Learn to Shred - Online Guitar Lessons
There comes a point in a guitarist’s development where there is an intense desire to play at blazing speeds. While there is much more than playing fast within the realm of guitar, playing fast is simply awesome and adding some shredding during a build can give a song that needed edge. This article is dedicated to giving guitarists some insight on how to progress their shred ability or get faster without compromising form or quality of sound.
#1 Loosen Up
To start off, a guitarist should not be tense when shredding or practicing. In fact, he should not be tense when playing the guitar in general. His arms, wrists, and hands should all be relatively at ease to allow for a greater range of motion and calculated control. It is very common for beginners to tense up while practicing. You will often find them clenching the air or fretboard as if holding on for dear life. On the polar opposite, stage musicians will unintentionally tense up during a performance because of nerves. This can cause them to “play it safe” with their note selection. Just to be aware of the tension helps to loosen up.
#2 Be Efficient
Once loosened up, a guitarist should put their attention on the picking hand and apply the concept of economy of motion. In other words, what combination of upstrokes and downstrokes will result in the least amount of effort or highest efficiency. Alternating up and down strokes works great if you stay on the same string, but when you change strings, alternate picking can leave you in a sticky situation. Sometimes the technique of hybrid picking is needed when changing strings during a solo. While hybrid picking is not always necessary, it could be limiting your top shredding speed. Hybrid picking involves playing more than one up or down stroke in a row for efficiency. The techniques involves one fluid motion for two or more picking strokes in the same direction.
#3 Separate Your Notes
If you have ever seen a shred master playing up and down the fretboard in a vertical motion at lightening speeds, he is more than likely using the technique of sweep picking. Sweep picking is all up strokes or all downstrokes in one motion similar to playing a chord, only each note is separated. The separation of notes is accomplished through lifting a finger of the fretting hand off of the fretboard soon after the note it played is picked. This should happen right before the next note is played. This allows for each note to sound individually.
Another technique used to separate notes is palm muting. Palm muting involves the palm of the picking hand to rest in front of the guitar’s bridge to limit the string’s vibrations. The resulting effect is diminished sustain or shorter notes. With enough palm muting combined with sweep picking and good fretting hand technique, your notes during an epic, lightning fast solo will be as clear as day and tight!
#4 Slow Down to Speed Up
Yes, you read that right. You must slow down during practice to speed up during performance. This tip is too often ignored and results in limited speed and sloppy playing. As guitarists we must start practicing at a speed that we can maintain for an extended period of time with good form. Once we have strong muscle memory for what we are playing we gradually and ever so slightly push our boundaries. It is similar to lifting weights. You don’t start lifting weights you are not ready for or you could hurt yourself. Practicing slow can be much more effective than practicing fast. We often jump right into a speedy lick and maintain it for a second then mess up. We then continue to try over and over again until we get it up to speed at the expense of quality. If we jump ahead too fast, notes may become blurred together, our coordination may suffer, and our picking may become sloppy. This is an unavoidable part of practice but do not get comfortable with these shortcomings and slow it down if they happen consistently.
#5 Hammer On & Pull Off
Have you ever wondered how a guitarist can play so many notes but pick so little? The answer to this question is through the use of hammer ons and pull offs. These two techniques allow you to pick a note on one string and with a hammering motion up or with a pull off motion down play another note on the same string without picking again. This is a very common technique and is accomplished because the sustain of the first note being carried over to the second. You can even play a note from a dead string in the same way with enough force and/or the addition of signal processing. This would be referred to as a tap. There is no guitar law that says every note must be picked. In fact there is a style of guitar known as Touch Style that is based off of no picking or two-handed tapping. Every note in this style is played by tapping or using hammer ons and pull offs. You can compose polyphonic music played on one guitar, by one person, in real-time through the use of Touch Style or two-handed tapping. So music written to be played on piano can be converted to guitar.
Conclusion
Use the five tips above and you will effectively increase your guitar playing speed to lightning fast with consistent practice. Your notes will have a distinguishing quality without being blended together if you maintain good form and pay attention to what was said above.
Recommendation
If you are serious about progressing as a guitarist, online guitar lessons from GuitarImpulse.com are recommended. All of the techniques described above are taught in detail in the member’s area. For less than the cost of the average guitar lesson per month, you can have 24/7 unlimited access to hours upon hours of footage. New lessons are added every month! Lessons such as Solo Series 1 and Sweep Mechanics 1 go in depth and actually apply the concepts of economy of motion, hybrid picking, and sweep picking as discussed above. The Guitar Legend Training lesson plan covers hammer ons/pull offs at a basic level initially, then they are applied at a more advanced level. Eleven other techniques are covered as well that are used by the guitar legends themselves. The techniques are gradually introduced into simple/boring riff ideas. These riffs are then transformed and given a head-turning appeal worthy of guitar legend status. There is even several Touch Style or two-handed tapping pieces tabbed out and taught note for note that offer gradual progressions. Lessons come complete with video, audio, notes, and jam tracks. GuitarImpulse.com is a great place to take your guitar playing to the next level.
