Help improving speed and accuracy

[laurens]

Hi Guys,

First of all, happy new year!

Now OT, this thread has inspired me and I decided to get more serious and bought the Troy Stetina metal rhythm guitar books. I have been wanking about without any lessons up till now and can play some fast riffs, but I have timing issues. So it is back to basics for me. Troy says to tap your foot along the beat while playing the exercises. I find it a bit hard to control my foot (next to my hands and counting) as well, haha. So is this tapping really necessary or can I play with a metronome instead?

[Cliff]

Hey Laurens,
Happy New Year to you too.
I'm far from an expert on rhythm, and hopefully peeps with more experience than me will chime in, but I strongly recommend you tap your foot along with the metronome. Like you, I suffered (still do a bit, but it's much improved since practicing) from controlling my foot tapping. What I found was it would tap in time to whatever accents I was playing rather than to the actual beats in the bar. For me at least, forcing it to tap on the beat made me concentrate more on the accents of the various notes I was playing on and off the beats, which in turn helped my timing.

[Twitch]

I'm a little late to the party, though I did watch the video

Not going to read all 12 pages though, so if this has been mentioned already, eh... my bad.


Anywho, Shawn Lane said he approached speed much differently than most would teach. He would play something as fast as he could, even though it was sloppy. Then after much repetition, the slop would slowly decrease.

That does work, but Ive found slowing it down first works faster. Thats not to say pushing it a little farther than you can play it tightly wont help. Sometimes just a little faster, youll fall in ok. Ive also found that if you take a 5 to 10 min break just after youve made the step up, that when you come back after your brain and hands have rested, youll be way more precise when you get started again. After playing something over and over and over again, a lot of the slop is because your brain and nerves are just flustered. Take a short break and kick it back in and there will be noticeable improvement. Whats funny about this approach, is you will have improved by NOT playing the damn thing. Fatigue sucks.

[Grim]

Lately I have been trying gradual increased speed... 4bpm increases over time (i.e. get part, play @ 100, next play at 104 when 100 is clean)... Seen good results but it is slower work.

[Cliff]

Which exercises are you concentrating on? Are you still finding 4bpm increments is working?
I'm beginning to find I need to take things slower still. Each time I get to a certain speed, I notice something sloppy with the technique has crept in.
I spent three days over the holidays trying to get exercises 25 and 26 as fast as possible. I reached 128 and 110 bpm for each. According to Troy, that means I can't move past page 19.
I noticed that I'd been pressing too hard with my left hand when playing slowly, but needed a lighter touch as I got faster. I also noticed a lack of synchronisation between the two hands at speed. I decided to go back and practice 26 and 34 more slowly to try and fix both these problems. In the course of this, I noticed my left-hand positioning was changing depending on which exercises I played. I decided this ought to be consistent. It seems like I can get the best stretch and the most accuracy when the bit of the hand where the fingers meet the palm is parallel with and very close to the neck, and the fingers are arched over to touch say the E or B string with the tips. However, as I moved this shape up the fretboard, I noticed after a couple of days some tension in my forearm. Then I realized if I held the neck at an angle, classical-style, it's easier to do this without strain. But it feels bloody uncomfortable. So I really don't know what's best here at the moment.
I think I've realized it's important to practice both slowly and fast, otherwise it's possible to practice techniques slowly that are just not going to work well when you're playing quickly.
I also think maybe I need a new guitar, one with a scalloped neck.

Just remembered, there was one other thing I noticed once I got close to my top speed. Slower than that, I felt like I was in control of my left-hand fingers and fully aware of them. Once I got close to as fast as I could, it was more like I was just watching my hand and trusting it to do the right thing. So my question is, if/when I get faster, to pass this blocking point, to I just learn to trust my fingers, or instead does the speed at which I'm able to fully control them gradually increase?

[bratfink]

You are right cliff,

The faster you get the more you rely on the fingers muscle memory. There is no way you can think fast enough to tell each finger exactly what to do. Therefore you work on the exercises slowly to build up muscle memory, eventually you can play most of this stuff without even thinking about it.

[Cliff]

Thanks for the confirmation. I realised after posting that it was a bit of a silly question. If I'm playing 16ths at 100bpm, there's no way I'm consciously telling my right hand to make up and down plucking motions at 6+ notes per second. Same must be true of the left hand.
After posting last night, I went back and had another go at speeding up exercise 34. I got up to 114bpm, which was cool, since I only managed 110bpm the night before .

[BenoA]

Cliff, I admire your dedication to improving your technique and follow it with a lot of interest.

Keep us informed.

[BenoA]

OK took the plunge... At the beginning at this thread I had said I would do a clip if I could reach 120 BPM playing Mozart's Rondo Alla Turca... Well, tonite, I tried it and managed to reach 120 BPM... One shot, one take... Not perfect but here it is:

If some of you are interested in the backing track, I could post it somewhere as I am the one who did it and I'm willing to share.

PS I have still to learn how to use a webcam and record using the Youtube live web page.

[VitaminG]

nice work, JB

[Cliff]

Yeah, very nicely played.

[VitaminG]

for the record, my earlier praise was sincere and (I hope) supportive. It wasn't at all because of JB's flowing blonde locks and bodacious tatas

[javert]

Nice, BenoA! Is it the Mini Rectifier we're hearing?

[BenoA]

nice work, JB

Thanks VitaminG!

Yeah, very nicely played.

Cliff, you've been an inspiration since you started that thread. I wish I had your dedication. Back at the start of your thread, I was on a few weeks break in-between a new job. Was able to put 2 hours a day into this... When the new job started I had to push my practice routine on the side. I only kept that Mozart tune.

During the xmas "short" vacation break, I created that backing track. Last evening, just after dinner, I challenged myself to record this in one quick take, even if I would make a fool of myslef. Thanks to Youtube "live" recording feature. But I'll have to find a good software. I want to redo it.

for the record, my earlier praise was sincere and (I hope) supportive. It wasn't at all because of JB's flowing blonde locks and bodacious tatas

My lack of english "expression" vocabulary had me "googled" your above comments...

Nice, BenoA! Is it the Mini Rectifier we're hearing?

Thanks Javert! Yes it's the Mini Recto!

[Cliff]

Thanks, man. Encouragement from you and the others keeps me going when I feel like I'm not getting anywhere. The dedication comes from not wanting to admit I wasted money on a guitar and amp that I don't deserve . At the very least, I'm going to get my money's worth out of them.
If that recording was one quick take, then it's even more impressive - great job.
Here's my latest attempt at ex#34. I think this is a good one for me at the moment; it seems to be exercising precisely the bits of my technique that need improving. I played for 5 hours before recording this, and even then it's very far from perfect. On the plus side, I've never been able to play this particular exercise at anything like this speed before: