Playing Fast Tricks

Hi it's James again. This lesson is on how to appear to be playing a lot faster than you really are. Of course, there's no substitute for true speed, and there are a lot of lessons here and elsewhere covering this adequately, but in the meantime before you perfect this here are some tips on appearing to play very fast. The untrained ear (I. e. 80% of your audience) will never know the difference. Ok. One old trick is to use repetitive wide stretch patterns. Obviously this is easier the further up the neck you get. Try Fig 1 at a reasonable speed and you'll see what I mean:

Fig1:

E|----------------------------------------------12-15-18-19~---------|
B|-------------------------------------12-15-18----------------------|
G|----------------------------12-15-18-------------------------------|
D|-------------------12-15-18----------------------------------------|
A|----------12-15-18-------------------------------------------------|
E|-12-15-18----------------------------------------------------------|

It sounds like you are playing this

Fig2:

E|-------------------------------------------13-12-15-18 19~-------|
B|----------------------------------14-12-15-----------------------|
G|-------------------------13-12-15--------------------------------|
D|----------------13-12-15-----------------------------------------|
A|-------13-12-15--------------------------------------------------|
E|-12-15-----------------------------------------------------------|

So, by doing wide stretches, you can play complex patterns easily!

This can also be applied to tapping :

Fig 3:
t p p p p h h h
E|-20-13-12-10-0-10-12-13--t-p-p--p--p-h--h--h------------|
B|------------------------20-13-12-10-0-10-12-13-etc.-----|
G|--------------------------------------------------------|
D|--------------------------------------------------------|
A|--------------------------------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------------------------------|

Have fun with this, I'll be back soon!

Comments

[Oswald]

F**k no! Always in tab!!! Or sometimes it is actually good in chords...........

[Jay Reyes]

argh....i hate chords....i don't understand them!

[Oswald]

Chords are easy to understand bat tabs are even clearer.....

[aha]

i dun know i cant even read....

[SLASH SNAKEPIT]

this shit is 2 hard for beginners

[perfec_circl]

UG Stranger's shouldn't be allowed to post. Bunch of dipshits.

[pau_since1969]

bryce band rules

[YngwieM]

I kinda don't get the point in this...why don't you just try and learn to play fast so you can impress the trained ear as well???

[paul bulao]

i love playing guitars.

[sepulmosher]

the stretching version is harder to play and i agree with YngwieM just learn fast, makin shortcuts n stuff aint gonna help

[Alt3Rethos]

u guys are whiners just learn to get along lol

«¾Å|?3Rë?hø§½»

[drowsy2maggie]

What can I say? Let's start with, IF YOU'RE A BEGINNNER, MAYBE YOU SHOULD THINK MORE ABOUT PRECISION THEN SPEED? No really, I can't stress this more. Get out of here and maybe learn to be versatile in both chords and tabs. Ooh. But it's just the start.

[GlitteryGold]

wow with this lesson that i have learnt, I am conning the world...

[GlitteryGold]

hang on a minute...lol why the *** dont you just play fig 2 because its no ***in harder than fig 1 and then the ***in trained ear who will probably spot you out when playing fig 1; won't. HA! why do I come here?

[the fendernator]

yeah you could just play fast mate.

[ShaDoweR]

^ australian mate

[chriswanker]

I think using these tricks as a substitute for speed and precision is pointless, but at the same time, some of these ticks have their uses. I particularly like using a
E
B
G
D
A 0h2h4
D 0h2h4

type riff, in a f#min context, while in drop d. try it, it sounds pretty good.

[chriswanker]

well the tab got screwed up, it should look more like this

E ----------
B ----------
G ----------
D ----------
A -----0h2h4
D 0h2h4-----

[Lainey]

You lot are a bunch of batties. Why don't you learn to read music! And just learn to play fast!

[Skateboard_Bum]

this shit works a little....but it takes forever to get it down

[bdabmxican]

if you don't like the lesson, shutup and go to another one.

[Spanner]

Shut up the lot of you

[Shoestick]

Technically you are playing the same thing, just on a different area of the fretboard. This also makes little sense, as if one way is easier than the other why would you make it harder on yourself?

[Tool_46n2]

Why the hell would you write this kind of lesson in a chord...speed builders arent chords there played on individual strings god your a stupid person

[sodergren]

learning to play fast takes way longer, which is why there are tricks. I really thought it was obvious. It is better though.

