How To Play Guitar Fast - The Magic Of Chunking 

This is a brilliant example of how to translate state-of-the-art understandings from Neuroscience into applied guitar practice! Well explained and presented and all required aspects covered. I find it very motivating when there is an idea about why certain advice would work and how exactly it would work. I’ll try it out immediately and hope to see more content from you on that basis. Thanks a lot!

I've watched 100s of hours of guitar RU-vid in the last year and frankly, if someone wanted me to boil it down to my top 5 or so, this would be in it. I knew about chunking, but you've laid it out so plainly and simply that now I feel I can use it much more effectively.

Do you want to see a video on picking technique?

this video explained why speed bursts are so effective, practicing groups of notes at a tempo out of your comfort zone.... wow, open/closed loop environments... everything just clicked for me. you are godsent, thank you

Clear, concise, scientific. This is a phenomenal lesson! Thank you!

I can't believe how precise,analytic and smooth is the way you teach my friend.Hats off. You are a phenomenal teacher. I wish you come back and make more videos.Thank you!

Love the analogies. I caught this video at the right time when I am in the process of learning how to play fast. I realized the best way to learn is start with the mind to understand why it works like this. Thanks a lot. I'm a subscriber 🤘🏾

This honestly a much deeper video than I expected. This is a must watch for any physical endeavor.

Thanks man, this is really helpful. I definitely have found learning stuff in little bits and gradually putting it altogether a lot easier but this has really helped me apply it to everything I learn now in the best way. You deserve way more subscribers.

In my 40 years of playing I have never heard nor seen this concept. The breakdown and explanation are so thorough and easy to understand. I would have expected to pay for such a valuable lesson. I'm most grateful for this! Thank you

Hi, thank you for sharing this info, excellent video :) The theory of this has been extremely useful.

Thank you. Such a helpful video.

Great lesson!

Your lessons are amazing. Please don't stop and make more and more videos.

This fellow makes everything so clear and simple. One of, if not the best, of these types of clips out there!

Great lesson thank you 😊

Good bless you for this video!

Not gonna lie, I went into this video with very little faith in not only myself but in you too haha. This is only the second video I've seen of yours and the first was the one about speaking with the guitar. That is a skill I have already developed fairly well and has been one of my most important and valued breakthroughs on my own personal lifelong journey with this incredible instrument....I almost didn't watch this. I am somewhat horrified at how narrowly I almost missed this brilliant gift of knowledge that will no doubt lead to a wildly better version of myself as a guitarist. The me in an alternate timeline who arrogantly did not watch this video has no idea what was missed out on here. You have blown my mind wide open, and greatful to be the version of myself that stuck around for this haha. I haven't even finished this video and you have earned my upmost respect and a new subscriber for sure. Seriously, all that's left for me to say is thank you. And holy shit. hahaha

Best explanation I've ever seen on this subject. Finally someone put it into something that can be practiced effectively. Liked & subbed.

Terrific lesson! This is the only video exposing the real secret to speed with a scientific approach. Thank you, your work is very much appreciated.

very good lesson Thank you!!

Your Guitar Player’s Advice Exchange group post brought me here. Many thanks for sharing 👍

Clear, methodical analysis of the secret to fast playing. Phenomenal !

A great lesson which was really clear. Nice job! I will be sharing this video. I predict a very successful youtube channel.

Literally one of the best guitar classes on youtube, thanks for this

Brilliant. Crosses over to so many other activities besides guitar or musical instruments. I caused me to look into my thinking about how I learn, mistakes, adjustments, perseverance through practicing, etc. Simple concepts are underrated in the big picture of things. Thanks you!👍

Great video and channel man, extremely helpful!

The way you intruduced how information goes to the brain was a key to learn this

You don’t post much, but when you do, it’s all killer, no filler. A very sincere thank you. Subbed. 👍

Thanks for the lesson Olicana!

Excellent video man, this definitely helped me a tonne. I like that you explained it in such detail

Absolutely fantastic video. Now THIS is a guitar lesson!

Fantastic lesson, I am amazed by idea behind how brain manages open chunk and loop chunks. Love how you present the lesson. Keep up your amazing work.

Brilliant lesson...thanks a lot

GREAT Video, thank you so much.

This is really nice lesson, i hope you make more videos of this kind.. This kind of video really motivates me to practice more..

Very good. >Thank you

fantastic GREAT VIDEO!!!!!! wow 🤩 thanxxx

The detail you got into in order to explain why practicing a phrase slow will never perfect itself at higher speeds was outstanding. Subscribed for more wisdom!

