How To Play Faster: A Method That Actually Works - Guitar Lesson 

same here

So just stumbling on this - I think this format is GREAT - the analysis from a physological perspective is unique and I like that perspective - like all things music, it's a blend of art and science

I most definitely do want to see more snippets like this! Haha Thank you too Martin, your lessons really are on another level, and the way that you present concepts is very refreshing. For me, your objectiveness is extremely effective in that it leaves no room for doubt, and gives much confidence regarding the material at hand. Also, thanks for the compliment on my balls, they appreciate it very much. Now, on to shredding mindlessly...

Kudos to both Pedro and Martin for allowing us this and a resounding YES to the snippets! Personally, I'd love to see your approach on conscious note choice within scales/modes that addresses tension/release/expectation . For example, that G altered video you did with Troy Grady. Everything from a Jazz Fusion context would be outstanding. Thanks Guys ..

I loved to see a cross picking lesson with one of you students. Exercises, ways to approach (alternate, down down up, etc)

Well, I always wonder.. most teachers show students individual techniques-how to play them slow and fast, but I always found it very difficult to combine them together while improvising, maybe you could shed some light on this subject? Because the thoughtprocess behind combining different licks seems very vague to me... Oh and also, I feel like im struggiling with proper legato technique, maybe you could explain the left hand's motion - how to properly execute pull offs, hammerons etc. :)

You're right; this technique is very helpful. I don't think you are "literally" flying up the metronome. "Figuratively" is the term.

@@mesabman Fixed. Thanks!

It's funny back in 1998 my teacher told me this... basically, start faster than you can and get control, then move faster and get control. I also find Ben Higgins tremolo picking "lesson" video was really helpful. It helped apply Troy Grady's pick slant. I doubt I'll ever reach even half Paul Gilbert's speed, but 140-168bpm 16th notes up and down with strict alternate picking would be great.

man i've also been stuck at 110bpm for basically two years now, gonna see what this exercise will do to my speed

@@GerbensBackingtracks generally when we're stuck at that spot it tends to be because of stringhopping as well

Chris Brooks Guitar Thanks Chris!

Yes Chris, putting on chains creates inhibition and that leads to frustration. Children are the best learners cause they don't care about falling over. It's only when society tells them whats right and whats wrong that they lose their open mind.

I could not agree more mate :)

At first I thought you were calling him Pedro to be a dick. Then I clicked show more on the description and it says "Taken from a lesson with my 18 year old student Pedro Asfora from Brazil." Now I'm the dick. Life is weird

Well, I was never the dick, so it's not that weird from here haha. Vote for Pedro!

That‘s it in a nutshell!

@@MartinMillerGuitar thanks for this! I saw your video on troys site. Excellent stuff. Very motivating. Much appreciated.

I think there was more to it than that: practice right hand technique (one note fast); play small snippets or phrases to coordinate the left hand; keep these phrases short and do not tense up; repeat phrases to lengthen the exercises. The idea is to practice a "chunk" that you send with one conscious command.

@@JimmyDevere i agree with you. I think this is a critical point in development that alot of pros are failing to point out.

@@MartinMillerGuitar How is that different than what the student said at the beginning of the video that you snapped at him and said "no, that's wrong!"

You can clearly see my happiness when he said that. It was a liberating lesson! I recommend learning from him to everyone.

Pedro Asfora you got a great teacher pedro. Just keep learning and do not give up!

Yes, the Guitar Acceleration Program philosophy is basically what is going on here. Learn the technique well, find your limit tempo, work there and push it into the "suicide zone".

@Diego Zalaquett Durand yeah, and so is the message of this video. skipping speed is going to fuck up your muscle memory, you will learn wrong technique and get more inaccurate than when learning at slower tempos. slower tempos=control, which is the key to speed.

Can you tell me roughly how long the neural 'loop' actually is in milliseconds? I assume it's not 2ms as Martin says. If you're playing semiquavers at 200bpm (faster than Pedro) then you have 75ms between each pick strike. I don't know much at all about the brain, but in terms of electronics, 75ms would be a very long time.

