software

Okay ive been playing guitar for a while and a lot of people say im pretty good...but i cant shred it up!!! My fingers just arent free enough and they conk out easily and i dont know what to practice to get them freed up and much more relaxed so i can just dance endlessly around the fretboard when i want to.

So what are some good things to practice with a metronome. And useful things too that i could use in improv situations.

I never thought id ask this but PLEASE HELP ME SHRED!

Scales and scale fragments are good for building speed. Take some scales that you think that you may use often and build speed with those.

Set the metronome at 60bpm and play the scales up and back, 4 notes per click (boring, I know). Once you have them down at 60bpm, bump it up about 5bpm and do the same until you reach your current speed limit. Once you hit a point where you start getting sloppy, back it off about 10bpm and start moving up again by increments of 1 or 2.

You can also take pieces of these scales, eg.
-----------12-----------
-12-14-15----15-14-12--
------------------------ etc.
And do the same with thoseI find all this stuff extremely boring though, so I prefer to just practice actual songs

Thanks for that. Yeah im actually finding lots of my practice pretty boring at the moment but it might be because im very fatigued due to eating heaps and working out, so im getting a bit down about not being able to play as fast or as accurately as id like...but thats why im looking for new ways to practice to get me revved up about it again. So i thought id ask people how they get faster and more accurate, see what that turns up

Good advice though...so cheers

from : localhost/picked out the lessons we have that are most relevant to what you're after

I can't shred by any means, though my playing goal over the next year is to really get somewhere with this.

Years ago I had a book/tape by Troy Stetina called Speed Mechanics for Lead guitar. It was a GREAT book. Although I quit playing (due to lack of time) before I could get into all the sweeps, 3 notes per string, string skipping stuff, the more basic excercises he presented really did help my speed when I worked on them with a degree of seriousness. They were far less boring than most quot;shredquot; technique guides I'd seen.

I recently re-bought the book, but haven't started work with it yet.


Originally Posted by shredaholic from : localhost/picked out the lessons we have that are most relevant to what you're after

Wow there's some great advice there! Anyone who has ever felt too tense playing guitar and felt that it holds you back should read the jamielesson2 one at least!

Okay i cant stress this enough!!! Everyone read that jamielesson2 page up above...i read it two days ago and just now i tried a really fast excercise which used to tire my fingers out to much and after playing it with what i got off that page put into practice i hardly felt any fatigue at all! Its truly amazing!!!

THANK YOU

I've posted a dozen lesson and tips columns which I recommend to my students for building fret hand speed and accuracy.

Go to and click on quot;Lessons and Tips.quot;

The first four are Left Hand exercises which will definitely help you out, and you can do them while you're watching TV -- when you don't really feel like doing serious practice, but are just sittin' around.

i recently purchases some books in the 'guitar grimoire' series and they are quite good. one is 'scales and modes' and the other is 'the exercise book'. tons of good technique guidelines and **** to practice. some of it seems like its written in japanese but i'll eventually figure it all out

Well, if you don't mind doing the occaisonal mindless excersice, here's some of the things I do. First, you know the good old 1234 chromatic fingering excersise, well first I do that, across the strings, up to the twelth fret and back down. But that's pretty easy to get at a good speed, so I wrote down on a piece of paper every possible finger combination of 1234(which should be 23, however if there's more let me know). After, you need a target speed, something which you can achieve to actually see results, otherwise, well, it gets frustrating, and that's what leads to people stoping from playing. Anyways, I find a good target speed is the fastest I can I can fumble may way through the 1234 excercise. My goal then is to be able to play that fast, but cleanly, in all the fingering combinations. Doing that gets you hand into playing in what will sometimes be a really weird order of fingering that you normally wouldn't do, and that's the biggest plus, as you soon find almost any fingering excersice to be a lot easier. I also like to play scales in cycles of threes and foruths, usually trying to connect patterns so I getused to switching positions easier.

Now, I am by no means a shredder, but I started doing this a little while ago, and quickly noticed my technique getting a lot better. It really showed me where the holes are in my playing, as I could easily burn through a 1234 excersice, but soon found that I completely sucked when it came to something like 4132 or 1342 or something wierd like that. Another thing I try and do is once I reach my target speed with a few patterns, I try to not increase the speed of the metronome until I cab get all the fingerings that fast, otherwise I'll just focus on those things which I can play good and fast, and forget about the rest, which isn't going to help at all.

