building speed for a solo

[clare_bear]

Hi All

I'm still struggling to learn the second solo (read 'the 1st half of it') for Sweet Home Alabama. I can play the solo at slower speeds (up to about 80% of the full speed) OK, although I do cut out a few of the notes! But I can't seem to get it much faster without it all slurring into a horrible mess. Any tips?

I know I should just play my own solo there and not worry too much about the real solo, but it is rather good and this is what I'm planning to play.

I have managed to get the 1st solo sounding vaguely passable. And I know that they'll both break down as soon as I have an audience, but that's another matter!

Cheers

[joby1kenobi]

Hi Clare_bear,well it sounds like your half way there already,the best way to play fast is to play slowly and cleanly and as your fingers develop the memory of those movements then you can increase speed.If you have a metromone then slowley build up the speed using that.
If you listen to very fast players like Vai,Gilbert,Satriani ect,although they are really quick they are also really clean in sound,i dont meen that they are not distorted its just that you can hear the individual notes.If you start off with slow sloppy playing it will turn into fast sloppy playing!
Just so you dont feel alone,i play in a covers band and i play mostly a rough version of the solo's.
Good luck,let me know how you get on.

[clare_bear]

Originally Posted by joby1kenobi

Hi Clare_bear,well it sounds like your half way there already,the best way to play fast is to play slowly and cleanly and as your fingers develop the memory of those movements then you can increase speed.If you have a metromone then slowley build up the speed using that.
If you listen to very fast players like Vai,Gilbert,Satriani ect,although they are really quick they are also really clean in sound,i dont meen that they are not distorted its just that you can hear the individual notes.If you start off with slow sloppy playing it will turn into fast sloppy playing!
Just so you dont feel alone,i play in a covers band and i play mostly a rough version of the solo's.
Good luck,let me know how you get on.

Thanks for that. I know that it's probably just time and patience and continuing as I am, so thanks for the encouragement. I think part of it is that I'm sick of playing the damn thing! I'll keep at it and hope my fingers develop themselves over time - the band will just have to be patient with me! I'll try not to rush the speeding up for now!

[Hannibal_Lecter]

Originally Posted by clare_bear

Hi All

I'm still struggling to learn the second solo (read 'the 1st half of it') for Sweet Home Alabama. I can play the solo at slower speeds (up to about 80% of the full speed) OK, although I do cut out a few of the notes! But I can't seem to get it much faster without it all slurring into a horrible mess. Any tips?

I know I should just play my own solo there and not worry too much about the real solo, but it is rather good and this is what I'm planning to play.

I have managed to get the 1st solo sounding vaguely passable. And I know that they'll both break down as soon as I have an audience, but that's another matter!

Cheers

heya C_B

my suggestion is make your self a speed curve of that solo.

find out the range of the speed in BPM you use for the solo where you play totally effortlessly (you can do it if someone wakes you up and puts the guitar in your hands)

thats range you should avoid to practice, you know it and is useless to spend time on.

then go for higher BPM and make a mark where things require your attention (we call this A); continue up to the limit where its totally impossible for play it at all, Mark also that point in BPM.(we call this B)

now come down in BPM and end some where in between A and B (we call this C) and play it for 10 min. over and over in C BPM.

apparently after sometime you probably have pushed your speed curve higher so you will need to adjust those BPM in different lev.

i hope you get my point, or else just ask again.
probably a dozen more dif,. approaches but i have begun to use this and i like it much.

cheers

[clare_bear]

Originally Posted by Hannibal_Lecter

heya C_B

my suggestion is make your self a speed curve of that solo.

find out the range of the speed in BPM you use for the solo where you play totally effortlessly (you can do it if someone wakes you up and puts the guitar in your hands)

thats range you should avoid to practice, you know it and is useless to spend time on.

then go for higher BPM and make a mark where things require your attention (we call this A); continue up to the limit where its totally impossible for play it at all, Mark also that point in BPM.(we call this B)

now come down in BPM and end some where in between A and B (we call this C) and play it for 10 min. over and over in C BPM.

apparently after sometime you probably have pushed your speed curve higher so you will need to adjust those BPM in different lev.

i hope you get my point, or else just ask again.
probably a dozen more dif,. approaches but i have begun to use this and i like it much.

cheers

That's a great way of looking at it - I'll give that a go. Thanks v much.

[MattANJH]

I don't know if it will work for you, but the method I use for building up speed on things is basically a progression & break kind of thing.

Start off at a speed you can play 99% comfortably at. As an example lets call it 90bpm.

Now what I'd do is spend say 5 or 10 minutes constantly playing the piece or part over and over at this speed. Now stop, go away for 5 or 10 minutes.

Now come back and try increasing the speed by a small increment, say 5bpm, so it's a little faster, but not much. See if you can play it here. If you're trying to nail it note for note, make sure you don't make mistakes. If you find you are doing, back the speed back down again.

And so on. What this does is a) stops you getting bored and frustrated by doing it in little bursts and b) builds up your muscle memory and lets that do the work for you.

I find this helps me come on quite quickly if there's a specific thing I'm trying to master.

Most of all, don't worry about it, just relax and try and enjoy it

[clare_bear]

Thanks, Matt. I'll combine that with the above post about the 'speed curve' and give it a whirl. And you're right I should try to relax and enjoy it rather than obsess over it and get sick of it!

[uncle_psychosis]

a good tip I got was this: Learn the tricky bits backwards...

Not literally backwards, but learn the last bit first. Then learn the bit just before the bit you just learned, and then keep going.

This way, you're always getting *to* a bit that you know you can play at speed, instead of going *from* a bit you can play.

HTH

[clare_bear]

Originally Posted by uncle_psychosis

a good tip I got was this: Learn the tricky bits backwards...

Not literally backwards, but learn the last bit first. Then learn the bit just before the bit you just learned, and then keep going.

This way, you're always getting *to* a bit that you know you can play at speed, instead of going *from* a bit you can play.

HTH

Now that is an interesting bit of guitar psychology - I like it!

[reverend]

Learn to play it slowly and then sacrifice a goat, cover you self in blood and shout "satan". You'll have no trouble playing fast then.

Well, it worked for Emperor and Morbid Angel...