How To Play Fast Guitar Scales That Feel Effortless & Consistent
by Tom Hess
Does it sometimes feel like a struggle to keep your guitar scales consistently clean and in rhythm while playing fast?
Don't worry. This is actually a very common problem.
The problem is that your fretting hand and picking hand are not in sync together 100% of the time. This is why you sometimes play notes perfectly, and other times not so much.
How do you solve it?
I’ll tell you.
First, don't focus on moving your hands faster as a means to play notes faster.
Do this instead:
Make your picking technique as efficient as possible.
Inconsistency in guitar scales frequently occurs due to inefficient picking motion.
This video demonstrates how to pick efficiently to make fast guitar scales feel incredibly easy:
To summarize:
- Stop using strict alternate picking to play your scales across multiple strings, because it creates inefficient motion that causes mistakes.
- Start using the directional picking method (as shown in the video): use the most efficient movement possible to pick in the direction of the string you are moving to, then use alternate picking while remaining on a single string.
Directional picking helps lock your hands together in sync due to the way it causes you to naturally articulate the string more clearly. Emphasize this effect by picking through every string change of a scale pattern using heavy picking power to articulate it.
Making your picking technique more efficient is the shortcut to effortless guitar speed that everyone is looking for but no one knows exists.
What’s even more cool is that there are other ways to efficiently pick for insane levels of speed across different areas of your guitar playing. Learn them right now by checking out this guitar picking article.
About Tom Hess: Tom Hess is a guitar teacher, music career mentor and guitar teacher trainer. He teaches rock guitar lessons online to students from all over the world and conducts instructional live guitar training events attended by musicians from over 50 countries.
