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Increasing Your Playing Speed |
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Written by cgplayer
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I want to play faster. How? That's a very common question by students of the classical guitar.
Invest in a metronome. Also used for tremolo, a metronome offers a regular tock-tock-tock... at a rate easily dictated bythe user. Here is how to use it.
Say you wish to play a scale faster. Set the metronome going at a speed you can easily play along to. It is often better to play two, three orfour notes to each tock of the metronome. Ensure you can play the scale at this speed exactly right before proceeding.
Push the weight on the metronome down by two notches. Play along at this faster speed, maintaining correct fingering, alternation, even volume etc. When the scale is mastered at this speed, increase the metronome speed by another two notches and play again.
If at any time you feel the metronome is going too fast, put it back by one notch. Hopefully, you should be able to manage atthis speed.
Another aid to increasing speed is play notes in pairs, one as a dotted quaver, the other as a semiquaver. So, if you are playing a scale of C, play the C as a dotted quaver (count 1 e-and-)and then the D as a semiquaver (count (-a-), then the E on the next beat (count -2-...). You can also of course play the semiquaver first, and then the dotted note. So you'll get a dump-e-dump-e-dump-e-dump-e rhythm. Again, use the metronome.
When increasing speed it is important not to forget your technique. Its not too hard to play fast, but to play fast well, accurately and with tonecontrol is another thing that takes patience and practise to perfect.
(Acknowledgement: Classical Guitar FAQ) |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 14 July 2006 )
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