The Viking Gangster
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2015
- Messages
- 285
I've struggled with speed too and have been researching it to death and have come up with a few things that I am working on that are helping a lot.
First I went up to 1.5mm picks from 1mm, Dunlop primetones to be exact and really like them. Less flexing means less waiting for rebound.
Second warm up slowly and stretch. Not just my hands and wrists but my elbows and shoulders, even neck.
Third, practice stuff that is useful. Scales are important but you won't be playing many straight scales. Troy Stetina metal lead books and speed mechanics is plus full of licks that are heavily used in the actual music you will be playing and gives you musical things to practice.
Fourth and most important, rooting out tension... Tension kills my speed really bad. One guy said you need to be like a Zen master while playing and he's right. Obvious tension point is in your fretting hand. Play something lighter and lighter until it no longer rings out and then play it with just a touch more pressure and that's all the pressure that is needed, don't choke it. Don't smash your thumb into the back of the neck, it rests there. The fingers that are not fretting notes should remain moveable, tension will lock them in place. Learn to release a note before moving the finger so you aren't fighting it. Keep your fingers in a soft arch, like you are holding an Apple not like you are trying out for a zombie movie. Move up to your wrist, it should remain flexible as well. It should be relatively straight and not curled up or pushed out to extremes. Elbow should be relaxed and basically in line with your wrist. Your shoulder should be relaxed and down, don't Herman munster it. Neck relaxed. Watch your jaw, don't clench. Keep breathing, don't hold your breath when you get to a challenging section. Now down the picking arm... All the same stuff all the way down, relax your hand. Don't make a fist, don't squeeze so you are tense. Loosey goosey. Keep your back straight and your head over the spine. Don't twist your back around. Don't tense your feet.
I found all this hard to do initially and I really felt out of control but it's getting better and feeling more natural. More importantly it's helping a ton!
Another place I struggle and am making a very conscious effort is releasing tension when some is needed. Vibrato and bends take more tension than simple note fretting. Releasing that tension immediately after instead of incrementing up is important.
Another tip is to memorize what you are working on and then get more into your peripheral vision instead of pinpoint focusing helps to get you into the right side of your brain.
Another of my problem areas is trusting my muscle memory and subconscious... If I look at my hands while I'm playing very much my conscious mind overthinks and causes me to make mistakes which then causes me to tense up...
I used to practice sitting down and that was horrible I found out after I started standing up for my practice. That alone caused a pretty major jump in speed after getting used to it.
I really like the tips you have given here. I have heard about needing to be relaxed, but I think often I tense up and become too self conscious.
Thanks again!