Guitar Playing Tip - Coordination Problems While Increasing Hand Speed

One of the areas of playing that we get questions about the most is coordination problems between the pick hand and the fingers on the fret board. Unfortunately many times the problem of coordination between the two actually causes you to slow down.

The best way to deal with this problem is to concentrate on improving the weak link. By being able to realize that your left hand is slow you have half the battle won.

Now how to improve that problem!!

Speed on your fretting hands develops in small increments and requires hard consistent practice; you won't wake up one morning a speed demon.

Start with this routine EVERY DAY:

Scale Patterns: By practicing your scales in patterns of twos, threes, and fours forward and backwards you kill two birds with one stone. You get coordination built while generating scale knowledge and memorization. By knowing your scales by heart your fingers get memory that allows them to play fast passages with ease. It's like if you drive down a road you went down a thousand times before you know when the curves are coming and you know when to step on the gas, the same will hold true with your fingers through scales and leads.

Left Hand Isolation Exercises: These are a combination of Hammer-on and Pull-off exercises that only use the left hand to generate sound. You can find lots of these type exercises in my "Hands of Steel" DVD program if you don’t know exact exercises.

By doing a combination of these two things you will slowly but consistently build your speed up and soon both hands will be in sync and flying around the neck!!!

Hope this helps
John McCarthy

1 comment:

guitar picks said...

I do believe that with frequent practice and having the patience to keep you going can help you master your guitar playing skill. Identifying the problem that slows you down is a good thing so that you know which area to focus on.