# Which is a good average of notes per second
**URL:** https://forum.troygrady.com/t/which-is-a-good-average-of-notes-per-second/97558
**Category:** Playing Technique
**Created:** [May 26, 2026, 11:33pm UTC](https://forum.troygrady.com/t/which-is-a-good-average-of-notes-per-second/97558 "2026-05-26T23:33:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@VRX51](https://forum.troygrady.com/u/VRX51)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2026, 11:33pm UTC](https://forum.troygrady.com/t/which-is-a-good-average-of-notes-per-second/97558/1 "2026-05-26T23:33:09Z")
Hi everyone! How are you all doing?
I was practicing with a metronome, and I noticed that I can consistently play 12 notes per second using my DSX, and 10 notes per second using my DBX.
Of course, that’s not as fast as some pros out there! But I’d like to know, what’s a good average speed for playing some complicated pieces using these techniques?
And if possible, I’d also like some songs to practice these two techniques.
Cheers!
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### Author:  [@steve506](https://forum.troygrady.com/u/steve506)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2026, 2:02pm UTC](https://forum.troygrady.com/t/which-is-a-good-average-of-notes-per-second/97558/2 "2026-05-27T14:02:24Z")
That’s canonically fast territory already. Except from highly technical metal/shred, I struggle to think of anything else that requires a higher average speed. You’ll be fine.
What kind of music do you like?
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### Author:  [@VRX51](https://forum.troygrady.com/u/VRX51)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2026, 2:27pm UTC](https://forum.troygrady.com/t/which-is-a-good-average-of-notes-per-second/97558/3 "2026-05-27T14:27:00Z")
Well, i like some prog metal/rock, Rush, Dream Theater, Fates Warning, Genesis.
But this days i’m more towards jazz fusion. The thing is, i’m really bad on legato, my pull-offs are king of weak, so i’m basically use pick all the time, with one or other pull-off.
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### Author:  [@Drew](https://forum.troygrady.com/u/Drew)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2026, 2:49pm UTC](https://forum.troygrady.com/t/which-is-a-good-average-of-notes-per-second/97558/4 "2026-05-27T14:49:01Z")
> [@VRX51](#):
>
> But this days i’m more towards jazz fusion. The thing is, i’m really bad on legato, my pull-offs are king of weak, so i’m basically use pick all the time, with one or other pull-off.
Without knowing anything else about your technique and how things sound/feel and where your limiting factors are…
It’s certainly _possible_ that spending some time on your legato could make your picking technique faster, if the issue is not just a weak release but the speed of the technique itself.
Scan Tom Gilroy’s Efficient Digital Cycles thread, and then something that helped me a lot for note articulation in my own legato playing (in the rock and not Holsworthian sense of the term) was practicing legato unplugged. If you can get a clear, audible, even note off a pull-off with no amp at all, then you can do it with any amount of preamp gain and it’s going to sound great.
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### Author:  [@AustinK](https://forum.troygrady.com/u/AustinK)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2026, 3:08pm UTC](https://forum.troygrady.com/t/which-is-a-good-average-of-notes-per-second/97558/5 "2026-05-27T15:08:38Z")
@VRX51 reposting a recent comment from Tom which has his relevant links
> [@Synchronicity: Feedback and 2 Questions](https://forum.troygrady.com/t/synchronicity-feedback-and-2-questions/97532/2):
>
> On the first question, proprioception is our sense of position. Tommo’s exaplanation is somewhat simplified for brevity, but the basic idea is that larger movements give our nervous systems stronger signals about positioning and timing, and more robust feedback about errors. It’s not a process of consciously adjusting movement speed, so much as it is a means of providing our motor system the information needed to make those adjustments unconsciously. You can most likely improve your use of (1…
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### Author:  [@VRX51](https://forum.troygrady.com/u/VRX51)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2026, 4:00pm UTC](https://forum.troygrady.com/t/which-is-a-good-average-of-notes-per-second/97558/6 "2026-05-27T16:00:41Z")
I will do this for sure!
Actually, i love playing unplugged because makes me feel if i’m doing something wrong more easily.
Thanks for the tip’