Go and get the free speed exercises in The Warm Up! You can find the link in the video description. If you sign up to my newsletter you'll be notified about the Speed Accelerator free workshop which is opening again later this year!
I strongly endorse Ben's courses, he's a fantastic teacher. I bought the 'Badass Mega Bundle'. One thing I love about Ben's courses is that the videos aren't long. They're succinct, concise, they're to the point. You just watch for a few minutes and boom - you've got some new techniques or new approaches to practice. Seriously Ben thank you for taking my money and in exchange helping me bust through a 10+ year guitar plateau!
Wow thank you - I'm really pleased you've gotten so much out of my courses and that my main aim - clarity & no nonsense advice - is coming through! Awesome, keep up the good work!
As mentioned a few times here, your videos are great. They are simple and yet very valuable. The videos are relatively short but very informative, which I think is great. Honestly there are many good videos on the net. But constantly messing about everything ... that takes time. You just want to see and do something and practice first. And that is exactly what is made possible here. Looking forward to the other parts.
I made a major breakthrough 3 days ago with picking thanks to Ben. I can easily do 160bpm in a relaxed, smooth, controlled manner. And I can finally play Miserlou faster than the record! All thanks to Ben’s videos and I bought a few of his courses. He’s the TRUTH. 🤟🤟🤟🔥🔥🔥
1.pick tips on strings trembling 2.h&p to build left hand strength 3.sync both hands by 4212 etc 4.practice all time in same way in case without being aware 5.play 3+1 notes on 2 strings crossing 6.break stuff down and play from less to more 7.play 6 notes by 4 picking and 2 h&p on 2 strings 8.cross more strings but stop at 1st note every string like lesson5 9.dont change wrist angle while crossing strings: moving whole forearm up and down 10.practice untill remember every note of licks and play mindless 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Thank you Ben! Your approach and your teachings have given me so much confidence and speed gains in my playing! Thank you for being such a great mentor and a friend. Hope you are keeping well and safe brother. Cheers.
I bought some Ben’s courses at his website and the free warm up course still is part of my daily routine practice! What i think is great about Ben’s courses is that he leads you to where the problem is and how to fix it! How can you improve your playing if you dont know where the problem is? That was me before knowing Ben’s method! Now i know the road to go! Ben, i will never thank you enough for making me believe there is the chance that one day i will be able to play like my guitar heroes!
That's great to hear, Francisico! The reason so many guitarists are unsatisfied and frustrated is because they've been made to believe they can't do it because people keep saying shit like 'you needed to play 12 hrs a day from the age of 8' or you needed 'natural talent'. These are myths! Yes, you DO need to put in time and effort but it needs to be on the right things, not just aimless hours. I look forward to seeing you in the Speed Accelerator next week!
@@BenHigginsOfficial Thank you for your comment! Now i Know it depends on mastering the right skills and turn on the full focus mode! I will join the free acelerator course! 🎸🔥🤘
Sir. I heard many people telling that picking the string flat actually is the not the best way to do that and we should make an angle of 45 degrees , so that the string offers us minimum resistance and we can pick fast. Please sir , cover this topic. Love from India
Hi Pranit it depends on the individual and what kind of hand position they have and where their hand rests when they play. Having a slight angle can be what somebody needs but other times they might get better results with a flatter pick angle. I have a video talking about using a slight angle ruclips.net/video/ySlJ47C5BLU/видео.html
I think 45 degrees is overkill but a slight angle (say 15-30 degrees) is definitely to be desired for efficiency! That's what is most comfortable to me anyway.
Right on! I find I play much better with them, bending and vibrato is easier. Why make your life harder than you need to? The more comfortable you are, the more of yourself you can give, the better you play.
@@BenHigginsOfficial Thanks man, YES!! That's exactly how it feels....I used to get tired really quickly, but now I can play for longer ;) Which one should I get next bending or vibrato course? :)
@@OneLifeYourWay If you only choose one then go for bending first because if you learn string bending then you can definitely perform vibrato. What type of stuff do you play?
I'm curious how you'll go about string shifting. I definitely noticed an general improvement in speed when I applied your tremolo picking advice, similarly to this video. How about fast strumming techniques? I guess, eh, chord tremolos? I struggle finding a way to "glue" the pick to the strings then, so it requires a wider hand motion to catch all the strings.
