Developing Speed
So for a lot of newer guitarists, people who are newer to the guitar playing world, a big question is speed and developing speed. The important thing to realize is that it really doesn't take that long to get fast or efficient at any technique, as long as you are willing to put in a little bit of time, and most importantly, take your time, because if you take your time and you don't rush things and you don't try and jump ahead, you get ahead so much further that way.
So I am going to show you an exercise that I constructed. I like this one because its very melodically constructed, in a sense that it can almost be like a passage from a song. I am not going to show you how to play, I am just going to play it for you, at like a moderate speed so you get an ear for it. But if you go to guitarticles.blogspot.com, I have the sheet music up there for you, and if you like it, then you can print it off and learn it that way.
Now, I want to say something about alternate picking, which is what that was, of course. There is this whole mythology about you can only start on a down stroke, and that's totally a myth, because I personally do both. I switch back and forth when I want to. It's actually a great ally to be able to do both. But I will say this, it's very important I would say to attempt to master one before you move on to the other.
The really awesome thing about this exercise, and this is very key, so remember this, is that, when you get into constructing like your own exercises, it's very important to keep your fingers guessing. Most importantly, to keep the picking hand guessing. So constantly tracking that, and that is a good one because it's kind of standard, like with the four stroke, and then it moves up with the fretting hand, there is a bit of a change, and then it kind of does an inverted pattern, and then there is a couple of big jumps, and then at the end it's almost like a sweet picking. Even though it doesn't really sound like it, it's just kind of an upstroke which leads you to do string skipping at the end, which is also very, very important to learn.
So I hope you had fun, I hope you enjoyed this, and I will see you again soon.
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