How To Practice Fast Guitar Riffs To Learn Them Quickly

Learning how to play fast guitar riffs is one of the most fun things you can do as a guitarist.

Wouldn’t it be cool if you knew how to practice them effectively to learn them faster?

It sure would.

So, let’s help you do it right now!

Most people don’t really know how to practice guitar riffs very effectively and end up wasting tons of time – meaning it takes longer to play the riff perfectly.

Use the unique practice ideas below to learn how to practice fast guitar riffs so you learn them quickly:

Idea #1: Break Down Guitar Riffs To Make Them Easier To Digest

Practice an entire guitar riff often feels overwhelming when you haven’t mastered one or several areas of the riff.

Breaking the riff down into smaller segments makes it much easier to digest, so you are able to master notes a few at a time without problems.

Note: This works amazingly for not only riffs but guitar solos or entire songs.

Now, let’s break down a guitar riff and repeat it as many times as you can in a short period of time.

Choose any guitar riff you want to perfect.

Break the riff down into 3 note segments. So each grouping of notes you will practice is only 3 notes long (or less if needed).

Now focus on practicing each segment for several minutes to perfect the in isolation from the rest of the guitar riff.

Practicing these segments for high repetition is incredibly effective for mastering them in short periods of time.

Learn how this works by watching the following video:

Now, let’s use these segments to practice in a very unique way that helps you develop better mental timing while improving the riff.

Play each segment to a metronome. While playing it, keep the rhythm of the riff in your head and play the segment when it would occur again if the entire riff were repeating over and over. In other words, imagine the other notes of the riff are just rests.

After several repetitions, add-in another segment of notes and continue this process until you are playing the entire riff

If you find yourself struggling with any specific section of notes, isolate them and practice them entirely on their own for now.

Idea #2: Improve Your Ability To Process Notes By Playing At Really Fast Speeds

Don’t use the same conventional approach of practicing something slowly and working up to speed over time.

Note: Practicing slowly has its uses, but this is not the ONLY tool in your toolbox.

Practicing guitar faster than you are used to forces you to move outside of your comfort zone. It causes your brain to work hard to process at a faster speed than usual in order to catch up to your hands.

Result: Playing at any speed slower than this faster speed becomes easier (making it easier to reach speeds you never thought were possible).

Again, break down the riff to make the notes easier to play without feeling overwhelmed.

Play each segment much faster than what you are used to.

Don’t worry if you make mistakes, you are simply trying to get some notes right while improving your mental processing power.

Next, return to the normal speed at which you would play the riff and see how much easier it feels!

Use this concept as a supplement to help you master guitar riffs more quickly.

Idea #3: Mix Up Your Picking Approach

One of the most underrated ways to get faster at guitar is using unusual picking approaches to challenge your picking technique.

So instead of picking with downstrokes in a situation were you’d normal use them, use upstrokes instead… and vice versa.

Practice a given guitar riff using many different picking approaches to challenge yourself and make any future pick stroke combination easier.

Idea #4: Increase Your Picking Power

The more picking power you use, the better you get at keeping your hands in sync and the more articulate your notes sound.

Most guitar players pick with very little power, causing their playing to sound weak and frail. Don’t end up like this!

Here’s how to pick with power on guitar:

Apply heavy picking into your regular playing a little bit at a time until it becomes your natural approach.

Idea #5: Fix Problems More Easily By Separating Your Hands

Isolating your picking hand and fretting hand from one another while practicing narrows your focus to make it easier to follow what is going on.

This makes it easier to fix mistakes that you’d normally miss while practicing with both hands.

Sound good?

Great!

Here is how to practice separating your hands:

Ready to learn more ways to play guitar faster and make your playing sound better overall? It doesn’t have to take very long!

Become a faster and better guitarist quick by studying the ideas in this free online guitar playing improvement resource.