Great stuff… thank you for sharing thos with us all

Awesome video man!

Excellent. It is nicely explained. This is very helpful. Thanks.

Great tutorial

Well done my friend. Hope your channel grows quickly!

Thx ,great vidéo, yes we want thé vidéo about picking !!

Such a good technique for learning aanything, not just guitar, great video as always keep them up!

that rings so true to my experience in trying to gradually speed a phrase faster - at some point I can't play it the same way at a faster tempo. I guess intuitively I just would tweak my technique or approach to work at a bit faster tempo, but I always felt kind of guilty :D. Like I needed permission :D. but it's really good having your full methodology laid out - thanks much for this. And actually, I'd given up (again) on trying to get faster, but your video has reinspired me to try again - thanks again for this.

Thanks man! I'm so thankful I saw your video

Excellent

Excellent explanation, detailed and really understandable even for the less experienced. Thanks!!!

Thank for the info 🎸👍🎵

Wot a brilliant lesson thanx you dude 🤘

Wow! This a neurologically-based information processing lesson that just happens to be applied to the guitar. Fantastic. So tired of lessons that detail every up- and downstroke, the name of the mode employed and the like. The general principles discussed here are going to allow me gain speed on everything from playing metal licks to chicken picking. Enough with the commenting-I’m grabbing my guitar and having at it!

Coming from an older generation of guitarists, this is intriguing. To old blues-rockers like me, playing the notes you mean and meaning the notes you play is fundamental, psychologically opposite of what you are doing here. Yet we have licks, i e stock phrases that we play the same way as single notes, that are effectively your chunks.

Great content. This channel deserves more sub. Please include on your next content the picking technique.

Incredible explanation. Blew me away.

man this guys videos are soooooo good, I wish he'd make more 😢

This makes a lot of sense.. thanks

Great video. As for one that speed has always been a challenge, just going faster and practising has been the way. If you want to learn running, you have to run. Great examples and explanations. Cheers.

I learned about "chunking" in my graduate studies (Adult Education). I didn't realize how broad the application is for this idea. I also reveals something about how the mind organizes and anchors information during the process of memorization.

I like this! It feels like this is instinctively what you tend to do when learning but it’s nice to see a bit of the rationale behind it and reassurance that i’m doing the right thing. I saw someone once say “you’re not going to learn to run by walking….” I also like the weightlifting analogy - it’s all about marginal gains, you don’t go from lifting nothing to deadlifting 200kg, you up your weight periodically by small amounts, so it makes sense for guitar too 😊 thanks for the video!

19:15 This is half what I do when I connect things up, but I use this exact same method. Play chunk 1 and the first note of chunk 2 to get the connection to be as smooth as the chunks are separately. But I also practice the 2nd chunk by starting on the last note or two of the 1st chunk, basically coming at the problem from the other direction also with the exact same methodology. This allows me to approach smoothing out the connection from both directions...if you get what I mean. You describe the 1st half of the transition, which is moving into chunk 2 from chunk 1. This forces you to perfect entry into the transition between them at the end of chunk 1. I add some additional focus on the 2nd half of the transition as well, which is moving from chunk 1 through chunk 2. This forces you to also perfect exit out of the transition at the start of chunk 2. For me doing this greatly reduces the "stepping' required to get it smooth, that you demonstrated by continually adding one additional chunk 2 note to the end of your chunk 1 transition practice until it "cascades". 3-4 notes is much more than it ever takes me. Usually chunk 2 falls out after only 1 or 2 if I have also practiced chunk 2 from within chunk 1 the same as I have practiced chunk 1 going into chunk 2. Hard to explain what I mean. I hope I have done it. Maybe I can just say that you are looking at connecting the chunks together from a viewpoint that stands within chunk 1 looking forward moving towards chunk 2. For me it also helps to connect them by looking from a viewpoint that stands within chunk 2 looking backwards moving away from chunk 1. Another technique I would use with the specific lick you are demonstrating would be to divide up the chunks differently. So you have all the chunks as distinct from each other in the overall picture. All of chunk 1 is followed by all of chunk 2 followed by all of 3 etc. In a long string of triplets or 16th notes you can also easily delineate chunks that overlap with one another. So, you end up with all of chunk 1 followed by a chunk that is half chunk 1 and half chunk 2 followed by all of chunk 2 followed by 1/2 chunk 2 + 1/2 chunk 3 followed by all of 3 etc. This also helps with connecting the whole thing together in the long run since you have turned all the transitions between the chunks into separate chunks themselves. It can aid in improving your ability to lengthen the chunks as you learn and connect them, ideally leading to the entire lick becoming one huge single chunk. Another bonus with doing this is that it expands your vocabulary. Referring back to another video you did concerning phrasing in which you compared it with spoken languages, every chunk you master amounts to another word added into your phrasing vocabulary. In particular, your high-speed vocabulary. When you overlap chunks, you learn twice as many words.

