How To Play Guitar Fast And Clean While Improvising So Your Solos Sound Totally Pro
Playing fast guitar solos feels amazing until you start making tons of sloppy mistakes. You make your
soloing sound totally professional once you learn the common sloppy mistakes to
look for and how to fix them.
Note: This doesn’t refer to only technical guitar playing mistakes, but various other types of mistakes in practice approach and mindset.
Learn how to play guitar faster and cleaner than ever by correcting these common mistakes:
Mistake #1: Not Knowing One’s Mistakes Or Actively Working To Correct Them
Through Practice
It’s incredibly difficult to improve your guitar speed and accuracy when you don’t know what is keeping you from being the player you want to be. You’d be surprised at how many guitar players never do this and end up stuck in their playing for years!
Taking action to identify and correct your mistakes (using effective and efficient practice) only takes a little bit and has a massively positive effect for your playing.
A great way to both identify and correct mistakes that hold you back from playing guitar as fast as you want is to repeat something many times.
·
Choose any guitar lick you
want to play faster and repeat it 50 times in a row. As you do this, find the
areas of the lick where you struggle and take note of the mistakes being made.
· Then break the lick down into smaller groups of notes to make it easier to process (versus trying to correct everything at once). Repeat each group 50 times using perfect technique, while making corrections in the moment as needed.
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If you are unsure about how to correct your mistakes, find a
guitar teacher to work with who will help you.
Mistake #2: Not Using Correct Muting Technique
There are many holes in your muting technique that can lead
to sloppy playing while playing guitar fast. Some are more obvious and some are
more subtle.
Here are some tips to help you play guitar fast without sloppy string noises using pro level muting technique:
This is more effective because your thumb stays in contact with the strings, whereas palm muting brings your palm away from the strings at times while you are picking.
This video demonstrates how to perfectly mute strings while playing guitar with thumb muting:
2. Always mute the strings above or below the one you are
playing with both hands, then lightly lay your picking hand fingers on strings
for extra protection. This is especially useful for 7 string guitar playing.
3. Practice something for a few minutes by paying extra attention to muting technique in both hands until you naturally mute everything perfect.
Mistake #3: Always Practicing
Improvisation In The Same Way
The mindset you have while playing freely on your own is different from the one you have while soloing through improvisation. Improvising forces you to think faster and increases the chances of a mental mistake that causes sloppy playing.
Many guitarists improvise in the same way every time and never make progress with their guitar solos and phrasing. Don’t make their mistake.
Challenge yourself to improvise in different musical situations to strengthen your ability to think fast and play guitar solos that flow seamlessly.
Do this by improvising:
· Over one chord only
·
Over multiple chords/progressions
·
Using only a few notes
·
Using only one string
·
While only playing with one finger
· While playing double stops in octaves only
Note: This is a short list. Think of many of your own ways to improvise and improve your creativity.
Mistake #4: Never Practicing Over A Metronome
Practicing to a metronome trains you to stay in time with
solos, licks and while improvising. You should invest at least some time practicing with a metronome to
work on your timing and rhythm.
Learn more about the pros and cons to practicing guitar with a metronome.
Mistake #5: Never Practicing In Front Of
Others To Put Extra Pressure On Yourself
Playing in front of others puts an added layer of pressure
on you and is the ultimate test of your skills! Playing guitar fast in this
situation requires control over your mental state (nervousness) and mastery of
whatever it is you are playing.
Finally, learning how to perform music is what separates you from the countless other guitarists who only play in their bedrooms.
Look for ways to jam with a band, perform at open mic night or just get together and play for friends. You’ll be surprised at how much better you get from this and how much confidence you gain!