This is gold! Please follow Mike's advice here people, it's so important and so well explained. Thanks Mike, you're doing the guitar community a great service 👍
Never trust a teacher who contradicts their own lessons. Its insulting to your intelligence and your wallet. This guy spends seven minutes telling you that in order to play fast you need to start slow and controlled. Then, with about 20 seconds left of the video, he tells you about his product and says that starting slow and building up to speed is boring and doesn't work well anyways. Which is it? This guy is just trying to sell his dime-a-dozen technique program to anyone dumb enough to not notice his grift. Rule #1 of selling snake oil, its a one-size-fits-all. Just practice your control. No youtube swindler can give you a shortcut past hundreds of hours of practice.
Posture is everything folks. Just changing that can allow you to relax. Using incorrect posture makes it impossible to relax. Especially when your wrist is bent so much.
It's funny that I got recommended this. I've been doing this thing when I practice where I stop every once and a while to check the tension in my body to make sure I'm keeping it loose. Its already made a huge difference in my consistency.
Just play something 2000 times and you will master it. No matter how shitty your technique is. That is why we see every guitar player out there with different technique and they all sound great
I have great difficulty staying relaxed while bending in-between legatos. For example, the Adrian Smith stuff. Without bends, I'm totally fast, clean and relaxed. When the bends come in, I have a hard to switching back and forth. How do I keep the bended notes relaxed without slipping?
I can simplify this - just play. Just play passionately, like a maniac. But also, quanta is important, as this video points out. I still work on this all the time, but also, most of my gains happen in my subconscious. Don't over think it. Let it flow within you, like the force. (And vary tempo when you play - your mind will figure it out on the fly, but not if not given a chance)
This has been the main bug for me over 30 years... maintaining a relaxed body. I found that using lighter strings helps to force one to focus on this because if you're using 0.008s you just can't put much pressure on the string without making it go sharp. It gives you a constant remind to relax... relax... light touch.
When I play guitar, it feel like I’m about to have a heart attack…my breaths thicken, and my chest starts to feel tight…I also lose my breath…could be getting old, could be losing my passion…I’m only 23
I've been trying to play clean & perfect for years and getting a little faster only to hit a wall every time. If you never try to go fast you never will. When I try to play at a speed thats way out of my league. Then the tempo I couldn't get past is easy then I move up & do it again.
Crucial advice is to practice things using a metronome , theres nothing worse than sloppy out of time shredding . Said that a tip i can give is to try practicing things in an acoustic / classical guitar , once you go back to the electric things seem much easier.
Thanks for the lessons as always. Also, Michael Romeo is so freaking good. His lead works is obviously outstanding but his rhythm playing is killer too. Listening to Iconoclast again it’s just epic how many super tight riffs he’s banging out.
This is partially true. You should get the feeling of being relaxed clean etc at slower speeds. But picking very quickly requires different mechanics than playing slowly, meaning you cant just speed up the same motion. Troy grady covers picking mechanics on an unrivaled level of detail
Looks like it was from a Guitar World Magazine piece called, Betcha Can't Play This. Tab and video in this link. www.guitarworld.com/magazine/betcha-cant-play-beethoven-speed-michael-romero-symphony-x
Hey! First of all, your videos are in fact awesome. I've learnt a lot of psychology tricks to practice better. That said, I'm a bit confused. In some videos you suggest to practice faster, in others you suggest to practice slower. This is what I understand from you suggesting both approaches for different purposes: you can use the practice slow approach to ensure you're playing without tension, but to calibrate your speed you might need to go much faster to guess which is the real controlled speed you have without issues. Then I guess it's of no use to play slow mindlessly or play fast mindlessly, but actually try to know what you're doing and why you're doing it. Maybe in my level for a specific thing I want to fasten up, going 40 bpm is way to slow and it doesn't even make sense to bother, but this depends on the very specific cases.
