speed question

jjtsucka · #1 01-30-2006, 08:10 PM

well I've had a metranome for a long time now and never really knew how to use it, but i often hear you guys talk about how good they are at building speed so i set it at 60 bpm and played majors scales up and down playing 4 notes per beat that was pretty easy to maintain so i went up i ended up being able to hold this up to 110 bpm is this any good? i held it for a good 5 mins straight what kind of notes are these? 8th 16th I think its 16ths i was counting 1 e and a 2 e and a ect... I was doing just middle and index fingers only. so anyone have any good metranome suggestions to help me make better use of this thing. am i on the right track?

temple_of_boom · #2 01-30-2006, 11:20 PM

its only good if they are clean, and it depends what you do with them. "most of the best bass lines ever played dont meet those standards" if you want to sound fast and are not just in it to be good at the metronome i would suggest playing half notes quarters eights also. because 16... 16th notes dont sound as fast or musical. as 2 16ths,followed by, an 8th, a quarter,a 16th,half , 5 16ths, an 8th, a 16th ect. do that at 110 and ill consider you fast.

jjtsucka · #3 02-01-2006, 12:45 AM

you know i never considered trying that it sounds way harder but might end in something resembeling music lol thanks for the tip any tip for the left hand I want to develop more speed

and dextarity (sp?)

WillBuckingham · #4 02-01-2006, 11:14 AM

Stretch before you play, and use all four fingers.

temple_of_boom · #5 02-01-2006, 03:42 PM

a weak left hand will slow you down for sure, just look at all the guitarists that can tremolo pick a million miles a minute, yet there playing doesnt come off as being fast, just noisy. the quickest way to improve you left hand would be to find time to play with only your left hand using hammer ons and pulloffs only. like when your typeing on tb, or your right hand is totally shredded from digging in. it works great for me, and a burst of speed is almost instant when i bring the right hand back into the picture.

Correlli · #6 02-01-2006, 05:06 PM

It can take a long time to build up the skills for speed playing. I really don't believe that there's shortcut to learning this style of playing. The only tip that really does work (which has been mentioned before by others) is braking the technique down into it's smallest part, and practice each part separately at different tempos. eg moving the right-hand index finger from the A to D string.

+1 on the stretching.

john c · #7 02-01-2006, 05:44 PM

Try setting the metronone at a very comfortable peed - make sure each note is clean and ahas a good sound - when very comfortable turn the metronome up to the very next speed and repeart - keep it clean and good sound always - speed is a result of slow to fast clean practice. Let it simmer.

jjtsucka · #8 02-02-2006, 11:05 PM

thanks all hopefully it helps

f'nar f'nar · #9 02-04-2006, 02:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WillBuckingham

Stretch before you play, and use all four fingers.

+1 on stretching

-1 on 4 fingers. You dont HAVE to use any more than 2 fingers to be fast. Steve Harris only ever used two and he had some fast stuff. Cliff Burton used mainly two (exaggurate the mainly, he has been known/rumoured to use more but from what I can see its normally just two), so does Juan Alderte and he's a fast guy too. Thats not to say never use more than two. I just dont think its nessasary. Two serves me well for almost every song ive ever played. 4 fingers is essential with the left hand however...

lola99 · #10 02-06-2006, 11:19 AM

I am learning on my own (no money or leisure time for a teacher) and I'm using the Hal Leonard books. As far as speed, how anal should I be?

I keep repeating pieces over and over again, trying to get all the notes perfect...how perfect should they be? I always end up with some fret buzzing, a few imperfect notes--so I repeat and get imperfections somewhere else!!!

How anal should I be?

Correlli · #11 02-06-2006, 05:08 PM

^^what do you mean?

lola99 · #12 02-06-2006, 05:57 PM

Well, I was just asking how perfect does the final product have to be? I suppose this should be more in the practice forum than technique, sorry

but at what point does one say ok, it's fine as it is and move on to something else for a while?

Sorry, dumb question I know