How you built up your speed

sanitarium · #1 09-02-2003, 06:54 PM

I was just wondering how you guys and girls built up your confidence with speed? I've only been playing guitar 3 years (bass 5) and wouldn't consider myself a shred god but I would consider my self a bit of a shred head.
I found that the best way was to pile a ton of distortion on to mask major mistakes when I first started, as I got more confident I eased of the gain and found that I could play really fast with out any distortion at all. Also lowering strings has a big effect, I didn't realise it could make such I big differance.

Artist · #2 09-02-2003, 09:35 PM

the 10 hour workout combined with the alternate picking patterns from the rob balducci link above. Also learning pieces that I like.
The 10 hour workout does wonders even if you dont do it for 10 hours. I just took the concept of playing anything awkward.
Also found playing with my left hand upsidedown (above the neck angelo style) helps my finger strength a bit.

p.s what part of south east england you from?

Swirly · #3 09-02-2003, 09:47 PM

Btw, artist. Do you play the ten hour workout regulaly? I found about 8 hours a day is a lot ( id play longer but i dont feel its good for your health sitting down and doing the same thing all day)

Im going back to school in 1 day so im gonna have to reduce my workout to only about 4 hours a night :/

Im not fast. And dont think i will be a for a while but the tuff i practice is basically repeating patterns. A lot of stuf like 4 5 7 on any two strings, over and over again. This kinda stuff for me is good as once i can play that fast i use that for longer runs, rathr than trying to play them first.

I also find 3 nps stuff like 3 octave runs are great as its just one patter played 3 times and you can really come up with some cool veriations with them as well, ie replacing picking with legato , do some tapping to sound the first note etc

Basically i play stuff thats very short yet repeating, and try to gain maximum speed and cleanliness, i often dont play with distortion so that i can get it really clean, takes longer but hey im sure the results are better.

sanitarium · #4 09-03-2003, 09:23 AM

Herts area, near watford. So by playing hard stuff it built your confidence in speed up? It kinda worked the other way for me, master the easy bits so you feel good about it then go on the next bit.

Artist · #5 09-03-2003, 09:45 AM

nah i dont do the whole ten hours. but the stuff in the ten hour workout is great.

I'm also back to college tommorow and going to cut down....... on sleep :P

I haven't played in a few days now, slight pain in my right arm. Pain = stop for me.

Swirly · #6 09-03-2003, 09:54 AM

lol.Yeah for the past few days ive been playing since 12 till about 2 am in the morning so ive been having real bad pains in my hands and arms, had to stop a bit :/

baileyk85 · #7 09-03-2003, 11:28 AM

I'm actually very having with my picking speed at the moment. I used to favour legato as the do all and end all for speedy playing but now I prefer straight picking.

I do scale exercises. Concentrating on Pentonic right now because I find picking two notes per string at higher speeds quite hard.

And then it's just fiddling with the guitar and making up random stuff. I'm not much of an exercise loving person. I find it hard to sit and play stuff from paper when I can just make something up.

Artist · #8 09-03-2003, 12:45 PM

I like playing other peoples music thats technically challenging and awkward. Gives the strength of an excersize with the practical use of real music.
Take a few of Petruccis riffs.

weserman · #9 09-03-2003, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Artist

I like playing other peoples music thats technically challenging and awkward. Gives the strength of an excersize with the practical use of real music.
Take a few of Petruccis riffs.

exactly what i am doing. learn some dream theater, even the rhythm parts can be hard. Has anyone tried keeping up with all 13 mins of the Glass Prison?

On the original question, i built what (little) picking speed i have by the tried and tested method of the metronome. I've also only been practising picking excersises and the like for around the last 5 months, so there has not been a great deal of progress compared to some. Before that i was learing legato in order to learn satch songs.

Another question, the people who have replied to this thread are all British it seems, and fairly young if i remember. I'm curious to know what kind of speeds you guys are up to? I just wondered as when i was 15/16 i was no where near any of the alternate picking, sweep stuff, it was all chords for me.

Artist · #10 09-04-2003, 11:56 AM

I'm veering on easyish satch stuff. I've just about nailed mountain song tho it needs a little work.

Swirly you should come to jemfest, a group of us fairly young british guys are gonna go (like anton + people he knows)

Anton · #11 09-04-2003, 12:19 PM

Yeah he should come , me and swirly are very good mates , known eachother for ages , but he cant come this yr

, maybe next year ey sam ? , mountain song is awesome , got some tricky runs in it

Artist · #12 09-04-2003, 12:46 PM

sure does, i've just about got em down, just getting it imprinted in my memory.
I learnt it for my a2 performance exam, coming up in march. Tunes I'm doing :
Mountain song
always with me always with you
midnight
starry night

Infinite · #13 09-04-2003, 03:21 PM

I just play through loads of satch songs, that speeds things up a lot

Anton · #14 09-04-2003, 04:06 PM

dude, ive just started music and musc tech at AS level , how did you do at AS ? , my mate who totally owns me at guitar got a D , so im abit worried im gunna end up doing sh*t

Artist · #15 09-04-2003, 06:54 PM

It's not all about performance.

I got a B, but three marks off an A.

A performance
A composition
C theory <- fine and historical and anaylitical studies <- ouch

What board is your AS on? if its OCR I can help you out.

for performance, I got an A doing Led Zeppelin-Bron-Yr-Aur, Muse-New Born as my solo performances (no vocals on muse) , Incubus (yuck, but i was playing it for my friends performance anyway) anti gravity song (for group performance). So it's not hard. (just make sure you play everything perfectly, not half assed)

composition throw in everything you know, its marked by your teachers so just show off.
Make something you like, you should (must) include modulation(s) and 4+ instruments is a requirement. Remember you can have 2 of the same instruments as longa s they play different parts (e.g. two guitars, with different parts).
We were recommended to stay away from vocals as you don't get as many marks for them as instruments.
You have to write a commentary for it aswell so you can say anything that you have done in it. Throw in everything, circle of fifths, pitch axis, harmonising. All the **** you want.

For the harmony work it's simple once you get it, but pm me if you need a hand.
For the exam, study study study study study. The theory is ok but you have to know 3 pieces INSIDE OUT. And for the jazz ones who is playing what instrument who is playing the solos who wrote it, everything.