This lesson was inspired by an email from one of the people visiting this site (thanks for making me update the site Claudio!)

Having looked at picking last lesson, it is now time to look at how we practise our exercises to increase our speed. Rather than looking at specific exercises per se, I would rather look at how and when we practise these exercises. Many guitarists out there in the world of rock and fusion seem to have picking speeds beyond those of mere mortal men. Now having met a few guitarists I will say that I do feel fast picking skills aren't really that common among the regular everyday guitarists but they are worth developing.

Lets take a fresh look at the last lesson. In that lesson I was really looking at getting a good technique for your picking. This is essential if you want to increase your speed. Using the metronome and practising picking the open strings will concentrate your workout on the often inferior right hand technique that holds so many of us back.

Now picking is a sheer motor skill and, like fitness, needs to be maintained. Improving your maximum picking speed is a fairly difficult task in as much as it requires continuous practise and it is easy to lose this speed if you miss a couple of weeks practise. I know Steve Morse says that he can notice his speed going after 3 days without playing. To build up good speed you must warm up first and a good way to start is by playing through a few scales. Once you have started to warm up you will be able to start putting the metronome up a couple of notches. If you keep track of the BPM setting (Beats per minute) on the metronome you should be able to see some improvement after a couple of weeks.

Instead of giving examples, I want to break exercises down into two types. The first I will call runs. These consist of a line that has a beginning and an end. Often it is a simple run up a scale or a sequence or intervallic run. The important thing is that it is played through and then finished. The second kind of exercise is an ostinato piece or repetetive pattern. Essentially this is a short run (usually no longer than one or two bars) which can be played ad infinitum.

In my own practise schedule I have pages dedicated to runs and then pages of repetitive patterns. Both of these exercises have advantages and should be used for improving speed. You will often find that you can play runs faster, however you may find that you don't actually keep a very tight rhythm with the metronome. Generally these kind of runs will involve more right hand movement (usually crossing more strings) but are more easy to pull off because they don't need to be maintained for more than a couple of seconds.

These kind of patterns often keep to only two or three strings which can end up with you have a very tight wrist and right hand position. They are extremely useful for building up the muscles used in picking. It is good to try and maintain a few of these patterns for a minute or so, ensuring that you stay tight with the beat of the metronome and do not drift off.

So how do you know when you can pick fast? I guess some of the rock players out there have picking speeds way in excess of 16th notes at 140BPM! Some guys to consider checking out are Steve Morse, Yngwie Malmsteen, Al Di Meola, Shawn Lane, Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai and Eric Johnson.

Sorry there are no exercises this time but I wanted to get the lesson out as fast as possible!