5 Powerful Tricks To Play Guitar Fast & Clean Like You Never Thought Possible

Do you feel stuck with your guitar speed?


Any time this happens, you can bet that there are one or more small aspects of your playing that can be corrected to help you play guitar faster and cleaner in no time.


After you identify what these things are and start fixing them, playing at faster speeds instantly becomes easier than ever. Most guitarists never do this and it takes them forever to make any significant progress with their speed. Don’t end up like them!


Use these 5 tricks to help you play guitar fast and clean by correcting any subtle mistakes that are holding you back:

Develop Great Technique For Fast Guitar Playing By Practicing Both Hands Separately, The Together


The more you break down your technique, the easier it is to focus on correcting fundamental flaws that keep you from playing guitar fast and clean.


One powerful trick for doing this is to simply practice any given guitar lick separately with each hand before bringing them together. This helps you focus in on the technique of each hand like a laser – so you make your technique as efficient as possible.


For example:


1.   While playing a scale lick, practice it by using only legato to get the notes to sound. Only use your picking hand to mute the strings you aren’t playing. Focus on getting each note to sound clearly (no muffled notes).


Make your legato technique perfect using the advice in this video:

1.   Then pick the strings without fretting the notes, only using your fretting hand to mute them. Focus on picking as efficiently as possible by not wasting any movement as discussed in this guitar technique article.

Bring both hands together and listen for any mistakes that didn’t occur while they were separate.

This gives you 3 angles at which to view your playing, so you are able to correct your mistakes and play guitar fast and clean in no time.

Play Faster, Higher Quality Notes With Less Effort By Picking Harder And Fretting Softer


Another simple trick for playing guitar fast is to pick with more power. Picking with more power brings out mistakes you would normally overlook. This helps you correct them, so they don’t hold your playing back.


Achieve more power in your picking attack by simply using a heavier pick and putting the pick deeper into the strings when you play, like this:

Play Guitar Faster Constantly Challenging Yourself In New & Unusual Ways


You become a better guitar player by stepping outside of your comfort zone and finding new ways to play things you’ve mastered (or want to master). Here are just a few tricks to help you play guitar faster while improving your skills and making yourself a more versatile player:

·         Play a guitar lick using 3 variations of the lick that use unique pick strokes. For example, upstrokes where you normally use downstrokes or all upstrokes.

·         Play in extreme fretboard positions such as the highest frets on the lower strings or the lowest frets. Do this while improvising, or move guitar licks to these areas to master them in a new way.

Always ignore the voice in your head that says, “This is impossible.” Try guitar licks, solos or techniques that sound difficult and watch as they eventually become second nature.

Play Guitar Faster In No Time By Practicing Less, But Better


Getting faster at guitar is not about practicing 5 hours a day, but practicing efficiently with the time you have. Even if you only have 20 minutes a day, you can still get tons of results for your guitar speed in this time.


Make your practice time as efficient as possible by centering your practice items around specific, tangible goals. Then try these tips to achieve faster guitar speed in less time:


·         Practice your items for a few minutes each throughout the day. This ensures that you practice with complete focus and get the best results possible from your efforts.

·         Practice items that help you improve multiple skills at once over items that only train a specific, isolated skill (like tapping).

·         Always practice with specific goals in mind for each session, then do so without any distractions (such as TV, phone or anything else).


Using the simple tips in this article helps you increase your guitar speed quickly. However, there are many more ways to become a faster guitarist that aren’t covered here. Learn how to shred like never before with these free tips for playing guitar fast.