Are There Exercises To Increase How "Quick" Your Fingers Are?
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TSJMajesty
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Not rude at all. I have heard this said over and over, and I've also heard it said that you have to just "go for it", that you don't get fast by playing slow.
I do both, with 1 exception that I'm going to change:
In the context of 16th notes, I have this weird zone from about 90 to 110 bpm where I have trouble staying in sync. My understanding is that's where we have a transition in how we play, not unlike when we switch from walking to running. And it happens at different tempos for different people.
I think of it this way: It would get really awkward if we simply continued to walk faster, at the point where we need to start running. And according to a few lessons from what I consider to be guys who know what they're talking about, you switch to using different muscles past that transition zone.
So I've been bypassing this zone, partly because the solos I'm working on aren't at that tempo, but mostly because if I jump up to around 120-145-ish, I can play it fine. I can manage up to about 160, depending on what it is, but it starts getting sloppy.
So last night I spent probably 4 hours working on several picked 16th note solos, starting at 80, and gradually increasing until I finished for the night at 100. I only advanced the tempo when I played whatever it was perfectly, 5 times in a row. And I paid super-close attention to not letting anything get tense. Also did lots of double-speed bursts.
I don't know how, but even though I can play these riffs clean at faster tempos than that transition zone, I think there IS something to be gained by being able to play whatever it is, at any tempo up to our current maximum.
So maybe adding this "method" to my practice will help with my OP.
TSJMajesty
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You need someone yelling at you while you're working on it!?
I mostly know what I would advise to myself...
- experiment with a ton of picks
- find your ideal neck and stay with that guitar if possible
- find your ideal string height/string thickness and stay with those
- be aware of what you're playing (be able to sing it, so to speak, or maybe shout it in your mind -- don't just play/repeat mechanistically). I like the chunky info above though.
Depending on hand size, consider a smaller neck. When I'm in the zone on a Luke II neck, you can really fly effortlessly. OTOH, I will still not hit every note as I will be hardly touching the strings. I wouldn't demo it, but I feel the big difference to me. They do give you much easier reach (but less string spacing for tricky chords w open strings).
However, if you switch between regular and less wide necks, your muscle memory may get screwed up re. string distance.
As I do still have to solve all problems mentioned, this was not expert advice...
Luckily I usually don't like "pick every note" styles, but there are exceptions for some runs I do like.
Maybe the Petrucci necks are already smaller size too? (never tried one)
Oh, and in case you're vegan or somehow not getting enough of it, Vit B12 is very important to nerves. I would not simply supplement it out of the blue though before you have some insight. [Also, B12 needs sufficient folate to work. Both need each other.]
- experiment with a ton of picks
- find your ideal neck and stay with that guitar if possible
- find your ideal string height/string thickness and stay with those
- be aware of what you're playing (be able to sing it, so to speak, or maybe shout it in your mind -- don't just play/repeat mechanistically). I like the chunky info above though.
Depending on hand size, consider a smaller neck. When I'm in the zone on a Luke II neck, you can really fly effortlessly. OTOH, I will still not hit every note as I will be hardly touching the strings. I wouldn't demo it, but I feel the big difference to me. They do give you much easier reach (but less string spacing for tricky chords w open strings).
However, if you switch between regular and less wide necks, your muscle memory may get screwed up re. string distance.
As I do still have to solve all problems mentioned, this was not expert advice...
Luckily I usually don't like "pick every note" styles, but there are exceptions for some runs I do like.
Maybe the Petrucci necks are already smaller size too? (never tried one)
Oh, and in case you're vegan or somehow not getting enough of it, Vit B12 is very important to nerves. I would not simply supplement it out of the blue though before you have some insight. [Also, B12 needs sufficient folate to work. Both need each other.]
Last edited:
TSJMajesty
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@FracKing I have done every one of those, except improving my diet. I know it could be much better.
When Fender stopped embossing their picks (learned that one right after I purchased 25-packs of 5 different colors
) I went through all sorts of picks. Landed on the Ultex sharp for a while, then switched to JP Jazz III's and haven't looked back.
I stay consistent with everything else, because I agree about muscle memory, and I can't play on different ergonomic guitars, with the songs I work on. The string spacing on the Majesties and JP15 is right in the sweet spot for me. Open string arpeggios are right at the edge; I have to be very careful to get each note ringing out, but with a few run-throughs, I can pretty much nail the songs I do.
I've taken a lot of Benrth's advice, going to a closed grip, moving the pick further down my 1st finger, and being super conscientious about keeping my thumb behind the neck.
When Fender stopped embossing their picks (learned that one right after I purchased 25-packs of 5 different colors
) I went through all sorts of picks. Landed on the Ultex sharp for a while, then switched to JP Jazz III's and haven't looked back.I stay consistent with everything else, because I agree about muscle memory, and I can't play on different ergonomic guitars, with the songs I work on. The string spacing on the Majesties and JP15 is right in the sweet spot for me. Open string arpeggios are right at the edge; I have to be very careful to get each note ringing out, but with a few run-throughs, I can pretty much nail the songs I do.
I've taken a lot of Benrth's advice, going to a closed grip, moving the pick further down my 1st finger, and being super conscientious about keeping my thumb behind the neck.
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Are There Exercises To Increase How "Quick" Your Fingers Are?
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Doing pure hammer-ons /pull-offs?
