by Tom Hess
What one thing makes mastering fast guitar licks feel frustrating and demotivating?
Answer: Feeling like you are overwhelmed.
This feeling happens all the time to guitar players as they learn new techniques, organize practice exercises or practice guitar tabs.
Why?
Because it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you make mistakes, but don't understand how to improve. This specifically applies while practicing fast guitar licks that require precise movement in your fingers.
Good news:
There is one way to practice fast guitar licks without:
What is it?
Practice a few notes at a time using bursts of speed as shown in this video:
This video demonstrates how to practice rolling technique for arpeggios using a similar approach:
Add notes one-by-one to the pattern you are playing until you are able to play through it entirely without making mistakes.
This approach makes it much easier to process any mistakes you are making, then correct them quickly in order to avoid becoming overwhelmed and feeling frustration.
Note: One of the key mistakes to look out for is having your hands be out of sync with each other.
Learn how to play guitar faster and with less effort by locking them together in sync using the ideas in this guitar speed article.