The neural plasticity aspects I've seemed to experience when working on difficult passages is fascinating. For example, working on a part for 10-15 minutes before bedtime and struggling with speed or accuracy, then waking to practice the next day and seeing tangible improvements. The brain keeps working on forging new neural pathways while we sleep.
This is really exciting to hear! I'm stoked for you and also as Rotem said , can we hear some of the music you're working on? Of course I understand if you don't wish to share though! :)
Had that exact thing happen yesterday. Running though a passage again and again and again and not feeling it. Quit in frustration, only to nail it this morning. The brain is amazing.
Ive totally had those moments when working on classical guitar pieces. It seems impossible and out of my skill zone, but I break it down bar by bar and repeat the movements, in a few days it feels like my brain has fully wrapped around the song and its suddenly easy. For me recently this was on a tarrega piece, Study in the form of a minuet. The speed comes with confidence and reps. ❤
Great video. The main reason why it's crucial to practice slowly in order to play fast comes down to one thing- developing technique. The slower we play the longer our muscles are engaged and building up their strength. Playing fast right away doesn't train the fingers properly, doesn't build full dexterity. The longer we hold a note, the more our hand is being used and building technique and so our time can improve as well.
When I watch Allan Holdsworth play, I notice that he worked his fingers very independently. Even though he had his patterns over lines, those lines depended upon the fact that his fingers worked upon each note and not simply “smashing” those digits on the frets. It was articulation on the fret without a finger slur across the fretboard.
I completely agree with the one about trying to play fast and making mistakes just to get over that mental block that says you can't play fast. I'll often play a line or just improvise at a faster tempo than I comfortably can. But if you keep doing it you'll be surprised with the improvement
Discovered Rotem walking by a Bar in the NYC’s West Village about 10 years back. Heard some crazy legato lines and thought ‘Who tf is that? I believe there’s a physical limitation to speed for every guitarist. Flexibility, dexterity, hand size and shape, coordination and a multitude of other physical and mental attributes determine speed ability on guitar.
Being listening to Al Di Meola lately , his soloing sounds great , fast & precise . The solo on " Land Of The Midnight Sun " is amazing . Thanks for showing technique .
For me I try to switch off my mind and remain calm....but doesn't always happen!! Also practising late at night is better....I love your playing and lessons!
Another point could be to adjust your technique. I struggled a lot with alternate picking, but since I changed my pick-grip, pick-angle and overall body-stability I made a progress.
Great Video Rotem. Its easier to play fast with Legato than it is with Picking all or most of the notes because their's less coordination necessary between the Picking and Fretting hand. On the other hand, the secret to playing fast while Picking all or most of the notes, and its really not a secret, is coordination between the Picking Hand and the Fretting Hand. The Greater the Coordination, the Faster it will Sound, even if it's really not that fast. Thanks.
One of the hardest songs (for me) is "New Country", written by Jean-Luc Ponty and played in unison with both him and Daryl Stuermer. I tried to play it at their speed since I saw them in concert in Zurich in...1978! Never succeeded... 😕
my problem playing fast is not having a strong right hand, its off and not syncronized with my left hand, not having a good alternate picking, rely to much on sweeps and legatos in my left hand. So im forcing myself to play increasingly fast attacking all the notes, no legatos. But above all, im a improviser, i need always to stop, slow down and listen( to myself) and produce a phrase that not only works but has melodic and motivic content, i find myself when not doing this, i end up playing basically scales or arpeggios fast, which can work as a transition to a different place, but isnt really a genuine and singable melody. I wanna play fast but still make good note choices just like i manage to do when playing at my normal tempo or the subdivisions i normally play. good video, maybe more advice on right hand.
Rotem, I forgot to mention some Specific Tracks. This is also for anyone else that's interested. For Picking Speed, Tickle Toe by Johnny Smith, On The Stars by Pat Martino, Passion Grace and Fire by Al Dimeola and Paco Delucia. For Legato Speed, Out By Twelve by Bill Connors, and Devil Take The Hindmost by Allan Holdsworth. Their are Faster Guitarists but, its about Speed while being Clean, with Control. Also, On The Stars and Out By Twelve are in my humble opinion the most Aggressive Jazz Blues Performances ever on Guitar. Thanks.
Trilogy Suite by the Swedish Guitar God Yngwie! I can play it, but it's a lot of techniques involved. Down up Down Down or Down down up, or Down up down up, etc! And muting and having a light picking hand, cause if you tense up it's impossible to play!
(Not so much for legato but perhaps more for rhythmic phrasing )One teacher I had would play a passage/phrase just one note on one string : picking the rhythmic articulation . He would do the phrase fast , accenting all the little inflections or grouping in the phrase … hitting it all in one spot like a machine gone then playing the real phrase right after , increasing the tempo up to the desired or actual speed
Scott Henderson should not be reduced to such a category. Playing fast is something beginners are intrigued with. Actually, it's not that hard. What is hard and takes decades is having a large vocabulary over many harmonic contexts, great phrasing and time. All these things Henderson has. I would not put Mancuso, a young player without any body of work, in the same sentence as Henderson.
What is the hardest thing to play? For me it was GOAT by Polyphia. (Still cant play it coz i gave up) Just the switches between techniques and moving rapidly across the fretboard with big jumps is very challenging for me.
Hardest songs on guitar . Cliffs of Dover Intro - Eric Johnson Ignominious and Pale Solo - Necrophagist He man woman hater Solo (not the intro Bumblebee , the actual song solo towards the end) - Extreme
If we are talking any instrument in modern times, I am going with John Coltrane for favorite fast player. If we are talking only guitarists, I am going with Alex Hutchings - great blend of musicality and technique.
