Building up Speed.

Halloween Jack

Howdy,


Have been playing for about 18 months now and have been learning to improvise solos for the last 4 or so, but i feel like im at an impasse as regards my speed.

I have been playing scales to a metronome for at least a year, upping the tempo when it feels comfortable to do so.

I can play 16th notes while picking scales, probably at about 90 bpm, but i still find its a slower than id like to play, and if i try to play faster i lose any fluency.

So anybody have any good excercises for building speed? Or any advice on how to get faster? Is it something that just comes with time? Or is there anything i can do?

-=al=-

Sounds like you're on the right track, just make sure to challenge yourself and take it all in it's stride

it was about 5-6 years before i thought i was fluidly, fast, precise and efficient enough!

Rigsby

The only way I know to build up speed is exactly what you are doing, i.e. starting at a comfortable tempo and building it up gradually. If you try to increase the tempo and fail, drop it back a few notches, as the fingers obviously don't have the coordination yet at that speed. You might be increasing the tempo too much at a time. It takes time and patience, but there are no short cuts, and this is the only way to do it AFAIK.

Halloween Jack

Rigsby wrote: »

The only way I know to build up speed is exactly what you are doing, i.e. starting at a comfortable tempo and building it up gradually. If you try to increase the tempo and fail, drop it back a few notches, as the fingers obviously don't have the coordination yet at that speed. You might be increasing the tempo too much at a time. It takes time and patience, but there are no short cuts, and this is the only way to do it AFAIK.

Cheers lads,

As I seem to be on the right track I suppose I'll just have to persevere. Was hoping there was something I was missing which would magically unlock the secrets to playing fast;)

See, I not interested in shredding or whatever, but I'm trying to learn the solo from another brick in the wall, technically it's not too bad, but only at about half speed. Furthermore, when I'm improvising it's all very one paced.

Rigsby

Halloween Jack wrote: »

technically it's not too bad, but only at about half speed.

So you are half way there already !!!

Good luck with it.

18AD

Good advice all round. I've been playing for ten years and could still improve on this. It was probably a few years before I thought I could play fast. It may be one of those things that needs time (unintended!) to master.

Halloween Jack wrote: »

Furthermore, when I'm improvising it's all very one paced.

While you're at the slower pace you can always look at various rhythmic things to spice up your playing at the pace you're comfortable with.

This video isn't the best but it covers a lot of ideas.

Halloween Jack

18AD wrote: »

Good advice all round. I've been playing for ten years and could still improve on this. It was probably a few years before I thought I could play fast. It may be one of those things that needs time (unintended!) to master.



While you're at the slower pace you can always look at various rhythmic things to
spice up your playing at the pace you're
This video isn't the best but it covers a lot of ideas.

Cheers lads, maybe I'm looking for too much out of myself or my abilities at the moment. Still playing guitar is probably the only thing I've ever embarked on in life where I actually kind of enjoy the spade work, which is just as well 'cause it looks like there will be plenty of it!

Halloween Jack

That vid gives plenty of food for thought for my noodling sessions actually mate, nice one and thanks again to all.

18AD

Halloween Jack wrote: »

Cheers lads, maybe I'm looking for too much out of myself or my abilities at the moment. Still playing guitar is probably the only thing I've ever embarked on in life where I actually kind of enjoy the spade work, which is just as well 'cause it looks like there will be plenty of it!

You will go far, good sir!

Good luck.

ciaranmac

Just noticed the OP didn't mention what instrument he is playing, and we all assumed (correctly) that it's a guitar.

To bring it back on topic, what works for me is to play the scales slightly faster than I'm comfortable with, and so long as I'm not making mistakes if I keep doing it the fluency will follow. Then up the tempo again by a few bpm.

Halloween Jack

Sorry, forgot to mention instrument in the OP, it weirdly never entered my head to do so.

Cheers for the advice, since starting the thread I've been trying to force it a bit, then slowing down, going back and repeating to attempt to iron out any flaws, seems crazy but I've noticed a slight improvement already when I've been applying it to the solo I mentioned Im learning. Still missing the fluency though and i need to work on phrasing, sounds gash half the time

-=al=-

Well if you can't play it slow you can't play it fast and thats that

Good that you enjoy it, I don't mind learnind and practising myself, it's good to see improvement...

Once it starts feeling like a chore to learn and practise tis bad news... gota enjoy it all

music producer

This may or may not apply, as I'm a pianist. My classical teacher in high school emphasized playing pieces much slower than your top speed - often 1/2 speed - with attention to every detail - relaxing the hand in between notes or chords, exactly the same fingering every time, using a metronome, counting aloud, hand position perfect since I had time to think about it, and so forth.

As far as the fluency or suppleness of the hands - this is probably a no-brainer, but as a studio keyboardist, I have to be very careful about any heavy lifting I do closer than about 3 days to a session, otherwise I have the same problem - fast passages end up sounding like a cat is walking on the piano!

Halloween Jack

Thanks for the info mate, the common consensus seems to be to make sure it's perfect at a comfortable speed and then build it up, so I'll keep plugging away.