Speed Guitar Now. Part 1

We’re flooded with advice on the subject, but is anyone really paying attention to the “SEED”? Furthermore, following it?





My first advice is: Clear your mind, physical exercises are not the first step. Why do you want to play faster?

a) To express something that cannot be expressed slowly?
b) To impress someone?
c) To play a song at its original tempo?
d) Because you don’t want to be limited in your playing?
e) Because it’s cool?
f) Etc.

If “a,” then you’ve probably heard someone expressing something really cool that you couldn’t play. Or maybe you have a melody in your mind that, at slow tempo, would sound weak. Well that’s great; you have a very good reason to increase your speed.

If “b,” then your goal as a result might be disappointing, because once you have achieved your wished speed that person could be not interested at all in your abilities. But, if you’re trying to impress another guitar player, well… you probably know that some guitar players are many times “whinny cretins”, so don’t expect too much of a good response from some of them, even if you’re good.
Better yet, do it and impress yourself! Of course I don’t want to be a downer, there’re people who really are going to be impressed, but don’t take the speed as a guarantee.

If “c,” then you have a good reason, but sometimes is also interesting a song played at a different tempo. And when I say a different tempo I mean slower and faster!

If “d”, that’s great but there’s an issue here, some people don’t know what the limit they want to cross is (more on that ahead). On the other hand, some people think that they’ve reached their limit when they actually haven’t, so keep that in mind.

If “e”, that’s ok, but is this what you really want to do in the long run musically speaking?

So, do you know now why you want more speed? Be honest to yourself.
Ok, if you said yes, then let’s move forward.

My second advice: Now you have to establish the desired speed you want to reach.

If you don’t set certain speed as the goal, you probably won’t strive enough to play faster. This is important, I mean it, don’t have a low opinion of this step or you’ll be fooling around for years.

Ok, this is just the beginning. Don’t underestimate these first steps, a lot of people will and they’re probably the kind of guitar players who always complain and never get any better, don’t be like those downers who think everything is common sense and skip this. On the other hand if you already knew this, then this is a good reminder, now go for it!