how to play guitar really fast
Ultra fast guitar playing reached its heyday in the 1980s when everyone wanted to play fast like Yngwie Malmsteen and others. The craze never really ended, and today guitarists like Zakk Wylde still give guitarists the taste for speed. But how to play guitar really fast isn't that easy to learn, as many teachers can't play so quickly themselves!
There are some basics that can help you build up your speed, and focussing on each of these will reap rewards. You need to work on right hand technique, left hand technique, and know how to practise to build speed rather than just play for fun or to learn new songs. You won't increase speed and accuracy by developing just one of these areas, and speed without accuracy won't sound good!
Left hand technique takes a while to build up. You need to develop good finger and thumb positions, and good finger movement and accuracy. The two basic thumb positions used by guitarists are over the top of the neck, and resting behind the neck. Behind the neck will give you greater reach on the fret board and better control and stability. If you practice scales and exercises fast in this thumb position, you will maximise your speed over time.
Finger position on the fret board as you play is critical for speed. Your four fingers should hover above the first 4 frets until needed. Again, keeping fingers here will optimise speed when playing scales and exercises. Finger movement is more tricky. Players can either keep a finger down when used until you need to raise it (finger anchoring), or lift each finger as the next one comes down (finger movement). For speed, finger movement is best. Finger accuracy involves consistently fretting a note right behind its fret bar and not just anywhere within the fret). This will give accuracy. Also, always ply with finger tips and not sides. The more consistent you are, the faster and more accurate you will be.
Right hand technique is just as important as left hand. Your picking style, how you hold the pick and your motion will all affect speed. Picking can be alternating, sweeping or circular picking, and should probably be learnt in that order as they increase in difficulty as well as speed. Alternate picking can still be very fast, and is used by Malmsteen so don't underestimate it!
How you hold the pick is a matter of taste, but for speed the pick needs to be almost perpendicular to the strings and only using the very tip of the pick to strike the string, in order to decrease resistance. The motion that you use is as important, and you want the motion to come entirely from the wrist for speed, although some people use wrist and elbow effectively. Always avoid using finger and thumb muscles.
To build speed you just have to practise. Set aside a regular daily or weekly time to work on exercises, scales arpeggios etc to build speed using these techniques. It's no use having people round; they'll get bored as this practise is very repetitive. Work with a metronome – it's essential to learn to play really fast. Start slowly and increase the speed gradually. Never speed up before you are perfectly accurate at one speed.
These simple techniques will, with a lot of practise and dedication, get you playing guitar really fast!