Increasing Speed

[Marlinark]

I have been downloading songs that are unbelievably fast, such as dragon force.

How do they play so fast?
Can i get any tips to increasing speed?

[bcdon]

I have been downloading songs that are unbelievably fast, such as dragon force.

How do they play so fast?
Can i get any tips to increasing speed?
I just saw a good quote regarding speed in the latest Guitar World (Jan 2010)


...Measure your improvement of tone quality and control, rather than
speed. Aim for a feeling of machine-like accuracy before applying speed.
Speed is the by-product of good inner timing, which comes from regular practice.
--Martin Goulding (p97 comment on "overlapping double hammer-ons").

[marnold]

Practice with a metronome a lot. Speed will come with time. If you can't play it slowly, you can't play it quickly either. The Net is littered with helps on improving speed. I'd suggest looking into Michael Angelo Batio's "Speed Kills" series of DVDs.

[just strum]

Practice with a metronome a lot. Speed will come with time. If you can't play it slowly, you can't play it quickly either. The Net is littered with helps on improving speed. I'd suggest looking into Michael Angelo Batio's "Speed Kills" series of DVDs.

I would have thought you would have said - "the pointier the guitar, the faster you can play." Maybe it's another myth.

[marnold]

I would have thought you would have said - "the pointier the guitar, the faster you can play." Maybe it's another myth.
Sadly, pointiness will not improve speed. You will, however, look faster.

[sunvalleylaw]

Sadly, pointiness will not improve speed. You will, however, look faster.

Especially if you wear lycra! :thwap :help

There was an article in this month's acoustic guitar on the subject with a progression of exercises, etc. Yep, metronome work. No shortcuts there but seemed a good approach.

[Geoffrey Charles]

A metranome and lots of practice picking note for note clean.

[Soulstress]

interesting. I was just wondering about this. good to know. gotta focus on accuracy.

[Plank_Spanker]

The guitar world is littered with "players" whose sole emphasis is speed - over anything else. It's more like an athletic competition than playing.

Picking very fast will get you nowhere very fast if you're not accurate. Make accuracy your first priority........the speed will come with practice.