There comes a point in a guitarist’s development where there is an intense desire to play at blazing speeds. While there is much more than playing fast within the realm of guitar, playing fast is simply awesome and adding some shredding during a build can give a song that needed edge. This article is dedicated to giving guitarists some insight on how to progress their shred ability or get faster without compromising form or quality of sound.
#1 Loosen Up
To start off, a guitarist should not be tense when shredding or practicing. In fact, he should not be tense when playing the guitar in general. His arms, wrists, and hands should all be relatively at ease to allow for a greater range of motion and calculated control. It is very common for beginners to tense up while practicing. You will often find them clenching the air or fretboard as if holding on for dear life. On the polar opposite, stage musicians will unintentionally tense up during a performance because of nerves. This can cause them to “play it safe” with their note selection. Just to be aware of the tension helps to loosen up.
#2 Be Efficient
Once loosened up, a guitarist should put their attention on the picking hand and apply the concept of economy of motion. In other words, what combination of upstrokes and downstrokes will result in the least amount of effort or highest efficiency. Alternating up and down strokes works great if you stay on the same string, but when you change strings, alternate picking can leave you in a sticky situation. Sometimes the technique of hybrid picking is needed when changing strings during a solo. While hybrid picking is not always necessary, it could be limiting your top shredding speed. Hybrid picking involves playing more than one up or down stroke in a row for efficiency. The techniques involves one fluid motion for two or more picking strokes in the same direction.
#3 Separate Your Notes
If you have ever seen a shred master playing up and down the fretboard in a vertical motion at lightening speeds, he is more than likely using the technique of sweep picking. Sweep picking is all up strokes or all downstrokes in one motion similar to playing a chord, only each note is separated. The separation of notes is accomplished through lifting a finger of the fretting hand off of the fretboard soon after the note it played is picked. This should happen right before the next note is played. This allows for each note to sound individually.
Another technique used to separate notes is palm muting. Palm muting involves the palm of the picking hand to rest in front of the guitar’s bridge to limit the string’s vibrations. The resulting effect is diminished sustain or shorter notes. With enough palm muting combined with sweep picking and good fretting hand technique, your notes during an epic, lightning fast solo will be as clear as day and tight!
#4 Slow Down to Speed Up
Yes, you read that right. You must slow down during practice to speed up during performance. This tip is too often ignored and results in limited speed and sloppy playing. As guitarists we must start practicing at a speed that we can maintain for an extended period of time with good form. Once we have strong muscle memory for what we are playing we gradually and ever so slightly push our boundaries. It is similar to lifting weights. You don’t start lifting weights you are not ready for or you could hurt yourself. Practicing slow can be much more effective than practicing fast. We often jump right into a speedy lick and maintain it for a second then mess up. We then continue to try over and over again until we get it up to speed at the expense of quality. If we jump ahead too fast, notes may become blurred together, our coordination may suffer, and our picking may become sloppy. This is an unavoidable part of practice but do not get comfortable with these shortcomings and slow it down if they happen consistently.
#5 Hammer On & Pull Off
Have you ever wondered how a guitarist can play so many notes but pick so little? The answer to this question is through the use of hammer ons and pull offs. These two techniques allow you to pick a note on one string and with a hammering motion up or with a pull off motion down play another note on the same string without picking again. This is a very common technique and is accomplished because the sustain of the first note being carried over to the second. You can even play a note from a dead string in the same way with enough force and/or the addition of signal processing. This would be referred to as a tap. There is no guitar law that says every note must be picked. In fact there is a style of guitar known as Touch Style that is based off of no picking or two-handed tapping. Every note in this style is played by tapping or using hammer ons and pull offs. You can compose polyphonic music played on one guitar, by one person, in real-time through the use of Touch Style or two-handed tapping. So music written to be played on piano can be converted to guitar.
Conclusion
Use the five tips above and you will effectively increase your guitar playing speed to lightning fast with consistent practice. Your notes will have a distinguishing quality without being blended together if you maintain good form and pay attention to what was said above.
Recommendation
If you are serious about progressing as a guitarist, online guitar lessons from GuitarImpulse.com are recommended. All of the techniques described above are taught in detail in the member’s area. For less than the cost of the average guitar lesson per month, you can have 24/7 unlimited access to hours upon hours of footage. New lessons are added every month! Lessons such as Solo Series 1 and Sweep Mechanics 1 go in depth and actually apply the concepts of economy of motion, hybrid picking, and sweep picking as discussed above. The Guitar Legend Training lesson plan covers hammer ons/pull offs at a basic level initially, then they are applied at a more advanced level. Eleven other techniques are covered as well that are used by the guitar legends themselves. The techniques are gradually introduced into simple/boring riff ideas. These riffs are then transformed and given a head-turning appeal worthy of guitar legend status. There is even several Touch Style or two-handed tapping pieces tabbed out and taught note for note that offer gradual progressions. Lessons come complete with video, audio, notes, and jam tracks. GuitarImpulse.com is a great place to take your guitar playing to the next level.