The great Shawn Lane said he learned to play fast first, then worked on cleaning it up later. He also said he thought that playing something over and over at slow tempos could set up a mental block that he wouldn't have been able to do it quickly. Shawn was one of the quickest, and also most musical players ever, so his advice is paramount.
If your fingers are tripping up on a new note sequence you have to play it slowly, at a tempo that you don't trip up, until you can start to speed it up without stumbling. You might not even use a metronome at this point. Just focus on playing it correctly. This might take 10minutes, 1 hour, 3 wks of 20 minutes per day, whatever it takes to play it without stumbles as you attempt to raise the tempo. After the sequence is programmed in at low tempos try to play it at mid and fast tempos. To play fast you'll see that your mechanics HAVE TO change, they HAVE TO become more efficient. You can't allow extraneous motion at mid to high tempos, but you'll never encounter this fact if you only practice slowly. Now using your newly discovered "fast mechanics", practice them at slow and mid tempos. You may not get any sound out of the instrument because your pick stokes and finger legato moves will be shorter and not energizing the string. That's ok, don't go back to the large "slow practice" motions, keep up practicing the tight efficient motions at slower tempos even though little sound is emitted. Practice perfectly this way. In this manner you practice the fast mechanics slower and perfectly, without tripping up...you burn in these motions. That's what I interpret "try to play fast and clean it up later" to mean. I can back my ideas up, as shown here: ruclips.net/video/SNkfkUD6TG0/видео.html
holy shit this is golden. i was upset cause i couldnt play any faster and I thought to myself 'shit I'm way too tense'. put my strap on and started playing relaxed, speed unlocked :)
One thing Mikie ! You always seem very critical about the way you explain on how to play guitar 🎸 & increasing levels of SPEED on the guitar 🎸 fretboard etc With all due RESPECT ✊ 😕🙁😰😰😰🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
Great ideas for players learning or who are stuck..I was curious as to why he had to hold a guitar. He never played a note on it. That's just me though.
I don't really agree with the take on Gilberts playing, don't get me wrong but I've always seen tension in his playing. If you watch his tendons on his hands they are very taut. This might be from his hard picking style. He uses a kind of semi open claw grip, semi open hand. Maybe I am wrong and its just a combination of having a very scrapy aggressive picking sound and bony fingers that makes me think he is playing under tension. Any thoughts on this?
You have more control if you play with tension. When I play relaxed my pick just lightly brushes the strings because I'm too relaxed so playing relaxed is bullshit
I've only been playing for 7 months now, but I spent a lot of the first few months playing some really slow stuff. After a while I decided I needed to force harder stuff onto myself so that I can improve. For me, pushing myself to my limits seems to be what's best for me to improve. Then again, I'm not trying to learn how to have speed like these guys in the video are shown having yet. For now, I'm just trying to get good enough so that I can finish out some solos I started learning.
This is gold! Please follow Mike's advice here people, it's so important and so well explained. Thanks Mike, you're doing the guitar community a great service 👍
Yea man totally agree! Shred lords in no time :)
Never trust a teacher who contradicts their own lessons. Its insulting to your intelligence and your wallet.
This guy spends seven minutes telling you that in order to play fast you need to start slow and controlled. Then, with about 20 seconds left of the video, he tells you about his product and says that starting slow and building up to speed is boring and doesn't work well anyways. Which is it?
This guy is just trying to sell his dime-a-dozen technique program to anyone dumb enough to not notice his grift. Rule #1 of selling snake oil, its a one-size-fits-all.
Just practice your control. No youtube swindler can give you a shortcut past hundreds of hours of practice.
Posture is everything folks. Just changing that can allow you to relax. Using incorrect posture makes it impossible to relax. Especially when your wrist is bent so much.
It's funny that I got recommended this. I've been doing this thing when I practice where I stop every once and a while to check the tension in my body to make sure I'm keeping it loose. Its already made a huge difference in my consistency.
Just play something 2000 times and you will master it. No matter how shitty your technique is.
