OOT's Guitar Players

[ptmusic]

I promise the following works:

If you want to get fast, you must start out very slow; I mean stupid-sounding slow. Play a phrase and set the metronome (a must-have) to such a slow speed that you can play it flawlessly all the way through. Make sure you can play it several times in a row at that speed, in all 12 keys.

Stay at that stupid-sounding tempo for a week, practicing that phrase several times a day, in all 12 keys. Have several different kinds of solo material so it doesn't get boring: scale, arpeggio, lick, complete solo, 3/4 time, metal, blues, alternate picking, picking with hammering, double stops, whatever (mix it up). Keep the tone dry, some distortion is okay but not so much as to hide your mistakes.

Play each phrase several times per day. Since these various practice phrases will have differing levels of difficulty for you, you will be playing them flawlessly at different tempos. So keep a simple list of the phrases (make up names for them) with the corresponding tempo click for each one.

Every week, move the metronome one tick (or if its digital, a couple bpm) for each phrase that you mastered the previous week. If you didn't master a phrase at a certain tempo, you may have to slow it down for a week.

Repeat for many weeks. Introduce new phrases to your practice regimen and phase out old ones once you can play them faster than Van Halen. You will be flying like Steve Vai within a year if you really stick to this system. Okay, that's unlikely, he had some strange devil-talent, but you will be the fastest guitar player around, I guarantee it.

But in addition to this 30 minutes per day, you really need to just let loose and jam along with some tracks or people without thinking so much. Speed is the "easy" part if you are disciplined. Creativity in your soloing is the real shiznit. Put them together and you will get noticed.