How fast can you play 16th notes?

[Felken]

It's never too late to provide us with your example/s...

Of me playing 16th notes? Who would want to see that?

 

[hintz]

This is about as fast as I can get both my hands to sync up ATM, though my picking hand is much quicker on its own(low 200 range max). Ive been working on this one for a few years now, one of the bands that got me into bass

 

[IamGroot]

How fast can you pluck and how do you do it.

For example, i can play sustained 16th notes at 95 BPM, with bursts to 120. Doesnt matter if its single note or scale. My plucking hand is my constraint in playing fast.
I use index and middle finger.

Update: I have put a lot of effort into daily metronome drlling and have boosted my speed up to a consistent 120 bpm 16th notes . I now like to think of speed in terms of notes per minute, because i play groups of more than 4 notes (5, 7, 9, 12). For example, playing 12 tuplets at 30 bpm is 360 notes/minute. Currently, I am at 480 NPM. I would like to be at 640.

Why the need for speed? I play sax parts.

Although I am not a big fan of Scot Divine, I thinks his clips on increasing speed were helpful.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

I play 16th notes fast until my right elbow explodes ... does this count?

 

[NoSlapForYou]

I've also been doing metronome work lately. The 120 BPM 16th notes are easy if I stay on one string. I can even do 140.

But when I start trying to run scales at that speed everything falls apart. So I've been using a few exercises. It's definitely helped a lot, but I'm still not where I want to be. I think the trouble is incorporating righthand muting for a clean sound. I can run up and down a full scale once very fast and that's about my limit.

Here are two exercises I like.

 

[IamGroot]

I've also been doing metronome work lately. The 120 BPM 16th notes are easy if I stay on one string. I can even do 140.

But when I start trying to run scales at that speed everything falls apart. So I've been using a few exercises. It's definitely helped a lot, but I'm still not where I want to be. I think the trouble is incorporating righthand muting for a clean sound. I can run up and down a full scale once very fast and that's about my limit.

Here are two exercises I like.

I thought of the ultimate speed video when you described your problem.

 

[LBS-bass]

I've also been doing metronome work lately. The 120 BPM 16th notes are easy if I stay on one string. I can even do 140.

Yep, this is why I'm convinced that most of those 140+ responses are people who can pound a single note that fast. It's a whole different ballgame trying to play a scale or something melodic at that speed. I don't have any idea how fast I can play one note over and over again; it's not a useful skill for the music I play. Coordinating the fretting hand and the plucking hand to play cleanly at those speeds is what's hard.

 

[NoSlapForYou]

Yep, this is why I'm convinced that most of those 140+ responses are people who can pound a single note that fast. It's a whole different ballgame trying to play a scale or something melodic at that speed. I don't have any idea how fast I can play one note over and over again; it's not a useful skill for the music I play. Coordinating the fretting hand and the plucking hand to play cleanly at those speeds is what's hard.

It is useful for a lot of music, however. The reason I got good at playing fast on one or two strings is because I played a lot of punk and metal as a teenager. There are some string crossings in those genres, but they're fairly minimal. I can play the fast part of Metallica's "One" fingerstyle, for example. That's sextuplets played at around 100 bpm (or triplets at 200 if you want to think about it that way).

But playing a staccato funk line that crosses all 4 strings at 120? Not cleanly. I mentioned the muting, but your timing also has to be on point. One of my hands tends to lag behind.

 

[LBS-bass]

It is useful for a lot of music, however. The reason I got good at playing fast on one or two strings is because I played a lot of punk and metal as a teenager. There are some string crossings in those genres, but they're fairly minimal. I can play the fast part of Metallica's "One" fingerstyle, for example. That's sextuplets played at around 100 bpm (or triplets at 200 if you want to think about it that way).

But playing a staccato funk line that crosses all 4 strings at 120? Not cleanly. I mentioned the muting, but your timing also has to be on point. One of my hands tends to lag behind.

It's super useful in metal, for sure.

 

[Ian Lewis]

Have you tried playing Dean Town by Vulfpeck? The intro, 16ths @ 112bpm is not too hard. But then it gets interesting.

 

[NivBass]

this is almost my fastest , depends if i need to move around the neck

 

[Old P Bass Guy]

I guess a open ended question is to stir conversation but if you qualify it with speed, stamina, accuracy and tone it might show a different picture. Dean Town is a good example.

 

[Lagado]

To play it cleanly, consistently and in time, about 120-140bpm. I've had to play scales such as maj/minor, melodic minor and relative modes (super locrian and such), harmonic minor and relative modes (phrygian dominant etc.) over two octaves in 3rd's, 4th's, 5'ths, 6th's at 120bpm for assessments at the Guitar Institute London about 25 years ago. I can also play with 3 fingers on the plucking hand, which I did for about 10 years and still do when needs be. String crossing needs a bit of a warm-up first though.

 

[James Collins]

I have been working on a piece for a different stringed instrument that reminded me of this thread. It includes a tremolo. The piece is in 3/4 time and is just constant 32nd notes throughout playing tremolo. The recommended tempo is 80bpm and i can play slightly faster than that at maybe 90bpm. I play thumb, ring, middle, index in that order. Some players play it thumb, index, middle, index but this is much harder obviously. Using the tempo i can play sustained as 80 that would be 80bpm at 8 notes per beat for 640 notes a minute.

Update: I have put a lot of effort into daily metronome drlling and have boosted my speed up to a consistent 120 bpm 16th notes . I now like to think of speed in terms of notes per minute, because i play groups of more than 4 notes (5, 7, 9, 12). For example, playing 12 tuplets at 30 bpm is 360 notes/minute. Currently, I am at 480 NPM. I would like to be at 640.

Why the need for speed? I play sax parts.

Although I am not a big fan of Scot Divine, I thinks his clips on increasing speed were helpful.

Got me wondering though if anyone knows any pieces for bass guitar that use a tremolo technique.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

How fast can you pluck and how do you do it.

For example, i can play sustained 16th notes at 95 BPM, with bursts to 120. Doesnt matter if its single note or scale. My plucking hand is my constraint in playing fast.
I use index and middle finger.

Its like 90 for me. I got one chorus I rock a steady A roll to a quick C, roll back, slide up from G, and keep steady. Song's about 90bpm. Maybe like 86. But, that's about it bro.