This is a great idea and I do this often. I slightly modify the technique though to more realistically recreate what’s going on when the picking would enter the picture. I don’t use the same slurring technique I would in more intentional legato playing. Just very light “all hammers” which ironically ends up sounding sort of staccato. This lets me know if it’s a sync or stamina issue though. Once everything appears kosher, I bring the picking in, forwards chaining just a couple notes at time. As long as I am in fact using the same picking motion I’m using when tremolo-ing at these speeds, the results are typically really good, for me anyway.
This seems like a good idea and I’ll try to incorporate this more.
I think doing a few minutes of left hand only or whichever youre fretting hand is only is a great idea. Im going to start doing this again. Here’s a bit of an odd question that may not even have a direct answer. I don’t think my fretting hand has great stamina because often I find legato, mostly the pull offs, require more energy/force than just picking that descended note. Is it supposed to be this way?
Yes, I feel too because picking every note does not require pull-offs at all. I can fret with picking almost non-stop. Legato - not so much.
Now my picking is much improved, I am now disgusted at the fretting hand ability! 
1 Like
Would you recommend just doing Left hand only for a few minutes to improve fretting hand speed/accuracy?
I wouldn’t recommend against it, it can certainly be valuable.
It can be very valuable to get a sense of how fast your fretting hand can execute a sequence without the picking hand. It can help to identify which hand is the limiting factor in certain situations, and it can also help to identify situations where the fretting fingers aren’t fretting at an even rate, which can casue difficulties with synchronisation.
I know in my own case, doing some work with just the fretting hand by itself has helped me to create “landmarks” for chunking and synchronisation. It’s also helped me to realise just how fast my fretting hand can actually move on certain sequences. Honestly, when I’m picking my absolute fastest, I’m really just trying to keep up with what my fretting hand is capable of. Also, it made me realise that when you play fast enough, every fretting action that isn’t a finger roll or a slide is essentially going to be a hammer-on.
There are som caveats though. What you’re fretting must actually be transferrable to what you’ll eventually want to play with picking. Also, you have to be careful to avoid adding pull-offs where you wouldn’t use them with picking and be careful to include them where you would actually perform them. Most people aren’t very comfortable with decending hammers, and will try to pull-off to create an audible note. This could potentially lead to redunandant pull-off actions when playing with picking. Also, some finger rolling motions just won’t result in an audible note without picking, even if fretted correctly. The lack of audible notes as feedback can make it difficult to know if you’re fretting accurately or not.
The noise of strings vibrating behind the fret can also be a distraction. I often practice with a fretwrap just to eliminate that noise.
Ultimately, it’s a useful practice method, but it can be prone to false positives and false negatives. If you intend on practicing in this way, you’ll have to try to account for those situations.
I think I would mainly be doing it to build stamina, synchronization, and to better pinpoint the positions for my fretting hand that dont cause unwanted tension when doing pull offs
Perfectly said Tom and it’s a concept that took me a long time to get to. It’s not easy to understand either. Practicing with a metronome does wonders and I recommend it strongly but it also comes with some limitations when trying to attain certain higher speeds. A single sided approach of incrementally increasing speed does wonders but most of us hit a sustained wall at some point. The reason why we hit that wall is we are trying to go faster with a type of motion used that’s reached its limit. The trick to getting past that wall is difficult to describe and I would poorly characterize the difference as being a “different motion” Take a small piece of what you are doing and make it happen at the speed you want to achieve, even if it’s sloppy you will see it’s a different “movement” or “motion” than when ramping up a metronome. It’s capturing the essence of that movement that gets you past the wall. Maybe the use of the words movement and motion are not the correct terms - not sure how else to describe. I’m a fan of getting this to happen with small pick strokes and a small part of the pick sticking out from the thumb. I think it’s an easier approach than trying to refine larger inefficient movements. Once you get comfortable and at the speed you are looking for, then you are able to open the movements up - they don’t have to stay “small” once you get it down. Thanks Tom, good posts.
Try doing all-hammers-only legato. Even for descending work, it’s possible, though it’s tough. I haven’t got it myself but know it’s doable. For descending, the most important thing is the timing, b/c you have to lift off the higher finger at just the right time for the lower finger hammer to sound.
For developing fretting hand speed, one thing I’ve recently found immensely helpful is to do fast, clear and extremely short staccato hammers. Get your left hand in fretting position, and moving just one finger, and the finger only, try to hammer one note, and then immediately release it. Make it as staccato as you can. Then, take a moment to reflect, and do the next finger. I do about 1 finger per second, very deliberate, and release all tension between each note. See how quickly you can fret and release the note – it’s not about effort, it’s about speed. Notice how close you can keep the finger for the fretting to still work, but the goal is not to minimize movement, it’s to minimize tension and maximize speed. Shake out your fretting hand periodically to ensure you’re not accumulating any tension, always return to zero tension. When you’ve got it good, fast, and light, try increasing the hammer volume, but again make sure you’re not overexerting – it’s easy to accidentally recruit extra muscles you don’t need.
Do all four fingers, and only do this for a few minutes at a time. It’s about refining your reflexes, not about muscles.
Cheers! z
I have done a little bit of this from time to time to focus on timing and accuracy, but never tried to master it mainly because I generally much prefer the sound of pull-offs in there. But I take your point and can’t deny that a bit of extra fretting stamina would be super helpful! I’ll give it a go!
Ok, thanks for the comment. I am finding as you are different techniques, as a music teacher and professional sax player gives me great ideas. Troy’s speed first , then slowly breaking down the mechanics is profound, i am tweaking his idea
- Find the fastest speed i can play for a short burst
Generally a phrase of around 88 to the quarter note
I can play 16ths there but not an entire scale - Take small phrases pentatonic or scale and break them into two ,3 or 4 note group,
- Play them fast as possible 16, then 8th, then quarter
- Notice the micro movements on each hand
ie lack of finger dexterity, finger syncronization , fingers that must cross or substitute , particularly 3-4
5 make it fun, i teach my sax students snd general music this
I have been studying off and on for since 2006, with gaps in between, i could never pick for crap, troy’s pick slanting concept is hugely important. Lastly yesterday i rotated the pick to the rounded edge, smoother sound and 100% easier when string crossing. Gonna get lessons near me this week
Careful of the ‘short burst’ thing…I did this (against the better advice on the forum here) and it although it was fruitful in many ways (i.e. mix with legato = fun) I found I could not do long runs (i.e. approx 2 bars) and had to go back to (what felt like) square one and work on that.
Had I started with longer runs I would have been able to progress more efficiently (in my best estimation).
Also - you want to aim for faster than 16ths 88bpm to ensure you are using efficient technique…aim for 16ths at 140-150 bpm-ish.