I'll have to go dig up my old neuroscience texts, will reply when I get a chance to do so. I don't know precisely how long it is, but the idea isn't that you can only play things restricted by that timeframe; it's that beyond a certain timeframe, your ability to differentiate precisely between individual pickstrokes diminishes and your brain more or less switches to processing "chunks" of information. I think you may have calculated it out in a way he didn't intend -- the idea of a 2ms feedback loop is the idea that your brain is unable to receive and process feedback in shorter timeframes. Of course that's somewhat a sliding scale -- you can still hear wrong notes, or if you pick a note out of rhythm, but your ability to pay attention specifically to the mechanics of each individual pick stroke or note diminishes almost completely. It's why it's considerably easier to hear and sing a slow, simple melody, vs being able to recall the notes of a comparably short 250 BPM run (it's not just the quantity of notes). You can likely tell that it has a particular tonality (i.e. it sounds Dorian, or Diminished), and can even tell where "chunks" deviant (i.e. he screwed up in this particular section), but you can't actually "hear" each individual note apart from the chunk. The idea is to get the slow, precise mechanics into "muscle memory" (i.e. out of your prefrontal cortex), and then apply speed to already proficient slow mechanics.

Two years passed. What happened? Are You much faster now?

​@@ivioca so due to "life and work" problems I had to drop the guitar for months. I came back to it roughly 3 months ago and I have been practicing almost everyday. 2 things made a difference for me. 1 optimising technique to be as relaxed as possible. I know some ppl do it intuitively but I had to be told that and it takes a lot of focus during my playing. 2 what Martin said in this video. top two speeds of alternate picking exercises are always above what I can perform clean. I just focus on relax technique and slowly cleaning up the playing. 1st month back at the guitar was pretty much all about getting used to it but the last two months I have been really enojying it and I have increased by 30 bpm. Disclaimer: I am a trash guitarist anyway. I have a full time job and a girlfriend so most I can manage is to practice 40 minutes to 1h 30 minutes a day. Martin's advise is spot on as much as my experience is considered. I also vouch for his fret board visualisation method. He has a course on some website I have purchased. Pretty much the PDF he provides is enough videos are not that useful. I have never had a lesson with a teacher so maybe that's why i find it so illuminating. My Advice: everybody is different and some people react to different things better than others. Try different stuff and don't take any advice as gospel. I think the learning technique that promotes being relaxed as possible applies to everyone. Sorry for 200 essay. I just wanted to be as clear as possible. I am at relatively low level so argument can be made that I could make progress with most approaches.

@@hYpYz Thanks for your explanation and your advice.

And thanks Pedro!

It was fantastic, thank you too man!

what kind of vibrato is that? do you have a video of someone doin it?

I mean that absolute standard wrist vibrato where you pull the string down (E A D and G string). The upward version came somehow natural. I can do that nearly from the beginning. But pulling down to vibrate the string was like a brain error. Is that enough or do you still need a video link? Cheers!

Markus D. I understand what you mean and I'm having a similar problem lol... I can't bend a string and add vibrato while the string is bent. 12 years playing and I've never even tried. I look and sound like a fucking idiot. That's something I'm incorporating into my practice.

The only key to get it down (not talking about the vibrato while bending, but this will probably be the same) for me, was to take a metronome and make series of halftone-bends on different strings (mostly just chromatically up and down with all 4 fingers). 4ths, 8ths, 8th triplets, 16ths and so on. After a while, I recognized, that the motions got smoother, more frequent and precise and I was more and more able to do it spontaneously. Meanwhile, I even have to hold back because I vibrate the sh*t out of the guitar. :D But be aware: practising like this will HURT! You'll need even more callus to execute it without pain. And if there is one thing you don't need, then to be irritated by pain. Pain is vibrato's enemy. ;) Good luck!

Michael Enochs most people while doing this technique try to slightly loosen the string and bend it back up to pitch while it is bent in hopes of giving it a vibrato sound, the trick is when you bend the string to pitch actually bend it slightly higher or sharp to the note that you bent up to and return to the pitch and repeat.

What he's saying is more or less: feel comfortable in 100, then jump to 200. No need to control the notes the way you do in 100, just burst and get comfrtable.

This comment is a year old. Did you manage to go above 120?

Lenny van Riel lol, nah, i dropped guitar practice, wasn't doing good progress, just isn't for me I guess, occasionally play acoustic though

Can you tell us which video is?

😂

Start fast, go fast in the middle, and end fast haha.

Two years passed. What happened? Are You much faster now?