3 Fast Descending Guitar Licks To Help You Increase Your Speed & Play With Clean Technique

Learning new guitar licks is both fun and beneficial for your playing when they help you improve specific aspects of your technique. This makes learning them more productive than simply playing random licks and not knowing how to use them to get better.

 

It feels awesome to play fast guitar licks knowing that you are increasing your speed and improving your technique while practicing them.

 

Here are several fast descending guitar licks that are fun to practice, help you build speed, improve your technique and clean up your playing at the same time:

Speed Pick Faster And Play Cleaner Scale Runs Using This Training Approach

 

It is much easier to play fast guitar licks that sit on a single string. It becomes more difficult to play fast and clean when you need to transition from one string to the next.

 

You develop much faster and cleaner playing speed by using descending guitar licks to focus on smoothing out this transition. While descending from higher strings to lower strings, you strengthen the upstroke aspect of your picking technique.

 

This has a massively positive effect on your overall picking technique and guitar playing speed.

 

Play guitar faster and cleaner while transitioning from string to string by working on licks like these:

Fast Descending Guitar Lick 1

Emphasize the string transitions with a heavier pick stroke to force yourself to play them cleaner over time.

 

While picking the note of the string transitions (the ones indicated with back-to-back upstrokes), sweep pick these two notes with ONE big pick stroke instead of two separate pick strokes.

 

This is the most efficient and smooth way to pick these notes.

 

This video shows you using the picking approach makes any scale run faster and more effortless:

Apply this concept to any scale or guitar lick to improve your ability to play it faster and smoother. Pinpoint your upstrokes by practicing in this manner for 25% or so of the time you schedule to work on a particular practice item.

Improve Your Picking Technique To Play Guitar Faster With Better Two-Hand Sync Using This Trick

 

Becoming a better guitar player is about stepping out of your comfort zone and trying new things that force you to think differently. Developing faster guitar playing is not different.

 

One of the key aspects of clean and fast playing is having both hands in sync. You challenge yourself to keep your hands better locked in sync by playing scale patterns, licks or riffs in unconventional ways.

 

For example: Most people play scale patterns that ascend in pitch as they ascend from lower to higher strings. Reversing this challenges you to think outside-the-box and improve your guitar speed in new ways.

 

This scale pattern excerpt ascends from a lower string to higher string, but descends in pitch while doing so:

Fast Guitar Lick Run

A variation of this descending guitar lick plays a scale pattern that descends from a high string to a low string while ascending in pitch:

Fast Guitar Lick Run 2

Practicing both of these ideas not only helps you improve your two-hand sync, but helps you play more creatively rather than using the same old partners again and again.

 

Learn more about keeping your hands locked in sync for cleaner playing by reading this guitar technique article.

Learn How To Sweep Pick Fast With Better Accuracy Using A Unique Arpeggio Position Shift

 

There are tons of lesser-known sweep picking licks that give your guitar playing a more interesting sound than the common ones. Learning them makes your playing sound more interesting and helps you play guitar faster when practiced the right way.

 

This unconventional descending arpeggio guitar lick combines two 3-note sweep picking ideas together along with a big position shift:

Fast Guitar Pull Off Lick

Here are a few ideas for how to quickly master this lick:

 

  • Practice both halves of the arpeggio separately and together.
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  • Practice the arpeggio beginning on note 4 to smooth out the position shift.
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  • Use a down stroke to play the note on the 16th fret and an upstroke on the other (non-legato) note.
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  • Practice the arpeggio in reverse.
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Here is another creative way to practice sweep picking:

After practicing this arpeggio idea, look for ways to create your own arpeggios using the same structure to make your lead guitar playing more creative.

 

These descending guitar lick ideas are just the beginning. There are tons of other fun and creative ways to play guitar faster and cleaner than ever.

 

Start developing faster speed now using the ideas in this article about playing guitar fast.