Taking Your Speed/Phrasing To The Next Level
By Darren Shahinian

There are many musicians who can write a great tune but whose skills are not quite where their writing capabilities are. Likewise there are a significant number of musicians who can shred holes in their guitar, but have no idea what to do with the technical skills they have acquired. Speed is a desired skill to have as a guitarist, regardless of what type of music you are into. If you love to shred until you set your fret-board on fire, or you simply want to add a little more texture and flash to your solo, speed is an asset that all players should try to acquire. Then of course with speed and songwriting there comes phrasing, which is what truly distinguishes a player’s own style.

One of the greatest tools you can acquire to aid you in developing speed is a simple metronome. It is the most accurate way for you to improve as well as track your progress. It is incredibly important that when you begin any exercise that you START SLOW! Your fingers are stupid. Give them time to memorize the patterns along with your brain. Practice slow and steady for an extended period of time and I will guarantee that you will not have to think of the individual notes, for your muscles will memorize these positions on the guitar when your brain decides it wants to play that particular pattern (or phrase). This will then allow you to instead think of notes in terms of the phrase. Your brain will move quicker and wont have to worry about the individual finger responsibilities. Thinking in terms of the phrase will also help you keep faster licks in time. It gives you the ability to subdivide subconsciously. For example, if you have a 32nd note septuplet (7 note run) that you want to fit into one count/beat of a measure, it can be a subdividing nightmare. It would feel awkward because eight note runs/patterns are far more commonly used. If you think of each note individually and try to analyze the duration of each note, you will find that you have either rushed the run, or are several counts into the next measure by the time you finish it. Instead if you think of putting the phrase (in this case the septuplet run) in that one beat timeslot, your brain will subdivide it for you and fit your phrase to the music. It is very important that you know what you are going to do before you get there. This is not to say that you should have zero spontaneity during an improvised solo, but at least have an idea of where you want to go with your phrase. Knowing your phrase will allow you to truly sing it (with your guitar of course) and let you focus on shaping it to your liking, as well as fitting it into whatever specific timeslot you choose. With this concept you will be more able to cleanly rip through phrases in time and experiment with more innovative, creative and awkwardly fitting phrases. Always lead your way to the beat (in most cases the downbeat), keeping your phrases pushing to their endpoint. The phrases will naturally align themselves and lock into place. Thinking of the phrase will not only make the playing sound smoother and less choppy, but will also subconsciously push you to playing faster.

Starting slow is huge, however when you feel comfortable and confident at the speed you are practicing a sequence or lick at (making sure you are playing very clean), increase the tempo (using a metronome) by 15 bpm (beats per minute) and practice at that speed. When that is comfortable and more importantly clean, jump the tempo another 15 bpm. Continue doing this until you reach a point at which you would consider your maximum speed. From here move up only in increments of 5 bpm. Doing this every time you practice with every scale sequence or run that you are working on will significantly raise your speed without losing the clarity of the pitches. But once again it is imperative that you always start slow!

Another factor of speed that is a huge problem for guitar players is how far their fingers come off the fret-board. Now I’m sorry, but as much as you tell yourself not to do it, you are subconsciously still going to do it. How do you solve this dilemma? String skipping exercises are a great way to practice, but the key thing is once again to start slow and force yourself to keep your fingers as close to the strings as possible. Every little fraction of an inch that your fingers stray from the fret-board can make a huge difference at high rates of speed. There seems to be some idea out there that if you pull your fingers back farther, you can get more power to get a good sound when playing legato, another common misconception. Speed is power. The power to get those notes to ring out comes from short, quick finger movements.

Take a C major scale (don’t limit this practice technique to any specific scales… practice with all scales and modes) and break it down by string. Start using 8th, 10th, and 12th frets on the sixth string of your guitar. Starting slowly, just do hammer-ons with these three notes, focusing on keeping your fingers as close to the fret-board as possible when they come off the string. Do not pick any of the notes yet. Quicken the pace as you go, until you reach your maximum speed while still playing clean. Then move to the next string, playing once again the 8th, 10th, and 12th frets. Repeat the process for the next string, continuing up the scale on the 9th, 10th, and 12th frets. Continue through all the strings with the notes in the scale, and repeat the entire process again using only pull-offs. It will be an entirely different struggle to keep your fingers from raising too far from the fret-board when doing this, so take your time and solve the issue. Isolating the problem is the best possible practicing technique you can implement. In this case the problem is your fingers hindering your speed by flying too far from the fret-board. We are isolating the problem string by string, controlling it, and eliminating it. Now just rip through the scale and see how much cleaner and faster you are able to play once you are able to minimize vertical finger movement and maximize finger speed (not strength)
Keep in mind that the ability to play fast alone will get you nowhere. You have to know how to apply it to your music in ways that the music sees fit. Apply your growing speed in moderation, phrasing your ideas in accordance to the context of your music. There are plenty of times in which you can endlessly shred until your calluses double in size, but overuse of constantly fast playing will not only bore your listeners, but eventually yourself as well. It is just one tool of the trade that can open up a whole new world to your playing/writing.

Written by Darren Shahinian
dshahinian@comcast.net
© 2006 By Darren Shahinian