MASTER YOUR FRETTING HAND
FINGER INDEPENDENCE
By Tom Hess
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“I LOVE it when my fast guitar speed is sloppy!” – said no guitar player ever.
So then, why is it that many guitarists struggle to play with fast & clean guitar speed?
Here is the answer:
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After you finish this short article, you’ll be one of the few who do.
And you'll find, just like hundreds of my guitar students found:
...playing with clean and fast guitar speed is not very hard. And you don't have to practice 8 hours a day to get there either.
All it takes is:
1. Knowing what to do
2. Understanding how to do it
3. Simply doing it.
To begin, watch this video to learn 3 bulletproof ways to play guitar fast using perfect sync for top-tier guitar speed technique:
You now know how to quickly get your hands in sync with any lick you practice for smooth guitar speed. Synchronization requires intense focus, so don't rush it.
But we are not done yet.
Here are 3 of my favorite “ninja-style” 2 hand sync synchronization hacks to play guitar fast with accuracy:
2 Hand Sync "Guitar Synchronization Strategy" #1: Double Picking
As the name implies…
Practice all your scales and scale sequences by picking every note two times.
Watch this guitar speed picking video demonstration by one of my top students that shows double picking in action for solid guitar synchronization practice.
Why does double picking work so well for your guitar speed development?
Simple:
When you pick every note 2 times, it becomes harder to maintain balanced guitar synchronization for fluid guitar speed licks.
(That’s because your picking hand moves 2x fast as the fretting hand. So every mistake you make while playing at a fast guitar speed becomes more obvious.)
And when you go back to normal playing?
Your picking feels much easier and your guitar synchronization becomes tight, like a straitjacket.
You can apply this strategy in 2 ways:
2 Hand Sync "Guitar Synchronization Strategy" #2: Practice Guitar Speed Unplugged (Sometimes).
Spend some of your guitar speed practice time playing without your amplifier. Articulate the notes loudly enough to hear them unplugged.
One mental trick I like to use for guitar speed is…
…imagine you are on one end of a football stadium playing for an audience seated on the opposite end.
And you don’t have an amp.
Pick loud enough to make the audience hear you.
This way, guitar speed mistakes can't hide :)
Play guitar fast unplugged to expose inconsistencies in your pick attack that cause your hands to get out of sync.
Don’t practice unplugged all the time.
If you want to play rock songs with fast guitar speed, learn how to play guitar fast with distortion most of the time.
You also need to practice with the amp (using the exact tone you use in real life). This is how you clean up sloppy string noise during guitar speed licks - so when you play guitar fast, you have perfect guitar synchronization technique, and it sounds good.
Note: Be careful to not tense up your fretting hand when you play unplugged. Keep it as relaxed as you do when playing with an amp. If you have trouble doing that, this free eGuide on mastering fretting hand technique will help you truly play guitar fast with insane speed.
2 Hand Sync "Guitar Synchronization Strategy" #3: Practice Single String Guitar Speed Picking Licks
What is the ultimate test of your ability to play with both hands lined up for perfect guitar synchronization?
Answer: your ability to keep your hands in sync on one string.
Guitar Synchronization Exercise:
Track how fast you can play a lick like this (before your hands get out of sync).
Then use the other tips in this article to tighten up your guitar synchronization on one string.
The result?
As your hands get better at staying in sync on one string – all your licks start to sound better (and cleaner). You gain the ability to play smoothly on guitar, synchronization between hands should feel natural.
You now know what it takes to keep your hands in sync while you play guitar fast.
The next step is to develop effortless fretting hand technique. How do you do that? I show you in my free eGuide on mastering fretting hand finger independence. Download it right now and learn secrets to playing with guitar speed that most guitarists never know.