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