Smart young man!

This must be the least rock n’ roll tutorial I’ve ever seen on how to become a shred monster😅 but yeah, it’s all extremely well explained and the video should be saved in a playlist of every aspiring guitar hero 🎸

Great lesson🤝i always want this guitar😅hard to find now.Have a great day.

Brilliant explanation especially at 12:37

This is the most useful instructional video about practice approaches I've ever seen.

Awesome video my friend ! Big Like!👍👍👍👍👍👍👍💯

Nice explanation

Never this concept until now…THANK YOU

Excellent video

Very useful. Thanks.

This was really great. Almost apples to any learning..

Excellent, at last real precise advic eon how to practice and not just a bunch of exercises! Thx! The website seems to be down tough?

I also have an Ibanez Prestige, they are truly some amazing guitars

Wow, best class ever

nice intro dude and video of course

Nice concept. I think the real masters are combining closed loop with open loop phrases with taste

Really great lesson. It will change my practice. In the past I tried to learn too many notes at a time. : )

Finally, RU-vid gave me a useful suggestion.

The area of the brain you're talking about is the premotor area. The premotor area is the, "Functional cortical area rostral to the primary motor cortex, involved in planning and initiating complex motor programmes."

Well, anything that is faster and less painful than listening to the introduction of this video, could facilitate smoother and more legato lines

Very useful concept. Chunking is key to improving efficiency and speed. I first learnt this from one of Ben Higgins' videos. And later saw Troy Grady explain it in detail. It's a well documented concept in this day and age, but doesnt hurt to talk about it all the time simply because it is so so important. Specially for someone just starting out. Nice job with the production quality and graphics too. The only thing I will add is some feedback about how to connect chunks. In my opinion it's better to learn and practice two chunks separately and adequately before linking them. So the first set of sextuplets mastered then the second one. Then connect them in full. Your suggestion that we should add one note at a time from the second sextuplet is a bit less efficient. Because the second set is broken in pieces and there it isnt a chunk anymore.just a suggestion.

Wow, Wow I, Wow I think,Wow I think that was,Wow I think that was a great, Wow I think that was a great lesson, Wow I think that was a great lesson, Thank you !

I love a tutorial with less talking,

A big question I have is regarding picks. There are soooo many variations. Thick, Medium, Thin, Large. Small, sharp point, regular point, etc. It seems the small stiff picks may be better for speed picking but no bueno for strumming chords, and vice versa. Do you have any recommendations?

Yep... you got it right.

Amendments to Sir Oli! Amen lord bless you guys!

Yes please make a video about how the pick hits the strings

Gonna get the shoestrings sorted then nail that tricky A minor pentatonic..

Great lesson! I think your guitar neck might have some backbow or there's a setup issue.

I'm a beginner and I don't know how to differentiate between syncronised and unsynchronized playing. How do I know I'm syncronised?

Your comment about practicing fast was apropos. Practice fast to be fast.

Chun King makes Chinese food swing american....(it was a commercial that was on TV constantly throughout the 60s).

I learned chunking in psychology.

i think you dont get as much as attention that you deserve on this platform

Does that scale have a name?

Why do I have to accept all those cookies to get your e-book? Some of them are very intrusive.

This is good of course for learning set, constructed patterns that are fast.... Take Surfing With The Alien by Joe Satriani for example..... but what baffles me is when I see Joe Satriani play all his songs live, he takes the Jimi Hendrix(who he grew up listening to) approach to playing....which is never to play the same thing twice..... The speed runs Joe plays in Surfing With The Alien and other songs are never exactly the same.....which means he is improvising here and there.....at what for me is open loop speed.....which seems totally impossible.....Like first you need to think about what you need to play, and of course find the right notes you have decided on, and then play them......by that time it's already too late to start the solo..........yet.........he does this.....and also when he ends songs off he improvises with high speed pick tapping and other stuff as well......... Is this where the whole thing about talent and gift comes into the picture?..........(there are several other players that do that as well, not just Joe.....I just used him as an example)

So useful but I can not do fastly b/c now I'm 55 ys old, and not pro,is that right ,man ?