# How exactly *DO* I get faster? (metronome question)



## johnthefreeman1 (Oct 10, 2012)

Over the past year, I have improved a lot in my playing both technically and musically, but since late April I have been at a plateau. I then realized that my problem was that I did not follow a steady practice routine anymore (I used JP's Rock Discipline and Gambale's Chop Builder) and that I also seem to have difficulty getting faster than where I am, which is currently at 120 bpm alternate picking trills (1-2, 2-3, 3-4, etc) as per Maniacal. My legato can go to 16th notes at 180 bpm when warmed up for more than an hour and after I do lots of exercises beforehand, and my alternate picking can go up to 210 if I'm bored and just noodling around or playing in bursts.

My recent method of practicing with a metronome is this:
Find base tempo (say 100), try to get faster (get to 120). Repeat. Hope that I improved somewhat. No improvements.

My question is simply this: how do I get faster with a metronome? 
If possible, can someone provide me with a DETAILED plan on how to improve in a linear manner? (i.e. I'm not suddenly making 20 bpm breakthroughs; I want to have steady, noticeable, and trackable progress)


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## Cdub (Oct 10, 2012)

I disagree with metronomes, kinda. The way I see it, I'd call 120 the standard. I believe 16th notes at 120 and 32nd notes at 60 sound the same with no rhythm background, so when I see someone talking about hitting over 200, I figure it's only 8th and quarter notes at best. On the other hand, super shredder dan......

I'm pretty sure fast also has a feeling, so maybe you just gotta get into the zone to really explode on the Guitar at any tempo. Even 1300,


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## MrPepperoniNipples (Oct 10, 2012)

Well, the metronome is the steady way to do things.
And being steady, it's not going to happen so quickly.

But what I notice about people practicing to a metronome is that they don't "do it right"

You need to stay on one speed until that speed becomes effortless, like it should be second nature.

What I see many people doing is playing at a speed and once they can play a certain lick at say 112 bpm, then they move to 116 bpm, even though they have to put quite a bit of concentration and effort into 112.

And as you've heard a million times before;
Practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.


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## SirMyghin (Oct 11, 2012)

If you can 'burst' about 210 BPM, but only pick with left hand fretting at 120, the problem is likely coordination between the two. My best guess anyway, as they seem fast enough independently, but slow together.




Cdub said:


> I believe 16th notes at 120 and 32nd notes at 60 sound the same with no rhythm background



Only if you suck at accenting


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## Maniacal (Oct 11, 2012)

You mentioned my name, does this mean you have done the endurance and speed workouts in my books? And they have been of no use?


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## johnthefreeman1 (Oct 11, 2012)

I've been utilizing some of the stuff in your sample videos and lessons by applying them to my workouts. I am noticing an improvement in strength and some dexterity, but I'm trying to go faster and break through my plateau.


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## Maniacal (Oct 11, 2012)

Yeah, so do the endurance workout. Daily. For a year.


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## johnthefreeman1 (Oct 11, 2012)

Do I do that at the same speed? Do I increase by 1 bpm each day? Do I only increase the bpm whenever my fingers tell me to? How much do I increase it by? I just don't know what to do...


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## Maniacal (Oct 11, 2012)

Do what it says RTL1 page 14+


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## Aspiringmaestro (Oct 11, 2012)

No, you would not do it at the same speed for an entire year.
If you increased the metronome by 1 bpm each day you would be incredibly fast by the end of a years time; you could try that.


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## johnthefreeman1 (Oct 11, 2012)

AM, I've actually been doing this for the past 10 days, but I don't know if that will work for me in 80 days (when I should be able to play 200 bpm). Has anything similar worked for anyone else?


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## Maniacal (Oct 11, 2012)

No, you won't always be able to increase by 1bpm a day. That would be impossible. 

At some point you will want to work on burst exercises etc as well


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## kekkuliheikki (Oct 12, 2012)

Try this from my channel:



Works for me.


