How to Increase Guitar Solo Speed

While listening to songs like "Eruption" or "Freebird" you get so lost in the song that you forget somebody actually had to play those solos. The speed does not come overnight but is not impossible to reach. This tutorial will help you to understand how to develop and increase speed all along a guitar fretboard.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Guitar
• Heavy picks

1. Learn the basics. Solos are the hardest parts of songs, so make sure you know how to play the easier parts.

2. Practice scales. Most solos are merely manipulations and sped up combinations of basic scales.

3. Play each scale from the low E string to the high E string, and then in reverse. Each time, increase your speed. Eventually, you should be able to rocket up and down without missing a note.

4. Practice solos to real songs. By learning and playing a variety of actual solos, you will begin to notice common trends in how they are put together.

5. Play guitar very frequently. Speed comes from muscle memory, which comes from being comfortable with the strings. That comfort comes from constant play.

6. Use heavy picks. When playing fast, a lighter pick (under 1.25 mm) will not hit the strings as hard, or allow you to go string to string as quickly.

7. Be realistic. There is only one Stevie Ray Vaughn and he did not sprout up overnight. Practice and practice and set smaller and more gradual goals for yourself.

[forbes72]

on 5/4/2009 Good article, although I would say heavy picks do make speed easier, but it is quite possible to be fast with a .73mm pick.

[forumtc53]

on 1/15/2009 Finally! Someone hit the nail on the head. I currently teach guitar and am constantly having to explain the concept of speed to my students...this post says it all. An exercise I usually give my students is practicing going up and down all the strings at any random fret using...fingers 1-2-3-4 (index, middle, ring, pinky)...then alternating between fingers 1-2-4 and 1-3-4...I find that this keeps their fingers in shape and their mind sharp on executing difficult phrases down the road.

[keemo10]

on 7/23/2008 choose a very simple pattern, maybe 3-4 notes on 2 strings and practice with a metronome. First slow, and increasing 5 bpm with every success. Worked with me. Also, implementing pull offs and hammer ons during solos and not only plain notes to gain more speed in between certain notes.