One last thing, when doing excercises like that, don't do them for too long. Pick something like 3 or 4 patterns and do that for warmup or something, a good lenghthed warmup, or if you have a lot of spare time one day, maybe do them for 15 minutes or half an hour. Either way, don't dwell on them too long, or else your practice sessions aren't going to sound like music anymore. I recently read an article in a guitar magazine I had tucked away somewhere, and found I great quote quot;when you practice, think if what your playing is something other people would like to hearquot;. In other words, do something musical a lot.


Originally Posted by Young AngusOkay i cant stress this enough!!! Everyone read that jamielesson2 page up above...i read it two days ago and just now i tried a really fast excercise which used to tire my fingers out to much and after playing it with what i got off that page put into practice i hardly felt any fatigue at all! Its truly amazing!!!

THANK YOU

no probs

heres another great exercise to build finger dexterity, you WILL feel the difference after doing these continuously for an hour

from : localhost/says complete shredding guide, which is misleading as its not, but its fantastic for building finger strength, particuarly your little finger

i think the best one for that is on page 5

HEY!!!!!!!, practice is boring!!!!!!!!!????
Music is supposed to be fun, practice is supposed to be fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Never boring, if u want to improve, first motivate urself, ur goals clear!!!!!!!!!!
GOOD LUCK!!!!
PEACE!!!!!!!!!!


Originally Posted by MagnottaWell, if you don't mind doing the occaisonal mindless excersice, here's some of the things I do. First, you know the good old 1234 chromatic fingering excersise, well first I do that, across the strings, up to the twelth fret and back down. But that's pretty easy to get at a good speed, so I wrote down on a piece of paper every possible finger combination of 1234(which should be 23, however if there's more let me know). After, you need a target speed, something which you can achieve to actually see results, otherwise, well, it gets frustrating, and that's what leads to people stoping from playing. Anyways, I find a good target speed is the fastest I can I can fumble may way through the 1234 excercise. My goal then is to be able to play that fast, but cleanly, in all the fingering combinations. Doing that gets you hand into playing in what will sometimes be a really weird order of fingering that you normally wouldn't do, and that's the biggest plus, as you soon find almost any fingering excersice to be a lot easier. I also like to play scales in cycles of threes and foruths, usually trying to connect patterns so I getused to switching positions easier.

Now, I am by no means a shredder, but I started doing this a little while ago, and quickly noticed my technique getting a lot better. It really showed me where the holes are in my playing, as I could easily burn through a 1234 excersice, but soon found that I completely sucked when it came to something like 4132 or 1342 or something wierd like that. Another thing I try and do is once I reach my target speed with a few patterns, I try to not increase the speed of the metronome until I cab get all the fingerings that fast, otherwise I'll just focus on those things which I can play good and fast, and forget about the rest, which isn't going to help at all.

One last thing, when doing excercises like that, don't do them for too long. Pick something like 3 or 4 patterns and do that for warmup or something, a good lenghthed warmup, or if you have a lot of spare time one day, maybe do them for 15 minutes or half an hour. Either way, don't dwell on them too long, or else your practice sessions aren't going to sound like music anymore. I recently read an article in a guitar magazine I had tucked away somewhere, and found I great quote quot;when you practice, think if what your playing is something other people would like to hearquot;. In other words, do something musical a lot.yup its all in there:

from : localhost/www.shredaholic.com/chromatic.html

from : localhost/www.shredaholic.com/katilius2.html

or you could try Screaming Fingers if you're looking for some additional guidance on this kindof thing, as that site is pretty much dedicated to improving picking speed

Im gonna say it again. Order Speed kills by michael angelo batio.

Seriously? Isn't it too hard if you're not that good? I've been thinking about buying it also, but figured it would be too hard for me, but maybe I should give it a go then.

i wasnt 'that good' at shred when i first tried playing no boundaries that he plays on speed kills, but by learning each bit slowly and building up speed, i really helped develop my chops, and now i can play it to speed (well i could, but i havent shredded in ages! - don't tell the guys at shredaholic.com)

I can add to this that when you get your metronome, start slow, and if you feel pain, stop. I did this when I got my metronome, and a month later, I'm still unable to play guitar. Maybe use lighter strings like 9s when you're building speed, so you don't kill your hands. Good luck, and let's see some results!

I like using tab programs like powertab or guitar pro. Then you could just find a tab any shredding artist you like here from : localhost/for guitar pro or from : localhost/for powertab. I like guitar pro better as you can loop certain parts to practice on and you reduce the speed to a fraction of actual speed it is played at. The only problem is guitar pro is not free, but powertab is.

*tags*

All I have been doing recently to speed up is play the blues scale up and down over the past month or so.