How to practice for moderate increase in speed

[Lola]

So at 140 bpm I can play whole, quarter, eighth sixteenth notes clearly and distinctly.

When I get home from the grind I will sit analyze my movements in my fretting and picking hand.

There is no particular song that I trying to play I just want to increase my speed.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

One beat in bpm is one quarter note. So 220 bps is 220 quarter notes per minute, or almost 4 per second (3.67 per). Four sixteenth notes per quarter note gives you 14-15 notes per second.

That’s what I thought, but had never seen an explanation

 

[Draconomics]

So at 140 bpm I can play whole, quarter, eighth sixteenth notes clearly and distinctly.

When I get home from the grind I will sit analyze my movements in my fretting and picking hand.

There is no particular song that I trying to play I just want to increase my speed.

Sounds good. If you wanna get more analytical, tape yourself playing or play in front of a mirror and watch your hand movements. For the better part of my guitar odyssey, I practiced in front of a mirror. Helps to get a better idea if what your hands are doing from the front.

Another suggestion is even though theres no particular song you want to use faster speeds for, I highly suggest practicing using a song you like and improvising or writing your own speedier bits during the solo. It's more engaging than doing drills with a metronome and it'll give you good context of how to use fast runs in a formal composition. For example, one of my go-to practice songs is Freewill by Rush. Good tune to improv fast guitar parts to.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Alantig explained it best. This is my calculation: Basically take your bpm, divide by 60, now you have beats per second. Multiply by 4 for sixteenth note amounts and there you go (reason being is 16th notes implies 16 notes in 4 beats, not 1). Conversely, multiply by 2 for 8th notes, 1 for quarter notes. At 220bpm, that's around 14nps.

In terms of human limits for speed, there are guys I've seen who can play TWICE that fast using alt picking. That said, a little psa about fast playing: there's a point where its not useful in a musical context anymore. When you play so fast all the notes turn into soup (especially with fast sweep picking), it's time to hit the brakes.

I've never tried to actually see how many nps I could do, but I did get asked by several people in another forum how many nps there were in the intro of the song I posted here a few weeks ago. I've tried to count it a couple times, but it's going a little too fast for me to keep up counting. One guy said he was going to slow it down and count them, so I'd know but he never did it. I might throw it in a DAW today and see if I can slow it down enough to count them. Not that that is the absolute fastest I could play, but it's pretty fast and every note is picked, and I don't really know how many nps it would be.

 

[Lola]

Sounds good. If you wanna get more analytical, tape yourself playing or play in front of a mirror and watch your hand movements. For the better part of my guitar odyssey, I practiced in front of a mirror. Helps to get a better idea if what your hands are doing from the front.

Another suggestion is even though theres no particular song you want to use faster speeds for, I highly suggest practicing using a song you like and improvising or writing your own speedier bits during the solo. It's more engaging than doing drills with a metronome and it'll give you good context of how to use fast runs in a formal composition. For example, one of my go-to practice songs is Freewill by Rush. Good tune to improv fast guitar parts to.

Actually I really need to make improvements on my solo work. My only goal for now is to be able to play Led Zeppelin’s Moby Dick at full speed. I will start with 100 bpm or wherever and work my way up from there. It’s not a difficult song it’s the speed.

 

[Draconomics]

I've never tried to actually see how many nps I could do, but I did get asked by several people in another forum how many nps there were in the intro of the song I posted here a few weeks ago. I've tried to count it a couple times, but it's going a little too fast for me to keep up counting. One guy said he was going to slow it down and count them, so I'd know but he never did it. I might throw it in a DAW today and see if I can slow it down enough to count them. Not that that is the absolute fastest I could play, but it's pretty fast and every note is picked, and I don't really know how many nps it would be.

Its fun to check it every now and then to kinda gauge if there's improvement. Basically, grab a metronome or clicker, and do your four note per string chromatic runs. If you do four notes on each beat, then do a little math, its easy to figure out your nps.

Btw, send me a link to that song you posted if ya don't mind.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Btw, send me a link to that song you posted if ya don't mind.

Here's a link to the post. It's not a "real" song, just something I did off the cuff for a friends birthday.

the last thing I did record was that Happy Birthday and it was a totally off the hip, one shot, no editing, hit record and go thing. I didn't even know what I was going to play when I hit record, but the friend I did it for (my Tokai distributor) wanted to hear me shred some and then I got the idea to do Happy Birthday kind of like Jimi at Woodstock doing the Star Spangled Banner, so bomb, machine gun noises, etc. Then, like Jimi at Woodstock, I went into Purple Haze, but my dog came in and jumped up on the guitar, and scared the crap out of me. I was recording with headphones and eyes closed. LOL SO I just faded out. But again, it is totally one shot, no editing, no practice, etc. Just messing around for fun. Here it is again.

