I’ll take whichever flavor the guy wearing the white robe at the top of the hill tells me to drink, actually! I think that’s the correct answer, anyway! 
And this is as close as I’ll come to violating the forum guidelines of talking about religion or politics, but a fun fact about “Drinking the Kool Aid” is that when that thing actually happened…it was…wait for it…Flavor Aid.
Poor Kool Aid’s been taking the heat for it ever since
So here’s the thing, my personal opinion on the matter - so take it for what you feel it’s worth- is that both schools of thought are correct, You really need both, but both tend to get misconstrued a little. The start slow and work up to tempo with a click is really good at making an already fast but maybe uncontrolled or un-synchronized picking motion more precise and controlled/locked in. ultimately that is the end goal, but it only really works well for speeds that start around 4npb at 130bpm because any slower than that you will be using a different picking motion than your fastest. This work up to speed method is ultimately where you want to switch the focus once you have a motion you know is capable of speed.
The starting fast method is good at seeing whether the motion you are making is even capable of being fast, it’s not about metronomic accuracy out of the gate. It a coarse approach and why there is a huge emphasis on not trying to be rhythmically precise with it. Sloppy is kinda okay here because you aren’t shooting for rhythmic accuracy - it just needs to go fast. It’s nice if both happen out of the gate though. If whatever picking motion you use is not capable of hitting those speeds as sloppy as it may sound, then no matter what you do with that motion slower but locked to that metronome, will steer you right into a wall.
Just stick with it.
Yeah, I believe that was Jonestown, and I think he used that because it was the cheap brand.
Well, if you’re gonna go out with a bang, might as well not overspend during the process lol!
I would think that would be the ONE time a couple of extra cents wouldn’t matter.
That reminds me of the rich guy who wanted to be buried with his entire fortune when he died. His super savvy widow honored his last wish by writing him a check at the burial and tossing it in after they lowered the casket.
Here’s the problem with that: a movement that feels right slow can actually be inefficient, and you won’t know that until you speed it up. That’s why when you are figuring out a picking motion you go for fast speed immediately and will know if it is correct or not. It doesn’t matter that you occasionally flub pick strokes or stutter a little. The only thing that is important initially is that you can achieve speed with minimal tension. I wasted hours practicing slowly and didn’t get an efficient motion until I just went for it. And it turned out to be completely different from what I was doing slowly.
You’re lucky. I wasted years. I was practicing fast then too and could do a few fast licks, which I didn’t understand why I was better at some than others. But I always included lots of slow practice since that’s what everyone says to do. The slow stuff has its place but it should be sparse and meaningful and not done just to check some box. It of course works great on slow tunes too 
I think the slow practice for me is more when I am trying to learn a phrase. If it is flying by to quickly I will often times go to 75% speed, and if its still flying by to fast, i go to 50% speed when I listen to then begin the mental mimic phase of recreating what I hear in my thoughts. If it is some new style i wont be able to crank up the tempo of it for a day or two until my fretting & rest stroke picking hand gains the motor mechanics necessary. if it follows more of the style of phrases that i kind of already know with similar fingerings i can play them faster quicker. in the gypsy jazz realm there are different schools like dutch style, forbach, etc etc, and the more phrases of them you know you can pick up things faster having put in the work before hand. i think being shown how to do something clearly from the get go makes all the difference in the world. i believe this is why i am so fast at 3 string arpeggio runs because yngwie actually sort of took a bit more time in trying to explain how he did them on that reh video. plus i was really young which i think also helps since the body grows and learns much faster.
I also believe having a live video of the performance is 100% the best way. Sure you can begin by not cheating, and trying to guesstimate where the player is most likely playing it from the phrases/arpeggios/fragments/embellished enclosure arpeggio fragments (happens most of the time around the tritone) that you already know, then check yourself on fingering and rest stroke direction. the more stuff you learn the better you get at this, but having a video makes all the difference in the world. i mean it is being played on a guitar, so seeing it and hearing it are two things that are important. it is like learning how to speak, seeing the mouth move and hearing the sounds are whats required in order to try to mimic back what you are hearing.
but don’t quit if you are frustrated put it away. try to figure out a plan, and find a teacher that already can do the things you want to do and play. if he isn’t teaching you stuff that you desire to play you are wasting your time.
Haha, me too! By “hours,” I meant hundreds. Should’ve have just said years