That is why we see every guitar player out there with different technique and they all sound great
My hopes are crushed after seeing Guthrie Govan's crazy legato runs... 😵
I wish to get to that level of effortlessness..😄
Anyways, great video Mike..👍
I know right haha! Guthrie is just ludicrous...
The great Guthrie Govan as he crushes peoples hope with just one hand . Lol. Great line
Guthrie is truly ludicrous... just an unreal player. Haha, it was a great line... so true!
should do a video on Megadeth Dave Mustaine plying technique please
I have great difficulty staying relaxed while bending in-between legatos. For example, the Adrian Smith stuff. Without bends, I'm totally fast, clean and relaxed. When the bends come in, I have a hard to switching back and forth. How do I keep the bended notes relaxed without slipping?
I can simplify this - just play. Just play passionately, like a maniac. But also, quanta is important, as this video points out. I still work on this all the time, but also, most of my gains happen in my subconscious. Don't over think it. Let it flow within you, like the force. (And vary tempo when you play - your mind will figure it out on the fly, but not if not given a chance)
This!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This has been the main bug for me over 30 years... maintaining a relaxed body. I found that using lighter strings helps to force one to focus on this because if you're using 0.008s you just can't put much pressure on the string without making it go sharp. It gives you a constant remind to relax... relax... light touch.
Thanks for uploading this on my birthday!
Happy birthday!:)
When I play guitar, it feel like I’m about to have a heart attack…my breaths thicken, and my chest starts to feel tight…I also lose my breath…could be getting old, could be losing my passion…I’m only 23
I easily master all this around 2004. Start slow...your fingers will memorize it.... Theres nothing new.
This guy sure knows how to talk. Playing the guitar, on the other hand... well let's just say he won't be getting any money from me anytime soon. Lol.
Ahh I had been trying to enjoy it in a “woo woo spiritual sense,” THAT’S what my problem is
There are videos of Dimebag Darrel playing his solos very slowly with the same feel as well.
I've been trying to play clean & perfect for years and getting a little faster only to hit a wall every time. If you never try to go fast you never will. When I try to play at a speed thats way out of my league. Then the tempo I couldn't get past is easy then I move up & do it again.
Crucial advice is to practice things using a metronome , theres nothing worse than sloppy out of time shredding . Said that a tip i can give is to try practicing things in an acoustic / classical guitar , once you go back to the electric things seem much easier.
Thanks for the lessons as always.
Also, Michael Romeo is so freaking good. His lead works is obviously outstanding but his rhythm playing is killer too. Listening to Iconoclast again it’s just epic how many super tight riffs he’s banging out.
This is partially true. You should get the feeling of being relaxed clean etc at slower speeds. But picking very quickly requires different mechanics than playing slowly, meaning you cant just speed up the same motion. Troy grady covers picking mechanics on an unrivaled level of detail
I need to learn that tapping lick from Romeo... where is it taken from? As always, thanks for the great advices!
It almost sounds like he’s playing the moonlight sonata but adding faster arpeggios at the end of each chord change
Looks like it was from a Guitar World Magazine piece called, Betcha Can't Play This. Tab and video in this link. www.guitarworld.com/magazine/betcha-cant-play-beethoven-speed-michael-romero-symphony-x
So let's see you play as fast and relaxed....
Brilliant class. Well taught and explained. Technique and mechanics are a whole world 🙏🏻
Hey! First of all, your videos are in fact awesome. I've learnt a lot of psychology tricks to practice better. That said, I'm a bit confused. In some videos you suggest to practice faster, in others you suggest to practice slower. This is what I understand from you suggesting both approaches for different purposes: you can use the practice slow approach to ensure you're playing without tension, but to calibrate your speed you might need to go much faster to guess which is the real controlled speed you have without issues. Then I guess it's of no use to play slow mindlessly or play fast mindlessly, but actually try to know what you're doing and why you're doing it. Maybe in my level for a specific thing I want to fasten up, going 40 bpm is way to slow and it doesn't even make sense to bother, but this depends on the very specific cases.
