My advice for you would be to make your own exercises. You know what sweeping, tapping, and legato are, so you're probably quite able to develope exercises that target YOUR weaknesses, and reflect YOUR creativity. As for speed, you can just slowly work up whatever it is you want to speed up. I have a different approach to this than most. In my opinion going strictly by a metronome is a bit counter-productive. That old "play it until it's perfect at 90bpm and then move it up to 94bpm and on and on and on"... The thing is, you can probably learn faster without that approach.
What I do is cycle something over and over again, and work it up without using a metronome until I can get it as fast as I can. I increase in speed by whatever feels natural to me. After I get it to my disired speed. I'll whip out the metronome and play it at mabye 80bpm, then 120bpm, then 160bpm then 180bpm, then mabye 240bpm if I want the thing that fast. I do this just to double check my rythm and and solidify it a little bit at difference speed zones. So with that approach I learn as fast as it comes naturally to me, and smooth out the edges a little bit later. This makes it possible for me to learn something in five or ten minutes, that would take me hours with strict metronome practice, which in my opinion is extremely boring anyway. I tried that approach, and I didn't like it, so I developed my own.
Don't be afraid to think for yourself when it comes to
guitar playing. You are not Petrucci, or Gilbert, or Yngwie and therefore probably don't think the same way, sound the same way, learn the same way, develope the same way, or play the same way as they do.
Good Cheese,
-VIG-
BTW: Andrew, check your AOL mail.