Brings to mind one possibility:
How low is your action?
I know low action is a favorite of many, but the fact is higher action (not too high) will get you more "action" on the fretboard... because the strings are more "bouncy" for hammer-ons/pull-offs and they ring clear. This "bounciness" can help a lot as the energy of the string doesn't get fretted out or "micro-fretted" out.
When using super low action, the string feels "deader"; not as lively.
Hard to explain, but there it is.
TSJMajesty
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Mostly. If the notes start with the 1st finger, that's usually picked. Like e 15h16h18 12h13h15, both the 1st 15 and the 12 would be picked.
But when it changes to a lower string that's fretted with the pinky or ring fingers, those are 'hammer-ons-from-nowhere."
I know what you're saying, but there's a trade off in that your fingers have to work harder with higher action, since you're pressing the string further to reach the fret. I keep my action as low as possible.
And when you already have a string against a fret with your 1st finger, and you need to do a hammer-on with your middle/ring, and then the pinky, any extra "snap" you would get from having higher action is negated, because the string is already extremely close to the fret.
(Same thing if it's a 10p8p7. You only push the string down once, for every 3 notes.)
Which is the case with most any hammer-on/pull-off, unless it's using lots of open strings, like this riff from Muse's The Handler:
And even with a riff like that, I'd want low action.
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@TSJMajesty, next time you're practicing that 15h16h18 12h13h15 lick at the tempo you normally mess up at, stop randomly on one of the notes and note how your hands/wrist/arm muscles feel. I had to catch myself in the act of tensing up because I'd be too focused on not fucking up than I was paying attention to how relaxed I was.
Stop when you hit 13, like someone pressed Pause on your body, don't move your hands away from the guitar at all, keep everything exactly as it is like you're frozen in time and just take note of any tension in your hands/arms. I think, because of the amount of time you've put into it already, learning a new exercise won't deliver what you want, so rooting out the thing holding you back is probably the more efficient way of getting through this hurdle.
Stop when you hit 13, like someone pressed Pause on your body, don't move your hands away from the guitar at all, keep everything exactly as it is like you're frozen in time and just take note of any tension in your hands/arms. I think, because of the amount of time you've put into it already, learning a new exercise won't deliver what you want, so rooting out the thing holding you back is probably the more efficient way of getting through this hurdle.
TSJMajesty
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I will do that.
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Ed DeGenaro
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The thing I learned from not amazing piano “skills” is that what I once viewed as a finger movement is a combination of it with the bigger muscles.
Transferred to guitar a good example is the rotating forearm movement. That I use for alternate picking on the right hand as well as vibrato on the left.
Transferring that to hammer-ons and pull offs…I learned that if I involve the revolving forearm pull offs become no brainers.
Hammer-ons from nowhere not rolling fingers but using a separate finger per string will fix the issue of coming down not quickly enough.
In other words play some solos or etudes with left hand only.
Also read this Julian Lage article…
www.easeofbeing.com
Transferred to guitar a good example is the rotating forearm movement. That I use for alternate picking on the right hand as well as vibrato on the left.
Transferring that to hammer-ons and pull offs…I learned that if I involve the revolving forearm pull offs become no brainers.
Hammer-ons from nowhere not rolling fingers but using a separate finger per string will fix the issue of coming down not quickly enough.
In other words play some solos or etudes with left hand only.
Also read this Julian Lage article…
Digging Deeper: The Diving Board Effect — Tommy Thompson
www.easeofbeing.com
TSJMajesty
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I love it when I read anything about technique, or listen to someone giving instructions on specific things to do/watch for, and find I'm already doing some of them. Makes me feel like I'm on the right track!Also read this Julian Lage article…
Digging Deeper: The Diving Board Effect — Tommy Thompson
One of the things I noticed (among a couple) from that article, that I was already doing, was from time to time taking a step backwards and truly assessing how I'm playing- the mechanics, how the pick reacts..., really anything that makes me ponder if my technique is following the things I've learned, or if I'm unaware that I'm temporarily reverting back to bad habits, usually because I'm more focused on something else.
As I make progress, and can see real improvements, I always take some time to go "back", either by slowing something down, or focusing strictly on only 1 or 2 aspects of my execution, and then move forward again. It helps to reinforce things, so that as I do get better/faster/cleaner/more accurate, I can shift my concentration away from the former parts of the process and onto the more difficult things, since they then become more and more automatic.
This entire journey is the most enjoyable part for me, at this time in my guitar-playing life. Especially when, like tonight, I go back to something I haven't played in a while, and find that it's getting easier, as well as better.
Tonight it was the string-skipping, arpeggio end solo from Dream Theater's Innocence Faded. That whole section is one of the coolest-sounding solos I've ever heard! But it's really hard. I mean, just the memorization part is a real challenge.
And I am terrible at learning this stuff by ear (and do not care to get better at that part, haha), so I am SO glad we have great tabs available to us these days! There was only 1 single note on songsterr.com that was wrong in that ending solo. Which I was able to find, by ear, by playing along with the song.
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HomespunEffects
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Playing slow and then increasing speed just never worked for me. Playing short runs as fast as possible and then adding to them worked a lot better.
Yep it works too for the dexterity but be careful to also take care of the rythm.
Workout too fast may be counterproductive for the final result.
norminal
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This is the way.
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