Build Your Picking Speed - Break Your Limitations
The material presented here is designed to help you increase your picking speed through Progressive Overload Training.
We start with small bursts of notes, and then gradually play more notes in a row to increase the difficulty.
What's shown are what I feel are some of the most important steps taken from a larger Training Program on speed/tremolo picking. More info on the full program will be discussed at the end of the last step provided here.
We start with small bursts of notes, and then gradually play more notes in a row to increase the difficulty.
What's shown are what I feel are some of the most important steps taken from a larger Training Program on speed/tremolo picking. More info on the full program will be discussed at the end of the last step provided here.
How to Increase Your Speed
I'm a big believer in metronome use. Dedicated training with the metronome is how I reached playing 16th notes at 300+ BPM.
The way to use your metronome to gain faster and faster speeds is fairly simple.
Using this approach gives you higher and higher speeds to try playing. This is also a part of Progressive Overload, as you are progressively pushing the speed higher and higher.
Doing this not only allows us to gradually try faster and faster speeds, it's excellent for training our ears to hear fast tempos, and all the notes played at fast tempos. If you can't hear the metronome clicking at a fast tempo, this can result in sloppy playing. Sloppy playing can lead to a lack of progress, or even lead to regression.
Before increasing the speed of your metronome, make sure you feel confident that you NAILED it. If you have any doubts about whether you played everything correctly, then assume you didn't, and try again. Only move up when you believe what you played is good enough to be on your album.
Practice does NOT make perfect. Practice makes permanent, therefore only PERFECT practice makes perfect!
The way to use your metronome to gain faster and faster speeds is fairly simple.
- Whatever exercise or drill you're going to play, start at 60 BPM.
- After playing the exercise or drill correctly JUST ONCE increase the tempo by NO MORE than 5 BPM.
- Repeat this process until you reach a point it takes about two minutes of really struggling to hit your current attempted speed. That's your max for that practice session.
- Write down how fast you got, and then try beating that speed in your next practice session.
- After 3 days of making no further speed gains, move on to the next exercise or drill.
Using this approach gives you higher and higher speeds to try playing. This is also a part of Progressive Overload, as you are progressively pushing the speed higher and higher.
Doing this not only allows us to gradually try faster and faster speeds, it's excellent for training our ears to hear fast tempos, and all the notes played at fast tempos. If you can't hear the metronome clicking at a fast tempo, this can result in sloppy playing. Sloppy playing can lead to a lack of progress, or even lead to regression.
Before increasing the speed of your metronome, make sure you feel confident that you NAILED it. If you have any doubts about whether you played everything correctly, then assume you didn't, and try again. Only move up when you believe what you played is good enough to be on your album.
Practice does NOT make perfect. Practice makes permanent, therefore only PERFECT practice makes perfect!
List of Steps
Each step provided shows the tab, plus a video demonstrating everything at 60, 120, 180, and 240 BPM.
The different categories are listed below. I HIGHLY recommend going in order when you first start out to get the most out of this program.
The different categories are listed below. I HIGHLY recommend going in order when you first start out to get the most out of this program.
Single String |
Descending String Changes |
Ascending String Changes |
Ascending and Descending String Changes |