Why is it that when pro guitarists play fast it looks relaxed and effortless, but when you play fast it looks like a struggle? There are loads of answers to that. The first is just practice, hours on the fretboard, and you probably know that already. But there's one specific thing a lot of fast players are doing that you might not be, and it's quite easy to start training.
Fast playing is a series of tiny snaps ▶ 0:41
It relates to tension and fluidity, especially in the left hand. When you watch fast players, it looks like their hand is gliding across the fretboard.
Think about watching a film. You don't see the individual frames, just a moving image. Slow it right down and you see each frame, and it jitters. Slow down a lot of fast players and you see something similar. Not a smooth glide, but a series of very fast little movements. They're hitting every single note precisely and with intention.
That's what we're going to train.
The snap exercise ▶ 1:22
Take any scale you're comfortable with. I'll use the A minor scale, because I play it in basically every lesson. Slow down a bit, and instead of loosely flowing through the notes, snap to every note.
What I want to see is snap, snap, snap, not a gentle flow. Each movement happens instantly, then it stops. You move, then you pause, then you move again.
- Left hand: the finger is either on the string or it's off. You're not flowing gracefully between the two. You get from off to on in an instant.
- Right hand: the pick is either down or up. You're not drifting through the string. Down. Up. Down. Up. You get to each one as fast as you can.
Go up the scale like that, nice and slowly, then back down. At a slow speed you could easily drift through it loosely if you wanted. Don't. What you're training is a reflexive movement, so treat each note as a binary thing.
This is in some ways best practised at slower speeds, but you do need to speed it up eventually to bring it into your actual playing.
Why this helps your synchronisation ▶ 3:30
If your finger is either on or off, and your pick is either down or up, there's no confusion about whether the two hands are lined up.
Think about playing to a metronome. A metronome is very binary: click, click, click. If you're flowing gently through the string, at what point in that movement is the click meant to land? It's hard to say. That flowiness is actually the enemy of speed, in my opinion.
Take it to a metronome ▶ 3:52
Now try it to a metronome, nice and slowly, with one note every two clicks. Watch your fretting finger as it lands. There shouldn't be any drag as it gets to the string. It should just snap on.
There's a limit to how fast you can move your fingers, so do it as best you can. As you practise it more, your movements might start to look quite jittery. That's fine. As you speed up, you can start to relax a bit more, and things will stay synchronised and coordinated.
Don't aim for flow, aim for snap. The flow will come as you do that.
Pick a scale, set the metronome slow, and play one note every two clicks with both hands snapping into place. Once that feels natural, nudge the tempo up and keep the snap.
