How to Increase Speed and Finger Strength on Guitar

There are a lot of suggestions out there for improving your speed and finger strength on the guitar, but a lot of it boils down to some essential techniques and lots and lots of practice. You have to sit down with the guitar enough so that it becomes second nature to create chords and solos. This process goes slowly, but with the right attention to guitar theory, you can make a lot of good improvement over time.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Use scales. The pentatonic scale (with five notes in every octave) is a great one to use for improving your guitar skills. By playing two notes on each string in a melodic pattern (that you can draw onto a paper fretboard), you can hear a kind of "blues" sound that you can use for wailing solos. Playing pentatonics gets you good at reaching your key notes quickly.
2. Do finger-stretching. You can choose to work your fingers using flex-tools or other accessories, but a good way to get used to stretch fingering is to actually practice on the fretboard by trying to reach a note across one and a half steps (three frets). You can start slowly and work your way up to quick finger changes.
3. Utilize a guitar with hard action. The premise behind this strategy is simple: a musician who gets used to a guitar with hard action will be able to really fly when switching over to an easier model. Playing a hard action guitar makes you press harder on strings for notes and chords, and gets your fingers into really good shape.
4. Try heavier gauge strings. Again, this is the same idea as the action of the guitar. When you are used to working with heavier strings, the lighter ones will seem almost like air. Try it, and you'll find you can make great improvements in your technique over time.
5. Increase tempos gradually. Lots of guitar players say this technique helped them master the faster styles of play. Use a metronome or other device to help you regulate your speed and slowly amp it up until you are where you want to be.