Can't play fast

Technique Critique
#1

Hello there. I never really focused on technique much at all in the past, and as a result I’m far from being able to play fast as you can see in the videos below. Before I commit to the metronome to improve in this regard I want to make sure my foundational technique is half decent, so any criticism/ advice would be much appreciated.

I try to use 2-way pick slanting for the most part, and from what I can tell my picking motion comes almost exclusively from the wrist.

For context here’s my tremolo picking at 175bpm, which is not far from my limit as you can tell by the sloppy timing.

Here’s me playing a 3NPS major scale ascending and descending, more or less as fast as I can, and also playing the Paul Gilbert lick as fast as I can. Both are slow as you can see and on the 3NPS major scale I gas out very quickly and as a result I can’t play it much faster than is shown in the video without running out of energy halfway through and not being able to finish without slowing down considerably.

And finally here’s a simple exercise descending then ascending. It’s interesting to note that on the way down it’s far more tiring on my right hand and less smooth than the ascending part, which is noticeably easier. I noticed that the descending part happens to be outside picking and the ascending part is inside picking if that has anything to do with it.

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#2

I’m no expert @Jakeh15 but you’re not that slow, I was probably at that same level a few months ago after returning to guitar after years of not playing and trying for a few months to get faster. It’s great that you’ve got the string changes smooth enough on 3NPS that you don’t notice a gap. I struggle with ascending 3NPS using alternate picking and 2WPS so I switched to the YGM method of sweeping the downstrokes so you always start the 1st note on a downstroke.

I’m sure others will provide better advice but it looks like you’re right hand is a little too tense and you need to relax your pick grip and wrist a little maybe.

Another thing that I found helped was using a thicker pick. I always used medium picks before (0.8mm) but I found that adjusting to use a thicker pick 1.2mm - 1.5mm worked out better for fast playing after a small adjustment period.

Best of luck and keep playing those 3NPS scales, also try doing 6 note 3NPS on just 2 strings to get your pick slanting better. The 4 note PG lick is good for that but the one that helped me a lot was the Vinnie Moore 2 string descending 6 note 3NPS lick to help me to bed in my pick slanting and escaping motions. Also I do Vai type 7NPS scales a lot (same as 3NPS but going up like 1232123 or down 3212321 on each string).

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#3

Welcome to the forum! I would say your picking motion appears to be mostly elbow, not wrist.

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#4

Hey @Jakeh15,

For reference here is an old post giving some advice on the licks to use for practicing and achieving good clean fast picking technique:

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#5

Like @Johannes pointed out, you’re playing mostly with elbow when you go fast. In your tremolo video you play the first 8 notes with wrist, then you switch to elbow.

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#6

That post is very helpful actually. I like the idea of focusing on one thing at a time and building a good foundation for it before moving on, instead of juggling many things at once. Thanks for sharing it.

#7

Thank you to you and @Johannes for pointing that out. I hadn’t noticed at all but after paying more attention to my picking it definitely is coming mostly from the elbow.

Would you say the elbow picking is playing a part in my low speed threshold and the fact I get tired very quickly like in the 3NPS major scale video I posted? I think I read somewhere one this site that elbow picking is mainly compatible with DSX picking, so maybe the elbow picking is at odds with my two-way picking in some way?
EDIT: Scratch that. After looking in the mirror it turns out the elbow motion is only at play during fast tremolo playing, but it doesn’t carry across to scalar string switching, that’s exclusively from the wrist, with slight forearm rotation when required for the two-way pickslanting.

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#8

Your videos are no longer available (set to private?), but I seem to recall that despite what your mirror observations tell you, there was a significant elbow component to all your playing in the above clips. This would indeed interfere with any two way slanting/double escape attempts.

#9

You should NOT avoid using your elbow at faster speeds at all. I capped at 110 bpm 16th notes max with 3 nps scales in February. I stopped refusing to use my elbow, and… It’s very capable to use for scalar playing.

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