[buriedbeds]

You can practice, all the time. Carry the guitar around with you.

Lesson-phobia is dumb, though. I usually take a few lessons every couple of years when I feel stilted. I've played for 18 years and would be considered by many to be good. I'm certainly pretty fast. I recognize that guitar (and music) is not a solo practice and getting insights from people you respect in person is far more useful than, say, asking strangers on a poker board who have no idea what your specific problems are.

The most basic finger exercise I'll do is to go down 4321 then shift up one fret and go 1234 and then go up one fret and go down 4321. (pinky=4, pointer=1). I generally go up to about the 15th fret. Then I come back down (4321 down 1234 down 4321). I do this as fast as I can *cleanly*. CLEANLY is very important. I then do it on the next string, and then the next, etc, all the way through. I pick it using all up strokes going through once, then alternating up and down strokes, then all down strokes. This will improve your speed.

Also, pick up some odd chords you can't hit now. Stretching your hands will help your overall speed.

This is the best I can illustrate that finger exercise in this forum.

fret
finger

4 3 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 5 4 3 4 5 6 7 8 7 6 5
4 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 4 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 4 3 2 1

etc.

-bb.