Comments on: How Your Guitar Heroes Learned to Play So Fast

By: Tom Ferraro

Tom Ferraro — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 20:09:25 +0000

Speed means nothing if your not saying something, Playing fast is not always playing musical, Working on finger patterns to increase speed is taking away from really playing the instrument. It is sad and crazy to value a musician based on how fast he plays.

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 16:39:30 +0000

Shawn Lane’s left-hand technique is very good. Notice the economy of movement.

By: monsterjones

monsterjones — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 15:02:09 +0000

Okay, young uns’…the reason your guitar heros played so FAST
is because…1. they played night and day 2. they took large amounts
of powerful stimulants night and day 3.had girlfriends with jobs , so they could
play night and day…..for a looong time….right?

By: Gordon Kaswell

Gordon Kaswell — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 04:56:52 +0000

The fastest guitarist ever, was probably Shawn Lane. This clip of him playing “Not Again” goes from really good, to excellent, to amazing, to purely stupefying. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m not a speed player, but as I understand it, Shaun said that he gained is astounding speed (reportedly as fast as 18 notes per second!) by playing as fast as he could, before he really had perfected the techniques for doing so. The logic behind this was to get his mind working at top speed, figuring that his fingers would eventually catch up. For him, it obviously worked.

By: J.J. Vicars

J.J. Vicars — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 03:14:11 +0000

Joe Pass used to say if you want to play fast you have to think fast. Outside of the practice regimens, all very true, that’s the key. Listening to the right guitarists is also important. Most of the Metal shredders are just running scales and with all the distortion and other effects it’s easy to sound impressive. But listen to Jimmy Bryant or Joe Maphis and the whole idea of playing fast becomes a helluva lot harder. Learn Country and Jazz styles played clean and then you’ll really be playing fast!

By: Conrad

Conrad — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 13:32:14 +0000

Not bad – but why on earth illustrate this article with a photo of Jimmy Page, while he’s (or was) no slouch as a guitarist, he’s definitely not an icon for speed! I think I might have gone with a photo of Al Di Meola. Keep up the emails much appreciated.

By: Professor Funk - Atlanta Soul (UK)

Professor Funk - Atlanta Soul (UK) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 15:28:27 +0000

I can’t stress enough how important it is to play slowly as suggested by Phil. The secret to playing at speed is practising at a tempo where you are in control and playing with accuracy and efficiency.

The aim is train the mind-body to be successful in the execution of the phrases and passages you wish to play. By speeding up too quickly or too soon, what happens is this… you practise making mistakes. It’s very important to realise this because if you practise making mistakes, you’ll get better at making them, so avoid them and forget them.

When you’re able to play a phrase perfectly, at whatever tempo is appropriate to achieve it, you’re practising, repeating and internalising success and you get better at playing successes.

In a nutshell – speed is a by-product. Don’t make it an aim in itself – allow it to happen and develop as a natural consequence of repeating musical successes. As a good illustration of this, check point 6 in Phil’s post again.

…. and to follow suit and round off with a nice quote:

“Technique is essentially control: control of tone, volume, rhythm and tempo, legato and staccato, dynamics and registration, phrasing and articulation…”/ Guitar Technique, Intermediate to Advanced – Hector Quine, Oxford University Press, 1990/.

The quote from Hector Quine’s book for classical guitarists seems to me just as pertinent for players of other intruments.
May you long enjoy the fruits of your labours!