Top Speed?

[Jergason]

Is there a top speed you can reach on guitar? Where no matter how much you practice you will never play any faster than that? I am talking about personally, not just theoretically. My speed and accuracy suck, and I was wondering if I was just not made to play fast at all. Any thoughts?

[xenor]

Practice slowly...
If you do that, I don't think you won't be able to play fast.
Actually playing fast is easier than general opinion. But only way to achieve it is practicing slowly and it's boring. But well worth the effort.

[Guitarperson88]

Like Xenor said, the one way your gonna get fast is if you go slow. Get a metronome and play the chromatic scale. Set it at a comfortable speed so you can play 16th notes accurately and on time. Play at that tempo for a few days than take it up a notch. It will help with your accuracy as well.

[johnnyhollywood]

Thats like asking if theres ever a 100m run record someone will never break.

[Jergason]

Thats easy. I've already done it!:D But playing 16th notes accurately at above about 116 bpm, now that is something hard for me. Not just in the chromatic scale. I can nail that at around 130 bmp (no laughing please:mad: ), but when I just try to improvise, it is way sloppier at a slower speed. Why can't I do it??? Its really frustrating. Does this mean that I have to be able to play excercise X at 160 BPM in order to be able to accurately improvise at 130 BPM?

[Axe-aholic]

Geez, you aren't THAT slow. :rolleyes:

but when I just try to improvise, it is way sloppier at a slower speed. Why can't I do it??? Its really frustrating. Does this mean that I have to be able to play excercise X at 160 BPM in order to be able to accurately improvise at 130 BPM?

That seems logical. I play slower usually when I improvise too. When you improvise you're trying to put whats in your head onto the fretboard. That takes a little more effort than play a memorized exercise where you know the figners to use, the picking pattern, etc by heart.

[DanF]

Everyone has a personal limit (if you want to get real technical it's determined by how many fast twitch muscle fibers you have). Everyone also has their limits, perhaps your speed at picking every note isn't that fast but you can play faster legato, etc. You need to adapt to your specific limitations.

Finally just try to figure out how much music you CAN make, rather than get down on what you can't do.

-Dan

[loveguitar]

Thats easy. I've already done it!:D But playing 16th notes accurately at above about 116 bpm, now that is something hard for me. Not just in the chromatic scale. I can nail that at around 130 bmp (no laughing please:mad: ), but when I just try to improvise, it is way sloppier at a slower speed. Why can't I do it??? Its really frustrating. Does this mean that I have to be able to play excercise X at 160 BPM in order to be able to accurately improvise at 130 BPM?

hi Jergason, I think that's quite logical. Your chromatic exercises are fixed pattern which you can play at 130BPM, but improvising is something you might be playing for the first time. Even if you play the exact same chromatic lick, you are not as prepared in terms of finger positioning and also some of your attention might be used to follow the new rhythm (instead of a metronome). All these eats up some speed.

[ProgBG]

Hi

My problem is that my right hand is very slow. Just when i play with my forearm it gets faster but then my left hand is too slow to follow. I had inflamed tendons and before that I played much too fast and sloppy and unrelaxed. Now I try to play more relaxed 'cause I realized that I played with too much stress in both arms and that stucked me at certain tempos. Although it's more slowly when I play now but I'm more relaxed and that felels good for me. So my advice is to play everything clean at a tempo whithout any tension in your arms, that means relaxed. And than you can speed up continously with you metronome. And I think you will get faster, also when improvising.

KAYA BG

[moon shadow]

Hi everyone!:) This is my first post on IBM and I'd like to put in my two cents.

I believe that everyone has their own "speed limit". Some people will be able to play faster than others due to conditions such as physical makeup and general health. However, sloppiness can be overcome by practicing slowly and calmly. You need to be relaxed when practicing or else you're going to incorporate tension into your playing, and tension leads to sloppiness.
Here's a quote by Howard Roberts from an issue of Guitar Player that has helped me alot:

"I can't overemphasize the necessity of playing everything very, very slowly. Slow everything down so if somebody hears you practicing, you'll be embarrassed. The key to overcoming virtually any technical problem is to slow it down so that King Kong can do it. Refine your movements. The nervous system already knows how to go fast; it doesn't have a problem with fast. But if you program it with sloppiness, it will give you sloppiness. If you program it very, very slowly, there is no chance of sloppiness. After those moves have been polished on a slow-motion basis,and the nervous system has been clearly informed what kind of performance is expected, then you can start speeding up."

I hope this helps you, Jergason, and others who are in the same boat.