Ok, I don't know how to embed the Sound Cloud...

https://soundcloud.com/howiec34%2Fhappy-birthday

 

[Deleted member 5962]

IDK... take out the first note and start with the fast riffing, go to the end of that a stop counting at the last note that I old and bend... I "think" is somewhere between 10-12 notes per second.

 

[Draconomics]

Here's a link to the post. It's not a "real" song, just something I did off the cuff for a friends birthday.

Dayumm! That's some blistering stuff. Nice playing mate!

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Dayumm! That's some blistering stuff. Nice playing mate!

Smoke and mirrors! (And performance enhancing drugs! )

Seriously, thank you for the kind words!

Am I in the ballpark on NPS? I tried slowing it down at lunch, but it's still hard to count. LOL

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Ok, I think I might be way off. I just slowed it down and clipped out exactly one second and there are 20 notes in that one second clip.

 

[Draconomics]

Ok, I think I might be way off. I just slowed it down and clipped out exactly one second and there are 20 notes in that one second clip.

Holy cow! That's nuts.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Holy cow! That's nuts.

Uh… thanks??

 

[Draconomics]

Uh… thanks??

Well yeah, 20 notes in one second is pretty nuts. That's flying speed.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Well yeah, 20 notes in one second is pretty nuts. That's flying speed.

I can’t swear to that number. Dropped it into Audacity, clipped out the beginning and created a new track. Then I cut 1 second out of that (actually 2/100s of a second less, but that’s as close as I could drag the cursor) and then slowed down that clip and tried to count them. It’s at the very least 18, but I caught the leading and trailing edge of at least two more. So, 18, 19, 20. Right in there. As you heard, no sweeping, or “3 notes per pick” ala Yngwie. That was multiple notes per string, picking every note. Or “DiMeola style” as I call it. The “hardest” way to play fast, IMO, or compared to a legato and pick one play 3, or sweeping.

Anyway, this is the first time I’ve ever tried to analyze it for actual speed/ bpm/nps or whatever. So my methods are not polished for testing it. But I think it is accurate within a note or two.

 

[shinksma]

When you play so fast all the notes turn into soup (especially with fast sweep picking), it's time to hit the brakes.

I agree with the sweep picking. Although there are times where it can have a "splash" of color. Just don't overuse it.

The one case I like is where you are specifically looking to get that "tremolo" effect (as it is called) where you aren't playing different notes at that speed, but a single note for multiple attacks, then switching to another note - it can sound somewhat violin or ebow like. I use that technique on a particular (four or eight bar section of a) piece I play on mandolin. I have no idea how fast I'm playing, probably 10 to 15 nps.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

I agree with the sweep picking. Although there are times where it can have a "splash" of color. Just don't overuse it.

The one case I like is where you are specifically looking to get that "tremolo" effect (as it is called) where you aren't playing different notes at that speed, but a single note for multiple attacks, then switching to another note - it can sound somewhat violin or ebow like. I use that technique on a particular (four or eight bar section of a) piece I play on mandolin. I have no idea how fast I'm playing, probably 10 to 15 nps.

Not sure exactly what you're talking about with this technique... do you have any examples?

 

[Draconomics]

I agree with the sweep picking. Although there are times where it can have a "splash" of color. Just don't overuse it.

The one case I like is where you are specifically looking to get that "tremolo" effect (as it is called) where you aren't playing different notes at that speed, but a single note for multiple attacks, then switching to another note - it can sound somewhat violin or ebow like. I use that technique on a particular (four or eight bar section of a) piece I play on mandolin. I have no idea how fast I'm playing, probably 10 to 15 nps.

Yeah, an example of what im talking about, and pains me to say it because I like him....Rusty Cooley. Some of his solos are nothing but sweeps played at warp 9. It's an assault on the senses but works for his compositions I suppose.

Not sure exactly what you're talking about with this technique... do you have any examples?

With that "tremolo" thing that was mentioned, in my mind Im thinking of Tosin Abasi who I've seen doing a similar thing while crossing strings, but alternating the attack thus creating an artificial delay/tremolo sort of sound. It's way cool.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

With that "tremolo" thing that was mentioned, in my mind Im thinking of Tosin Abasi who I've seen doing a similar thing while crossing strings, but alternating the attack thus creating an artificial delay/tremolo sort of sound. It's way cool.

Interesting! Next time you hear it, maybe post a link. I need to listen to more of him anyway. Really interesting player!

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Actually, I may have an idea what you mean now. I do something where I tremolo pick but go from very palm muted, to wide open, and back, hitting all points in between. Also do one where I trem pick near the bridge, then move up near the neck pickup, as it opens up the string more and more the farther you move from the bridge, then pinches it back down as you go back down to picking by the bridge.