[sodergren]

actually playing fast, that is

[semus]

gah wtf's with it all.. some1's writing something for u all, ug stranger asked for chords, u all started a fight about it, and i dont see much positive comments for most lessons here... be nicer.... if u dont have anything nice to say dont say it

[Daydream Antics]

Shut up and just play the damm thing
QUIT THE CRAP

[BloodForVictory]

why do you complain like little babies?just read the artilce and if you dont like it go elsewhere.

[Spanner]

Good lesson, but why would anyone want to appear faster? I dont, I just want my music to sound as soulful and meaningful as possible.

[EndreN]

Why cords when tabs is easier too understand. Newbies

[Hong Siah]

ppl work so hard go put lesson u all oni criticize...

[Snoops]

wow it looks to me like UG Stranger has no fvckin life at all cuz everysong or lesson i look at there he his posted again saying something stupid or just tslking to himself

[brian moore]

UG Stranger is a retard

[liam177lewis]

UG stranger has a lot of opinions... good lesson by the way, kudos

[metal_man696]

man UG stranger is so stupid he's arguing with himself its so funny. Quote UG stranger: The middul finguh ,!,,

[ChildOfBodom666]

It's a great idea, but I can play the "more complex" part faster... But it's a good lesson anyways, thanks man

[ph0]

It doesn't take a lifetime to learn how to read notes. I was 3 when I learned. If you really want to become a better guitarist then you've gotta be patient and take time to learn something rather then going by tabs all the time - nothing against tabs though, but really, if you're trying to pull off guitar by pure tabs, don't expect a future in music.

Other then that, good, short lesson, learned something.

[ace_lester]

didnt work for me..i like to play it faster than doing shortcuts..thx anyweyz

[*kill'emall*]

it was easier to play it fast the second way; this whole article was a waste of time

[*kill'emall*]

ChildOfBodom666 wrote:

It's a great idea, but I can play the "more complex" part faster... But it's a good lesson anyways, thanks man

i should have put that quote above

[singurel]

ok, i started lpaying guitar recently, and i`m a clumsy beginner.i want to know what`s better:to put your fingers on the chords in the frets before you start picking with the right hand nad play a cluster at a time , or to change the fretting hand position as you play the song.I find some songs easyer to play the first way but some i can`t play like that(maybe i suck, i dunno) but i can if i try the 2nd way i said...
what`s betteR?

[*kill'emall*]

singurel wrote:

ok, i started lpaying guitar recently, and i`m a clumsy beginner.i want to know what`s better:to put your fingers on the chords in the frets before you start picking with the right hand nad play a cluster at a time , or to change the fretting hand position as you play the song.I find some songs easyer to play the first way but some i can`t play like that(maybe i suck, i dunno) but i can if i try the 2nd way i said...
what`s betteR?

depends on the song you're playing: if it's slow enough, play the first way; if it's faster, play the second way

If you want to play Metallica, for example, you'd want to learn how to move your hand on the frets as you play. keep practicing

[Mr. Kill]

it is easier but not neccesery (im arab ok so dont give me a heachache coz i couldnt spell that ) anyways.. i think that fig2 isnt that much harder .. nice lesson anyways i guess but completly useless to me sorry ?

[gangster_guitar]

it was not very good

[gangster_guitar]

[seol hud]

ta weeno

[skwires]

this sucks

[brush200400]

this is horrible.

[brush200400]

EDIT: they should fire him

[tekee007]

i love you

[philbertfwog]

uhm you're playing the same thing in a different position? this is batty.

[Pitbullz13]

[guitartony567]

who is going to know that you are not playing fig.2 cume on man think

[Yoda_is_real]

perfec_circl84 wrote:

UG Stranger's shouldn't be allowed to post. Bunch of dipshits.

yeah

[Zakattak264]

these guys are right, speed cant be substituted (try sweeps or even better, scales, modes, and arpeggios). and precision is better than speed any day, but this can also build up confidence in a beginner and him/her spread out from there. one of the rules that i follow is that if u cant play it at regular speed, slow it down and build up on it. peace the fukk out...

[ed_winner]

cool it kinda works..!!!goood job

[meteor685]

just do the Tom Hess Guitar practice secrets method, it actually work, it may seem like his stuff is full of shit, but it actually works

[meteor685]

^dammit wrong account, sorry for the comment -____-