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## ROB SILVER (Oct 12, 2012)

My personal thoughts are that using a metronome is really beneficial, but be careful about spending too much time on chromatic exercises.
If you have 6 hours a day to practice, then an hour on "finger press-ups" make sense. If you only have and hour or two, then try and find ways to work out your fingers with diatonic shapes that you will actually use while soloing.


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## Webmaestro (Oct 12, 2012)

Shawn Lane had some interesting advice for how to increase speed. Definitely NOT what most of us would consider a "normal" way to go about it, but hey, if you've tried everything else... why not give it a shot?

(skip to 1:45) - I'm referring to the section about "Play something way faster than you're able to, no matter how sloppy, then focus on cleaning it up over time."


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## JStraitiff (Oct 12, 2012)

My first instinct is that if you've hit a plateau you probably need to build better technique to progress further.


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## Solodini (Oct 13, 2012)

As Mr Lane said in that video, if you're constantly practising the same thing, I agree that it can become a bit of a mission which becomes unenjoyable. However, if you come up with something different to play every day, but with common goals in each, it'll increase your speed of adoption, rather than just relying on 3 weeks of muscle memory on that one lick. 

Start each melody/lick/passage/etude as slowly as you need to to learn it and just work on making it comfortably clean, then speed it up as suitable. If there are similar mechanics in each day's piece, you'll still be working on that mechanic and improving at it but doing so more generally on the instrument, which should help your general use of that mechanic.

I hope that helps some.


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## johnthefreeman1 (Oct 14, 2012)

Thanks everyone for the responses; there's a lot of good advice that I will take heed of! However, I think most people are misinterpreting the question, so I'll rephrase it:
When do I increase the speed of my metronome, and by how much should I increase it by?

Also, I do not own Maniacal's books, as I do not have the funds, so you may stop referring to them, if you wish.


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## Maniacal (Oct 15, 2012)

Just increase the click a few bpm every few minutes. It mainly depends what you are playing and for how long. 

Give me an example of the exercises you are playing, how fast and for how long.


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## Scrubface05 (Oct 15, 2012)

An exercise I've been doing recently which has helped increase both my speed and accuracy, is this - Strict alternate picking, working at a comfortable BPM, for 5 minutes. It's a good warm up as well.

On the high E and B strings,
E 8-7-5-7-8 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7-8-10-8-7-12-10-8-10-12 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7-8-10-8-7
B - - - - - -5-7-8-7-5-10-8-7-8-10 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -8-10-12-10-8-10-8-7-8-10


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## m3l-mrq3z (Oct 22, 2012)

Technical issues aside: I have always wondered why someone would want to go beyond 16ths at 200 bpm. That's fast enough to impress most of your audience (unless you share fans with MAB). 

After years of being obsessed about my speed, I am now more interested in finer aspects of guitar playing, such as good phrasing, fluid and soulful playing, as well as developing a good signature vibrato. In my opinion there is nothing more annoying than a player than can do it all (string skipping, finger/toe tapping, etc), but has a terrible phrasing and vibrato.


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## Solodini (Oct 22, 2012)

Technical facility with speed, at last allows you to add extra detail of phrasing while playing something with a high tempo already. Otherwise, little grace notes just end up sounding like any other note, if they're they're played as semiquavers in a sea of semiquavers.


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## sage (Oct 22, 2012)

The nature of human performance in all endeavours: We achieve a swift improvement from a low baseline with what appears to be a minimum of effort. We achieve a large improvement from a medium baseline with considerable effort over time. We achieve minute levels of improvement from a high baseline with discipline, dedication, and a very long period of time. It's like this with everything. Running, math, music, weight lifting, weight loss, whatever. It's really easy to be better than 50% of the population. It's difficult to be in the top 20%. And, with all the effort and dedication in the world, you may never enter the top 5%. Those in the top 5% are training 6-10 hours a day just to beat the other people in the same range. So, if you've hit a plateau at what one might consider to be pretty freaking good, that next 5% is going to be bloody hard to achieve. Worth doing if you want it, but not easy.


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## Scrubface05 (Oct 22, 2012)

I wish every day life allowed me to practice 6-10 hours a day..


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