beginner

[sunil_padasala2006]

guys...ive just been playing for about a year and a half now. I really want to improve my speed. Is it a gradual process?or is there a way i can increase it quickly?

and can anyone tell me an easy way to learn the fretboard ???

[TheWannabeMusician]

It is a very slow and painful process

My experience is that sometimes, could be in an interval of a week, but especially on higher speeds it will be more like after a year (I've been stuck at 165 BPM for a year before I advanced to 180), you have some sort of "outburst" in speed, and everything goed well and you feel really good about yourself. Then the next day you try to do it again and you can't do it anymore; sometimes it even seems you got worse. So if you're gonna go for speed, prepare for frustration, agony, pain, and a looooooong wait (maybe "wait" isn't the best word, because of course you gotta practise a lot)

And I take it you're already familliar with the principle of metronome, 16th notes, no faster than you can or you'll get sloppy?

[shredaholic]

Easy way to learn the fretboard? Try speaking out loud what note you're playing when you fret it. The more you struggle, the more you will learn.

[ONEbpm]

Hi!

One way that opened up the fret board for me is this: Do you know your open chords? C-G-A etc? Well, play the open C chord on the first fret. You know, the old ring finger on the 3rd fret A string, middle finger on the second fret D string. You get the idea. There is also a way you can play a C chord using a barre chord on the 3rd fret of the A string as your barre. Simple right? Most people know these two froms of the C chord.

That barre chord is a "A" shaped barre chord (or it's in the A form if you prefer) by this I mean that if you slid it down to an open position, it would be an A chord. All you're doing is shifting it up to the 3rd fret and barring it. So you've got your open "C" chord, then you created a C chord using the barre on the third fret (with an A shape) What follows that shape? The G then the E then the D. It spells the word "CAGED" and you can now locate all the notes of the C major scale, C-D-E-F-G-A-B, wich has no sharps of flats.

http://www.cagedguitarsystem.net/

It's a quick way of learning where all the notes are that AREN'T sharps or flats.

[blank]

Welcome to the site,

Everyone has a different learning expince, and speed is something that comes with practise. Although in my personal opinion, chormatics are a good way to help speed up the process. There are several lessons on our Lead page that deal with them:

http://www.shredaholic.com/lead.html

It also depends on how you practise, if you care to read a bit, check out "The 80/20 Law" by Tom Hess, I can't remember if its on the leads page :S (and to be frank, I'm to lazy to post a link from another site haha). As for learning the fretboard, the caged system as mentioned above would work, but I just went with having fun and messing around with the scales and the modes I knew at the time.

[shredaholic]

http://www.shredaholic.com/hesslesson19.html

[TheWannabeMusician]

Chromatics are great for speed, but I went for slower progress without them because I found chromatics unbearingly dull, which also confirms blanks statement about how it's all about how you practise. Finding a balance between progress and fun might be difficult at first (it was for me), but it keeps you motivated longer and easier than when you choose either a lot of progress or a lot of fun, purely because of the lack of the other opposite. And I guess this balance is different for everyone, so I can't help you with that.

I think all of Hess' arcticles are really helpful, so if you've got the time I'd read 'em all. Even if it's not directly helping you, it's very educative. Also, there's a couple of arcticles about practise schedule (including the 80/20 law I think). I'm not one for schedules, but it might be really helpful

[cob]

The more you struggle, the more you will learn.

This.

Saying note names as you play through scales, practicing scales in different positions and studying theory and sheet music(NO TABS) will all help you master the fretboard. technical exercises, etudes... I would recommend Berklee's required guitar text, "Classical studies for pick-style guitar." One of the best books I've used. Etudes develop technique, analysis develops understanding, practice develops endurance. Speed should be the last thing you focus on and you'll be surprised how much speed develops naturally if you focus on total guitar mastery.