How To Play Guitar Faster Using Cool Guitar Phrasing Exercises
Playing guitar faster isn’t just about speed – it’s about expressing yourself musically.
Using speed as a tool to play killer guitar solos and licks that are expressive is infinitely better than just being able to play fast.
In fact…
Most guitarists only learn how to play guitar really fast without being able to control their speed and use it musically.
You want to have usable speed.
You want usable speed that makes anything you play more expressive and musical.
Good news:
There are tons of exercises to practice to get faster on guitar in this manner.
Here are just 3 exercises that help you play guitar faster and add expressive emotion to the things you play:
Improve Your Ability To Play Solos Expressively Using Just A Handful Of Notes
Don’t make the cardinal mistake that the majority of guitarists make:
Playing guitar solos by adding as many notes as possible while shredding to cover up for a lack of phrasing skill.
What happens when you do this?
You end up playing guitar solos that sound like an unmemorable blur of non-musical notes.
Not good!
Here’s how to fix this and start playing expressive guitar solos that take advantage of your speed (no matter what level you are at):
Improve your guitar phrasing.
The way to get started with this is to focus on getting as much musical expression as you can from as little as possible.
Use this exercise to do it:
1. Create a short guitar phrase that:
·
uses only a total of 5 pitches (for example: A B
C D E)
·
is in a sequence of 5 notes. In other words, the
phrase is 5 notes long. Keep track of this sequence by thinking the word
“hip-po-pot-a-mus.”
·
uses any note rhythms
·
is in a single position on guitar
· only moves across a total of two strings
2. Once you’ve thought of a phrase that meets the previous requirements, create as many variations of it as you can think of in 5 minutes using:
·
Vibrato
·
Slides
·
Hammer ons/pull offs
·
Bends
·
Tremolo picking
·
Tapping
· Different note rhythms
By using this simple exercise (that focuses only on a handful of notes), you begin to focus more on making your phrases sound musically expressive.
This improves your overall lead guitar playing and helps you start using speed more musically.
Use Tremolo Picking As A Tool To Add Speed & Intensity To Your Playing
You don’t always have to associate speed with playing many different notes in rapid succession. Instead, use tremolo picking to easily add speed to your licks by playing a single note very quickly.
Here are some cool ways to use tremolo picking to make your guitar solos fast, intense and expressive:
·
Add in the middle of a short phrase or scale.
This quickly grabs the listener in the middle of an otherwise normal phrase.
·
Add at the end of a run. This builds
anticipation to a resolution of some kind. End with a note you hold onto for
longer.
·
Play arpeggios with tremolo picked notes. This
sounds very unique and is sure to get the attention of anyone listening.
· Add to bends. This makes and already dramatic guitar technique feel even more dramatic!
Use Rolling Technique To Create Fast & Cool Sounding Licks
One of the coolest techniques to master for guitar speed is
rolling.
This is commonly used to play clean sweep picking arpeggios, but can be used on any pattern that moves across adjacent strings on the same fret.
This cool technique helps you play with more speed in your guitar playing with little effort. Try it out with your arpeggios and any lick that uses notes on frets of adjacent strings.
Now you know some cool guitar phrasing ideas to help you play guitar licks and solos fast a little more easily with a lot more musical expression.
This is just the beginning though!