Hi all!
I know that this is mainly a keyboard/synth forum but having read a lot of postings I realized that a lot of people here play guitars as well.
Likewise, I own a few synths and quite a few guitars.
I play mostly classical and that is going pretty well. My electric guitar playing is alright, but I find that I cant really play fast. Improvising and coming up with all the crazy soloes is something that I am also pretty bad at.
The only stuff I seem to be able to do is either play what I already know (a bit of blues scales, leads from some of my favorite songs). Playing rhythm is no problem for me either.

So here’s my question, what should I do to improve my playing speed wise and perhaps learn to improvise?

Jim




[This message has been edited by smoke-on-the-water (edited 04-18-2005).]

What's with this speed thing. More can be done with one well placed long note, than 20 ill placed notes... It's important to be comfortable with what you have..
Improv comes from doing just that. Play whatever to everything you can find. If you go at it nice and slow, you will find yourself throwing in things as time goes by.. It takes a bit of time to know where you can throw in a cool trill (simple enough) or rip out an arpagio from hell.

I could not say it better!!!

Try to check out this:
1. listen to Joe Satriani (he playes fast and with a good blues feeling)
2. listen to Uriah Heep's Mick Box (he don't play fast but haunting)
3. listen to Pink Floyds David Gilmour (he's the master of flying guitar tunes)

Sure there are many more well talented guitar players all over the world but these three once will give you a good sight/start to your own improvisations. If you would prefer listen to classic music then try Eric Hill, Al DiMeola or Paco DeLucia (but they will really bite you I'm afraid)...

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Greetings from Frankfurt (Germany),
Sheriff ;-)

[This message has been edited by Sheriff (edited 04-21-2005).]

Thanks,
I guess the speed thing is something that I keep hearing left and right, especially when I go to music stores to try different guitars and all.
There are always a few kids sitting around and playing some really wild crazy soloes that I can’t even dream about playing.

I seem to be comfortable with playing leads and soloes similar to the ones that Mark Knophler from Dire Straits plays, but obviously that doesn’t always match the styles of music that I would like to play to.
I find that even though a lot of rock and heavy metal guitarists play what can be considered musical nonsense (from my guitar teacher’s point of view anyway…) but it stil souns cool and I would love to be able to play what they are playing.
No matter what I try I can’t do it.

So I was just wondering if there is any other way…

Jim.

Jim:

Good advise above, might add, like the keyboard, practice scales. do a scale run in every key starting with the chord, then run a octave or more.

If you are impressed with another players little tricks and runs etc, tape it and play it a few times (just the part you're after) then learn it,exactly. then add your personal touch making it even hotter!

Note: some pedal boards has a feature that loops these runs.

Practice practice practice. but just repeat that part until your brain thinks of it and your hands automatically does it. (especially the scales)

If your not playing at least a hundred chords, you might get you hands on some Barney kessel/Tony Matola/Sogovia/Chet/Martin Taylor etc: tapes and listen to what these guys does with chording. I've found that no matter what kind of music you like Chords up and down the neck are a must. (I've heard there is over 5,000 combinations on the guitar possible) Find each chord in as many location on the neck as possible. This will keep you busy for the rest of your life.LOL I've been doing this for 64 years now, and still not as good as Sogovia

SORRY IF I ALSO SOUND LIKE YOUR MUSIC TEACHER. But if you want to be the best, you'll need some knowledge of the guitar. (there's a million guys out there in some garage, Doing lightning fast riffs, at 120 dbl's that can be learned in a couple of months, but they can't play the Damn guitar)

Cheers....Pose

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Cheers....Pose

[This message has been edited by loungelyzard (edited 04-18-2005).]

Jim....
Practice...practice...practice
The "lightning fingers" thing is interesting and cool but, it's not the only way to play. Check out your local music store and try to find videos or dvd's on techniques, particularly "pulls" and "hammers". Basically with pulls, the action of pulling you finger off a fret creates notes on quick succession. "Hammering" is the opposite, where you use the fingers of your strumming hand to hammer the fretboard.
Don't get too hung up on trying to play fast, 'cos if it ain't clean, it's not going to be appreciated, by you or your listeners.

Me...I've been playing guitar for 40 years now (Boy..are my fingers tired)

....Just my thots... Good Luck Jim.

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...shboom

Practice your scales SLOOOOWWWW until you master all 12 keys perfectly at 60 bpm. Then gradually increase your bpm until you reach your desired goal. YOu must concentrate on accuracy before you can accelerate.

Thanks for all the replies,
I'll definitely give it all a try.
My only problem with playing scales and gradually speeding it up was that even after playing and playing for weeks I saw no changes. So I'm still pretty much stuck at 60 bpm...
Looks it I'll just have to be more patient.

Jim.

Maybe your not seeing the change, but trust me, if you're really paying attention to what your're doing your brain is uploading the repeated action and cutting a groove for storage. Sorta like a baby and a pyramid. A baby learning to crawl,has a zillion things to master in its mind just to be able to get the hang of crawling. For instance focusing on objects, learning balance, muscle cord. etc. A pyramid is very large at the base, and takes a zillion blocks to complete the first layer, but each additional layer gets faster (less to learn) because (similar to the last lesson) etc etc. Just keep at it, when you're at your peak for learning you'll be dreaming about playing in your sleep and you'll be hearing the rifts as you go about your daily task, and in quiet times you'll see the fretboard in your minds eye.....Don't give up, you can do it....Pose

[This message has been edited by loungelyzard (edited 04-18-2005).]

I make two lines under this argument!!!
Like shboom said: Practice, practice, practice,...
But don't forget the fun while playing. Make your own songs and try to play what your imagination shows you. And if you plan to run faster with your fingers then it's a good tip to look away from your fretboard because of you will learn to play with your feeling only.
The faster you play the faster you have to control your fingers. Once a time you will reach the point where your mind can't registrate the pictures from the eyes as fast as you'll need for coordinating your fingers. So you can control your fingers only with the sense of the finger's touch on fretboard.

And like Pose said, this will be the point where you will see the fretboard in front of your closed eyes...

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Greetings from Frankfurt (Germany),
Sheriff ;-)