root

C Major Scale 1st Position

   r
|------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------|
|------------2-4-5-------------------------------|
|------2-3-5-------------------------------------|
|--3-5-------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------|

You see the example above start in C (5th String, 3rd fret). C Major scale construct by C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. Try to find all these notes on your guitar and you'll get C Major scale on every position with C as the root.

So, if a song use C Major as the key, it means the solo construct by C Major scale.

So how do I find A Major Scale? What is Minor Scales?

There's a lot of great articles about scales on the internet. Here some :
Scales @ Cyberfret
Scales @ Ultimate-Guitar

Don't forget to read about Modes because modes is scale's best friends. Here you go :
Modes of the Major Scales
Understanding Modes And How To Apply Them

And here are scales library :
Gui Tools
Online Scales Library

Once you learn about basic soloing, you can learn guitar techniques and apply it to your solo. This is why guitar players like Steve Vai and Joe Satriani always have great solo on their songs.
I've made a post about guitar technique basics here.

Also, you can increase your finger speed & accuracy. This is what Paul Gilbert, John Petrucci, Al Di Meola or Yngwie Malmsteen do. You learn it here.

You can combine both tehniques and speed to your solo and develop your own style. But, the most important thing is that you have to use your heart when you play solo. Set the mood for each solo that you play. If the song is sad then you have to feel the sadness. This is what makes you the next great guitar player.

Wanna Play Guitar Solo?

Guitar Speed - Developing Speed & Accuracy Part. I

Guitar Speed - Developing Speed & Accuracy Part. I

Do you want to become a guitar shredder like John Petrucci or Paul Gilbert? Here's how.

First, make sure that you already know about altenate picking. If you don't, click here. Now, let's assuming that already learn alternate picking. There's still one requirement for you to fulfill. You'll need a metronome. Don't know what metronome is or how to use it? Here a good article about metronome. You don't have to buy metronome from your local music store. Just download YMetronome or GuiTools. Or you can use an online metronome at http://www.metronomeonline.com.

Be sure to warm up before you start this lessons. Click here for warm up lesson.

Ok, shall we begin? Set you're metronome at 40 bpm. We're gonna do it slowly at first. Why? 'Cause you have to pick it right. D-U-D-U continously not D-D-U-U or U-U-D-D. And to make sure that the note you hit have good sounding and clean. Don't pick or touch the note you shouldn't hit or pick.

Now try this exercise.

U = Upstroke
D = Downstroke

Exercise #1

D U D U
|-0--0--0--0--1--1--1--1--2--2--2--2--3--3--3--3-|
|------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------|
*Repeat till 12

Repeat it until you feel comfortable and increase your metronome speed by 10 bpm. Until your metronome speed reach 180 bpm or until it reach your target speed. If you feel uncomfortable at some speed, let say you made it on 140 bpm but you feel pain when you play at 150 bpm. Just decrease the speed to previous speed and play it again until you feel more comfortable and than increase your speed. Apply this method to all guitar speed exercises.

Exercise #2a

D U D U
|-----------------------------------------1-2-3-4-|
|---------------------------------1-2-3-4---------|
|-------------------------1-2-3-4-----------------|
|-----------------1-2-3-4-------------------------|
|---------1-2-3-4---------------------------------|
|-1-2-3-4-----------------------------------------|
*Once you reach the 1st string, play it reverse. So,
play it 4-3-2-1 instead of 1-2-3-4 andplay it for 1st
string to 6th string.

Exercise #2b

D U D U
|-----------------------------------------1-3-2-4-|
|---------------------------------1-3-2-4---------|
|-------------------------1-3-2-4-----------------|
|-----------------1-3-2-4-------------------------|
|---------1-3-2-4---------------------------------|
|-1-3-2-4-----------------------------------------|
*To give it more variation, you can play 1-3-2-4 and
then change it to 1-4-2-3 or 1-4-3-2. Use your imagination.
You don't have to always start at the 1st fret but try to
start at 5th fret like 5-6-7-8 or 5-7-6-8. Even you can
start at 12th fret like 12-13-14-15, etc.

Exercise #2c

D U D U
|-------------------------4-3-2-1-----------------|
|-----------------1-2-3-4-------------------------|
|--------------------------------4-3-2-1----------|
|---------1-2-3-4---------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------4-3-2-1--|
|-1-3-2-4-----------------------------------------|
*This is just another variation for your practice. You can
use string skipping and also you can develop your own
variation. Use the method I've mention after exercise
#2b for guidance.

