Don't 'Work Up' To Picking Speed — Start With It!

--

[dsvet]

This is Jeet Kune Do for guitar. Repetitions and constantly evaluating your motion implementing economy of motion and chipping away the non-essentials. Bruce did not believe in natural ability per se. He believed in hard work and training both mind and body to achieve it's potential. Ultimately achieving self expression through martial art. He no longer hits, it hits all by itself. Meaning the movements have been ingrained into the sub-conscience so much that he didn't have to think, it just happened. The same is true for guitarists. We must also practice and self evaluate always making those corrections until it just plays all by itself. Troy is a finger pointing us in the right direction giving us the tools to become limitless in our own self expression. Much thanks to Troy!

[gordonmcewen]

"All we're trying to do is provide clearer instructions so that the trial and error part is reduced and you can start much closer to where you want to be."  - Mr Troy,  you certainly are doing this and I am really grateful. You videos are really, REALLY appreciated, thanks  :)

[ceili]

This reminds of how Shawn Lane described how he developed his speed. He never practiced slow, it was always fast and over time it cleaned itself up!

[yawarmukhtar]

I was just checking out your videos, the guitar nerd channel we all wanted

[DaveCorsello]

I'm sure this approach works great. But in the late 90s, I achieved tremendous results by practicing very slowly at first and gradually increasing speed. In my case, I was trying to find a way to improve my right hand technique without aggravating a painful right wrist. So, I made relaxation a primary goal. After gaining complete relaxation and solid, reliable execution at one tempo, I would increase the metronome by one notch. I started playing a maximum of sixteenth notes at 80 bpm, and worked my way up to sixteenth notes at 160 bpm. I remember the moment when it finally clicked that I could play sixteenth notes at just about any commonly used tempo in rock or jazz. While playing at a jam session in Montclair, NJ, I attempted a sixteenth note pentatonic run. All of the pieces fell into place. What a great feeling. After years of neglect, I'm trying to regain the technique that I had achieved back then. I'm 62 now, but I don't think it's too late. I'm still at 40 bpm (or 80 bpm, depending how you look at it) and feeling good.

[shaunmcinnis]

I found this out over time as well. You have to learn the patterns or sequences by heart slow or moderate, then when you fly over it numerous times it gradually cleans itself up. It’s actually freaky the way our brain deals with it. It’s almost like your seeing the entire run as one long string rather than a series of notes, and your brain tends to allow you to smoothen the whole run out as a unit synchronizing your picking hand with your fingering as you do.

[GigglinHamster]

Troy, you're truly making this world a much better place. Your Michael Angelo Batio video changed my life. When I record my first virtuoso rock guitar album, I'm giving you a major shout out. Thanks for everything.

[cmore]

My favorite videos are the ones that validate and expand upon things I’ve already figured out for myself.

[greigwilliamson]

This is the kind of video that always makes me glad I found this channel. This is how I learned, don't work up to speed just go for it and work on cleaning it up. I always wanted to play Buckethead stuff and well I always just kind of went fast and listened to what bits were kind of clean and what bits were horror and just worked on it. Took a while to clean up but now after 7 years I can safely say I can play with speed.

[kasperitervonen]

After watching this I've honestly made more progress in my picking technique in few days than during the period of last six months. And I'm not even exaggerating.

It seems that when I start slow and speed up gradually, I'm always teaching my picking hand to do some useless extra movements, because of which I hit the "speed limit" at some point. The best way to get past that barrier seems to be just start picking fast (ignoring the sloppiness at first) and continue doing it until it starts to feel "right". And voila, there's your perfect picking technique. Quite simple really, but maybe also a bit counter-intuitive because everyone's always telling you to practice slow.

[JazzGuitarScrapbook]

As a player with some chops, I can say this is the way I learned them.

[RCSmiths]

Amazing work indeed man! One of the best and most informative channels I've ever seen to building technique! Thanks for everything!

[questionmark]

Yeah. Absolutely right. I learned this from John Petruccis Rock Discipline VHS tape many years ago.

Go over the limit when practicing and then dial it back. It's like using a medicine ball to warm up in Basketball.

[AndyRehfeldt]

Hey Troy, you kick ass! Thanks 🙏🏼 for all you do man.

[dylangammons]

This is great advice. I wasted years doing progressive tempo picking excercizes on a metranome just to hit a brick wall at a certain point. I have more slowtwitch muscles controlling my wrist. Later found great speed by utilizing my wrist AND forearm and lightly hovering the pick over the strings. Everyones body is different and if speed is your goal, work with it to begin with.

[JohnSmith-teoo]

This is EXACTLY the concept of motor learning they Charlie Francis explored in Speed Trap
(On sprinting ) and that Roman and Medveyev explores in their seminal texts on Olympic Weightlifting techniques. It is SPOT ON. Even the character Sam Mussabini in chariots of fire when describing the difference between sprinting and distance running said that sprinting was custom-made for neurotics because you have to control and hold your nerves in, which is exactly what we are talking about here, essentially trying to run at full speed actually gets a slower performance than trying to run that 90 percent speed because the latter is smoother and the muscles don’t lock up

[ismelljello]

It’s good to work both methods into your routine. Jog-to-run, and sprint-to-run.

Paul Gilbert was a huge advocate of metronome usage, and it’s a powerful tool for both approaches to perfection.

[SomewhatSublime]

Just finished your series Cracking the code and as someone who has always idolized the picking style of Paul Gilbert I found them very informational and it introduced me to some players I had avoided before and has really had me pushing the limits of what I thought possible for myself with picking speed.

[jameswelch]

You never fail to impress. You're info always holds up to practical application. Thanks for what you do.

[mojooftheg]

This works only if both hands are completely relaxed. No tension at all in both hands. I work with a metronome. Started at 60bpm with 16th notes and in one month I'm at 96 bpm 16th notes. Goal is 120 bpm. I do think starting slow is better for accuracy and articulation.