I just emailed myself this video and will practice what you're recommending! :) Thank you for your help Rotem ! 🙏 The hardest song on guitar? Haha I am not sure. King Crimson - Fracture is meant to be pretty difficult.. The most difficult song I've learnt was Between the buried and me - Silent Flight parliament. Also Under a Glass Moon by Dream Theater is pretty insane ! 😅
The hardest song I know how to play is the finger-picking song, "Oddball", by Leo Kottke. I can play it somewhat cleanly but at only 75% speed (on Amazing Slowdowner). I tried 90% the other day and it kicked my butt! BTW, I really enjoy your videos!
here's something that'll get you there. fret a single note, and play it at relative high speed; 75% of of your max yet articulable speed. do it for 5 solid minutes. do this twice a day. on day 3, throttle back a bit from the 75%, say, 65%, but instead of the single tone, play the 1,2,3,4,3,2,1 pattern for 5 minutes, then the single tone for 5 minutes at 75%. [PLANT your arm and use the WRIST only, with no tracking except for the forearm]. After a week, you need to vary it, and add more meat to each pic stroke. dig more, and dig hard, but clear the string. pick speed at 50% of your max should work ok. this WILL work and you'll feel its effects every time you pick up the guitar. picking a guitar is an athletic move. treat it as such. other than the athletic improvement, this method teaches you to not be afraid of the guitar.
Great video ! Do you always practice with your guitar amplified ? I always practice with my jazz guitar unplugged and i was wondering if it was important or not... thx
One of the hardest songs I ever tried to learn was Chet Atkins version of Mr Sandman. What I struggled with is the walking bass and I have small hands but Chet doesn't! Also he used a thump pick where as I was just pick and fingers . On some parts it requires the use of the thumb to fret notes as well. My hands don't like that lol
There is one problem I have with speed; try recording in a DAW, with 16 ms latency. Stops your speed playing, or else you end up 7 measures in front of the rest of the band. It stops me from recording fast, no matter how fast I get in practice.
I came across a RU-vid video long ago of Itzhak Perlman giving a quote from Heifetz and it went something like "if you practice fast you forget it fast, if you practice slowly you forget it slowly". If anyone wants to marvel at technical facility of an instrument (seems like people are posting that a lot in the comments), I can recommend watching the Last Rose of Summer variations for violin. It has a section where the violinist plays arpeggios up and down the neck while plucking other strings. It results in sounding like a mandolin and violin playing at the same time. Totally bonkers. Edit: Here's the section: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rpss7GsCj7A.html
This is not what classical guitarists would tell you. They would say that if you make mistakes you're teaching yourself those mistakes. And that when you make a mistake over and over again you are actually practicing and reinforcing that mistake. so you play slowly over passages that you can't play very well because then you are teaching yourself the correct positions and the correct notes. Later you can gradually increase the speed.
I teach classical guitar (amongst other styles).... For classical guitar "learned" mistakes (in a piece of music) is a real thing. For other styles like jazz and fast soloing I think it what Rotem teaches here is more accurate.
@@josdurkstraful I think there's a wide range of opinion on that. If practicing mistakes reinforces the mistakes that can't apply only to classical music. there's nothing magical about classical music. It must apply to other styles of music as well the style of music is not relevant. . In fact what he does I see is he actually conditions that statement. He actually uses slower and faster practicing
There are different philosophies but Shawn Lane (who was probably the fastest guitarist who ever lived) recommended exactly the same approach as Rotem. i.e play faster than you are able, in order to stretch your brain and conception of what's possible, and then clean up over time.
Probably not the hardest but it has to be up there, would love to see you play some Polyphia! 'Ego Death' or 'Playing God' are good introductions to the band
Disciplined practice will always lead to improved technique. It’s a little misleading, however to suggest that anyone can attain “wild speed” in ten days of practice. I’ve been playing guitar for over thirty years, and I am SLOW. I have poor motor control, and seemingly lack almost any so-called “fast twitch nerve fibers”. Playing steady 8th notes for 30 seconds, the fastest consistent speed I can attain is about 70bpm. No amount of practice will push me beyond that speed limit. We are all constrained by our physiology, and the really fast players I’ve known are quite literally built differently.
Chet Atkins / Jerry Reed play some fast licks. The hardest song in that context would easily be Jerry's Breakdown (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Ni8KBhnebwE.html)
A really hard song for me to play is Periphery's Marigold. It is fast, it follows a 6/8 beat and you need to be a finger gymnast to stretch your hands. After hours and hours i still can not play it in original speed. Frustrating if you see the playtrough from misha mansoor. He just plays it as it is nothing. Thanks for the tips in this video.
You’re running the assumption that the pick is being held in an efficient manner. If someone’s foundation is off, no matter what they do won’t get them up to speed.
nk that Jimmy Page’s live solo of Dazed and Confused is one of the hardest things to play on the guitar. While his technical skill may not be on par with many renowned Jazz Musicians, the energy he delivers during his solos is very hard to achieve.
Hardest piece on guitar? "Toccata" by Rodrigo. Makes Bach's Chaconne feel like a nursery rhyme. .. This is me playing the Chaconne (some 20 years ago): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mXc2pUZIcd4.html
I realised in didnt want to be a virtuoso and I dont think I need to be any faster. The stuff I like to make doesn't need hummingbird wing fingers. Its fun to have a wank but nah... P.S RSI is real.