Don't forget to gradually increase the metronome until you reach your target speed (180 or 200 bpm is enough; 240 bpm is great).

You didn't feel bored, did you? This is actually a boring exercise but really useful. All the exercises here will make your both hands able to play a fast solo. Try to learn & play song from Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big) or Yngwie Malmsteen after you mastering this lesson. So, practice all the exercises everyday. At least 30 minutes a day. Even if you get bored!

Here another Exercise.

Exercise #3a

D  U  D  U  D etc.
|-------------------------------1-2-3-|
|-------------------------1-2-3-------|
|-------------------1-2-3-------------|
|-------------1-2-3-------------------|
|-------1-2-3-------------------------|
|-1-2-3-------------------------------|

|-4-3-2----------------------------------||
|-------4-3-2----------------------------||
|-------------4-3-2----------------------||
|-------------------4-3-2----------------||
|-------------------------4-3-2----------||
|-------------------------------4-3-2-etc||
*Play it 'till 12

Exercise #3b

D  U  D  U  D etc.
|----------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------12-13-14-12-13-14-|
|----------11-12-13-11-12-13-------------------|
|-10-11-12-------------------------------------|

|-------------------------------------15-16-17-||
|-------------------14-15-16-14-15-16----------||
|-13-14-15-13-14-15----------------------------||
|----------------------------------------------||
|----------------------------------------------||
|----------------------------------------------||

Exercise #3c
\ = Slide Down
/ = Slide Up

|-------------------------------|
|-------------------------5-7-8-|
|-------------------4-5-7-------|
|-------------4-5-7-------------|
|-------3-5-7-------------------|
|-3-5-7-------------------------|

|5-7-5--------------------------------||
|------8-7----------------------------||
|----------9-7-5\4--------------------||
|------------------7-5----------------||
|----------------------9-7-5\3--------||
|------------------------------7-5-3--||

Well, sometimes you maybe frustrated 'cause this practice takes a lot times. It takes months or years. But hey, you can't be a master shredder in just one night or weeks. Steve Vai said that he practice 12 hours a day. And it takes a life time for him to be what he is now. So, don't give up.

Note: If feel that your hands are tired or hurt. Just take a rest until you don't feel any pain on your hands. Don't force it or get yourself hurt!

Okay, this is the end of part I. There's still more exercises and techniques to develop your speed & accuracy. I will cover it on part II later. But if want it right now, just watch John Petrucci : Rock Discipline. This is really a great video. You will learn a lot from this video. Not just how to develop speed & accuracy but you will learn about scale fragment, arpeggios, sweep picking, legato, chordal techniques, etc.

All the lessons are clearly defined and easy to understand. Click here to get it Now!

Guitar Speed - Developing Speed & Accuracy Part. I

Guitar Technique Basics

Guitar Technique Basics

Here are some basics of guitar technique that you should learn right away. All these technique are required before you move further to learn some advance technique. Once you mastering all these technique, you will have a good foundation to learn more advance and tricky technique. So, here we are :

Alternate Picking
Alternate picking is a guitar playing technique, used only by pick users, that employs strictly alternating downward and upward picking strokes in a continuous run, and is the most common method of plectrum playing.

Palm Mute
This is one of many basic techniques that will make you rocks. Often used by hard rock, heavy metal, and particularly thrash, speed and death metal guitarist.

Palm mutes are executed by placing the side of the picking hand below the little finger across all of the strings very close to the bridge and then plucking the strings with the fingers while the damping is in effect. This produces a muted sound. The name is a slight misnomer, as the muting is usually performed by the side or heel of the hand.

String Bending
This is one of the most basic and widely used techniques of the modern guitarist today. It is usually achieved by playing a string, then pushing the string up with the fingers to create a pitch change. Keep in mind that you should be pushing mainly your wrist upwards to achieve the pitch change, and that putting your unfretted fingers behind the finger used to bend can give you more strength in your bend, and therefore, more accuracy.

Click here for advanced String Bending Technique.

Finger Vibrato
Finger vibrato is vibrato produced on a guitar by cyclic hand movements. Despite the name, normally the entire hand moves, and sometimes the entire upper arm.

Hammer On & Pull Off
Hammer-ons and pull-offs (hopo) are also known as slurs. They help to create a smoother sound between notes. This is the most important guitar technique you must learn. This technique used by every guitarist that exist in the whole world.

Click here for more hopo lesson.

I guess all the techniques I mention above for sharpening your guitar skill. In the next post, I will cover more of guitar techniques. Don't miss it!

Guitar Technique Basics