Too fast for me...

[Sunday]

I've been playing for about 3 or 4 months now, and I own a fender strat. What I want to know is why I can't pick certain tempos (I can't make my hands go fast enough) and whether or not this will improve with time. I practice every day with for an hour or so, and I would be incredibly grateful if anyone could give me some tips on how to fix this. :confused: thanks, sunday

[SteelSlider]

Hi Sunday.

Congradulations. Four months is a good length of time. An hour a day is a good practice time.

Some things I do before I begin practice is some finger excersises. I put my finger tips together, as if I were praying, only wide apart, then I push the fingers back on one hand with the fingers of the other, but only until I feel a pull in the palm and wrist. I do that a few times on each hand, for about five to ten seconds each time. Opening and closing my hands next, making a fist really tight. Holding that fist for about ten seconds. This and any other excersise will release some of the pent up tension you have in your hands, wrist and forearms. Makes them feel good, relaxed and easier to work with.

I know when I'm going to practice. So about fifteen minutes before I walk into my studio, or where ever I'm going to play, I psych my head out. Like an athlete does before a game. Whether I'm washing dishes, mending a fence, walking, driving, playing with my dog, I begin making a plan of what I'm going to practice and go over it in my head, especially if I know there is some apart of a song that gives me a rough time. Play it, with your fingers on an invisable guitar, in your mind, focus on it. Remember during your practice, always allow some time to goof off and play what you want.

It sounds to me like you've reached what is called a plateau in your playing. It's where there seems to be no gain, only the same stuff, and it can get pretty frustrating. With over forty years under my guitar strap, I still have dips, peaks and plateaus. Fact is, I'm on a plateau right now.
What I do, and what I'm going to do is put Ol' Eb in his case and give him a rest for about two days.
What I think happens, to me and with others I've talk to about this, is that our minds become jumbled. Have you ever run a defrag utility on your computer? Our minds are very simular, except there is no utility to run, only a rest from our learning.
I really notice a change in my practice when I come back after a few days lay off.

I know putting a guitar down is hard, so;
You might want to try this method.
" Don't worry about it."
Hee, hee. Easier said than done, right?
When you find your self stuck in a groove, as you are now, slow down. Take a step back, skip the tempo trainning for a few days, practice something like scales, a few new songs, ect. Then come back to the tempo training.

It's like studying homework, working long hours and days on the job. Ya got to take a break once in a while. If you don't, you'll end up getting tired, careless and frustrated.
Good luck. Let us know how you do in what every way you try. These are what I do, other players may have something that works for them. Keep checking back. 'K?

[ESP_Viper]

I always learn a song playing it very slow. Then over time once I have it all memorized and accurate, I speed it up. It's a matter of time before you can build speed up. I'm still working on getting my picking faster. I'm trying to get my down picking as fast as my down up picking (16th notes at 220 bpm). I'm working with down picking w/ a metronome and gradually speeding it up. The key is getting accurate timing along with the speed. The only way is to practice w/ a metronome.