Play Guitar Fast And Clean By Using Creative Practice To Develop Insane Levels Of Concentration
Playing guitar fast and clean feels infinitely easier when you are able to closely track the movements in your hands.
Unfortunately, most guitarists never know what this feels like.
The key is learning how to practice creatively in a way that locks both hands together in sync.
Good news…
It’s really easy too!
It all revolves around using your pick to accent notes.
Here’s what to do:
Use a powerful picking attack to train your mind to concentrate on specific notes.
Sound simple?
It is.
And that’s a good thing!
It’s easy to train yourself to play guitar faster and cleaner than ever using this approach.
So let’s go over some practice approaches using it right now.
Approach #1: Accent The First Note On The First String You Play
Picking the very first note on every string with more power is a powerful tool for keeping your hands in sync.
This makes playing guitar fast feel a lot easier and smoother over time.
Benefits of using this practice approach:
·
Accenting the first note on each string to help
your hands stay in sync.
·
Accenting the first note resets your 2-hand
synchronization and helps you to play clean and fast in order to reduce the
frustration of making mistakes while learning.
·
You improve your ability to play notes clearly
and with better quality.
· You are able to focus on improving a single note, one note at a time, in order to play fast guitar licks clean in less time.
Approach #2: Accent Notes In A Specific Rhythm On An Open String
You challenge yourself to focus more closely by using a powerful pick attack to emphasize notes in a specific time or rhythmic pattern.
For example:
Try continually picking an open string by picking in a four note rhythmic pattern (4/4) where the first beat is always accented with more picking power.
For example:
1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 4 | etc.
Try this at slow and fast speeds.
This forces you to think more closely about how you are picking each note.
Try this with more complicated rhythms and faster tempos to add to the challenge.
For example, here is a pattern in 7/8 with two accented notes:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | etc.
A big advantage of playing in groupings of 7 is that the pick stroke of the accent alternates every measure. This makes it easier to concentrate and pick with precision.
This is also a great type of exercise for developing more
articulate and consistent tremolo picking technique.
Try it out by tremolo picking in short bursts of three notes at a time, with a rest in between each repetition. The accent different notes and expand to include more notes in the grouping.
Approach #3: Accent Notes Within Scales, Arpeggios And Licks
The next level up is to use a powerful picking attack to
accent one or more notes in any guitar lick.
This is a great way to ensure that this single note is played perfectly – and if it’s not, to help you understand the mistake that must be corrected for you to do so.
Break down the lick into smaller sections and change the note that is accented to move your focus from one note to another.
Apply this same concept to practicing arpeggios:
Additionally, this can apply to many other guitar exercises, such as single string scale patterns (excellent for develop synchronization between your hands).
This approach can also be combined with accented in a specific rhythm to really raise your ability to focus to another level!
The more you practice with this level of focus, the easier it becomes to process notes at fast speeds and play guitar fast without any struggle.