Continuing along with my post on becoming a better lead guitar player here I thought it would be worth while to give a quick reference to how you can learn to play faster.
I’ve read a lot about different exercises you can use to improve your speed when playing. One such article I read today gave a great over view of three different exercises you can use that will have you playing more accureately and faster in just a few weeks.
In order to do these exercises you’re going to need a metronome so if you don’t yet have one you’ll want to either get a software based metronome or buy an electronic one.
Here’s the original article on playing guitar faster but I’ll give a brief over view here.
Tip 1: Learn your Pentatonic scales (sound familiar) I’ve been talking about this a lot in different posts. You want to learn the first shape and then play it forwards and backwards. Do this first for accuracy by starting in the open position playing the scale forwards then backwards, moving up one fret and doing it again.
Tip 2: Play the scale along with a metronome. It’s good to be able to play it all the way up the neck but also practice doing it in time with a metronome. The exercise they suggest will work well.
Tip 3: Pick up and down. Not all beginner guitar players do this but double picking with double how many times you’re hitting your string in the same time frame you used to only hit it once.
So check out that original article and start integrating some of this into your practice routines.