Left-hand to right-hand coordination drills???

[Type O-]

I was wondering what drills or techniques everyone used to synchronize your left and right hands while playing. Once I get up to a certain speed, my picking hand gets out of sync with my fretting hand. I believe my picking may be the culprit. I could just be getting too old to pick fast, but then again I have never been able to pick that fast. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Willin]

In my opinion it just really comes with time. Keep playing random faster type licks(not just random notes) and your coordination will increase. When you become more and more familiar with the instrument your speed gets better without you even noticing. I guess if you are looking for some examples I used to just play the following. It is pretty easy once you get it down and it can help your coordination. Try to accent the d on the high e string with a down stroke while you are doing this exercise. This is out of a C Major Scale.

\/ = downstroke
^ = upstroke


----\/---^-----\/-----^------\/--------^
e--10---------------------------------------------------------------------------
B------13----12----10-----12-------13------------------------------------------
G-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another Variation:

----\/--^-----\/-----^------\/--------^----\/-----^-----\/----^----\/
e--10---------------------------------------10----12----13---12---10--------
B------13----12----10-----12-------13----------------------------------------
G-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----^-----\/-----^------\/--------^
e-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B--13----12----10-----12-------13--------------------------------------------
G-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another Variation:

----\/--^-----\/-----^------\/--------^---\/-----^--\/---^---\/---^
e--10--------------------------------------12*---------------------------------
B------13----12----10-----12-------13---------13--12--10--12--13---------
G-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---\/----^-----\/-----^------\/--------^------\/-----^--\/---^---\/---^
e--13*-----------------------------------------12*---------------------------
B--------13----12----10-----12-------13------------13--12--10--12--13----
G-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* = for the notes with an asterisk near them I like to bar them with my third or fourth finger. If you want to play these fast it is very difficult to fret these notes with your finger tip so at the 12th fret on the high e string bar it with your third finger and with the 13th fret on the high e string bar it with your fourth finger.

Anyway, these are just some exercises that I would play around with that seemed to help. I get bored with exercises pretty quickly so try to just learn some songs that you like that are difficult to play. As you learn them you will gradually get better and it will help train your ear and things as well as your speed. Hope this helped!

[dcord]

The only way I could coordinate my hands in really fast playing was to start slow with something that is consistently fast. Get the sheet music to Paganini's "Perpetual Motion" (Moto Perpetuo) and start with your metronome (you have a metronome, right?) at about 80 bpm, or as fast as you can handle while still keeping it CLEAN. Pick every note, no legato allowed!

Remember, you want to get coordination, so accuracy is far more important than the setting on your metronome. If you can't keep up, bump the metronome down. NO SLOP! Accuracy.

Play it a few times at your metronome setting of choice, then go play something else. Tomorrow, set your metronome 5 bpm faster and repeat.

Every day or so, bump up your metronome. Before you know it, you'll be burning up the fretboard and your pick hand will be flying along effortlessly.