The great Shawn Lane said he learned to play fast first, then worked on cleaning it up later.
He also said he thought that playing something over and over at slow tempos could set up a mental block that he wouldn't have been able to do it quickly.
Shawn was one of the quickest, and also most musical players ever, so his advice is paramount.
But also, he was.........Shawn Lane.......he was not human!
If your fingers are tripping up on a new note sequence you have to play it slowly, at a tempo that you don't trip up, until you can start to speed it up without stumbling. You might not even use a metronome at this point. Just focus on playing it correctly. This might take 10minutes, 1 hour, 3 wks of 20 minutes per day, whatever it takes to play it without stumbles as you attempt to raise the tempo.
After the sequence is programmed in at low tempos try to play it at mid and fast tempos. To play fast you'll see that your mechanics HAVE TO change, they HAVE TO become more efficient. You can't allow extraneous motion at mid to high tempos, but you'll never encounter this fact if you only practice slowly. Now using your newly discovered "fast mechanics", practice them at slow and mid tempos. You may not get any sound out of the instrument because your pick stokes and finger legato moves will be shorter and not energizing the string. That's ok, don't go back to the large "slow practice" motions, keep up practicing the tight efficient motions at slower tempos even though little sound is emitted. Practice perfectly this way. In this manner you practice the fast mechanics slower and perfectly, without tripping up...you burn in these motions.
That's what I interpret "try to play fast and clean it up later" to mean. I can back my ideas up, as shown here:
ruclips.net/video/SNkfkUD6TG0/видео.html
holy shit this is golden. i was upset cause i couldnt play any faster and I thought to myself 'shit I'm way too tense'. put my strap on and started playing relaxed, speed unlocked :)
Weed. 🤷
How to relax? Just relax.
One thing Mikie ! You always seem very critical about the way you explain on how to play guitar 🎸 & increasing levels of SPEED on the guitar 🎸 fretboard etc
With all due RESPECT ✊ 😕🙁😰😰😰🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
You vs Troy Grady guitar battle! Nice little jab you took at him lol!
So helpful, thanks! And I don't even play guitar, I play trumpet.
Great ideas for players learning or who are stuck..I was curious as to why he had to hold a guitar. He never played a note on it. That's just me though.
Good information, but could you please talk any faster? :)
play 20 years then u realice u play relaxed
The Guthrie Govan bit is soul crushing but is he using fret wraps?
You are a very good teacher thank u so much ❤
Good point, i'm doing it all wrong :D
Dude, your channel is the shit.
I don't really agree with the take on Gilberts playing, don't get me wrong but I've always seen tension in his playing. If you watch his tendons on his hands they are very taut. This might be from his hard picking style. He uses a kind of semi open claw grip, semi open hand. Maybe I am wrong and its just a combination of having a very scrapy aggressive picking sound and bony fingers that makes me think he is playing under tension. Any thoughts on this?
Agreed
Again, very nice piece of guitar wisdom, thanks.
@0:30 dude blatantly calls me out...
Thank you!
Romeo is #1. He is the master.
Super cool! \m/
🎸
Montoya not Montana. Thanks for the video homie 🤘
It's Montana bro
Montoya is from The princess Bride lol def not the same thing
There is still time to delete this bro lol
You have more control if you play with tension. When I play relaxed my pick just lightly brushes the strings because I'm too relaxed so playing relaxed is bullshit
Light string and low action
Sir you contradict yourself constantly 🫠 don’t start slow to play fast, that’s stupid try my course then turn around and say the complete opposite!
I've only been playing for 7 months now, but I spent a lot of the first few months playing some really slow stuff. After a while I decided I needed to force harder stuff onto myself so that I can improve. For me, pushing myself to my limits seems to be what's best for me to improve. Then again, I'm not trying to learn how to have speed like these guys in the video are shown having yet. For now, I'm just trying to get good enough so that I can finish out some solos I started learning.