Ngl Im 1 year into to guitar And I learned tremolo picking before I even knew what alternate picking was How I did it was basically trying to learn a bocchi the rock song And the first part of it was tremolo So I spent like 2 weeks trying to figure out how to And one day I remembered a video that sad relax your hand when tremolo picking After I learned how to relax my hand I could finally do it And that was like 3 months ago
Hi Ben! Just registered to your website and wow, only the warmup lesson has been a wakeup call. Fretting hand really was over-estimated in my case! I've been playing the guitar for 14 years and just stopped for 3 years until today... family, kids, losing interest due to repetitive playing etc. I've always been a decent guitarist, but what shocked me was that it didn't seem my skills fell significantly over the last 3 years. So I thought, I must have done something wrong before I stoped playing. Thankfully I found your channel and wanna do things right this time. So after briefly going through your warmup course, I have a short question for you (or anyone else that might help). I was going through the fretting hand exercise and noticed somwthing I never adressed before. I keep my fretting hand at a very low angle (don't keep it perpensicular to the neck), think Gary Moore. So my pinky was rarely utilized since this angle gives my ring finger 3 frets reach counting from the fretting index finger. When doing your exercise I noticed that I hardly move my pinky when doing hammer ons and pull offs. What I do is I mostly dig in with my thumb and pivot my entire hand around my fretting finger. This puts a lot of strain on my thumb which gets pointed towards the headstock (so my index is fretting perpendicular to the neck and my thumb lies on the back of the neck, pointing towards the headstock). Is there another way to correct this, or should I start the exercise very slowly at first, minding the angles of fingers on my fretting hand until I have them all in an upright position? Thanks, and I'm looking forward to going through more of your courses.
Hi, it sounds like you play with angled position rather than a classical upright one, which is totally fine. Many players do it that way and it's enough as it is. Some players mix up both and switch to the classical position for longer stretches. Joe Satriani is an example of this. Your pinky is just not strong yet because you've never really used it. That's all. You can just let the thumb do its own thing, you should never need to consciously focus on it. So it's just a case of building strength in the fingers and especially the pinky, over the coming days and weeks - enjoy!
@@BenHigginsOfficial thanks for the reply! I cannot tell you how many instructional videos and technique related articles I've read back in the day when I was playing and progressing most. None of them, and I do mean NONE made such an impact like your warmup course alone. Attention to the little details like pick angle and how to angle your hand while picking up/down the string while starting with a downstroke/upstroke, those little "black and white answers"... I'm hugely impressed and have to say to all who might wonder - this fucking works! For someone like me, who put in hours and hours and just kept hitting the wall and felt as if I reached my limit, this is precisely the sort of a push I needed, even after 3 years of completely not playing the guitar (except for some kiddy songs on the acoustic for toddlers). Even some faster melodies I was able to play before, after 2 days with only your warmup course sound cleaner than ever AND using my pinky. And what's most important, I haven't felt this excited for playing since I was probably in my late teens-early 20's, so thanks for that. Got the Badass bundle, it's fucking time to jump that wall!
Alright Ben. What does the mega Badass bundle include? I can see all the lessons I.e legato. alt picking etc but wanted to know how they are taught? is it extra videos with tab or just tab on its own?
Hi, they are all video based courses so everything is explained and played in videos, with me walking through the techniques on camera. All guitar tab is included as separate files which are accessed in the appropriate courses. Hope that helps
@@BenHigginsOfficial sorry, but you mean the body of the guitar? I used to anchor my pinky, but heard that it was bad for playing faster so I’ve tried to switch to floating my hand.
@@YouEatPlants Yes, anchoring to the body. No, it's not bad for playing fast at all, see Jeff Loomis, Jason Becker, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci etc. You can reach mega speeds using either anchored or non-anchored approaches
Go and get the free speed exercises in The Warm Up! You can find the link in the video description.
If you sign up to my newsletter you'll be notified about the Speed Accelerator free workshop which is opening again later this year!
How can I speak with u?
@@JimmyHx If you've got a guitar question you can ask me here :)
I strongly endorse Ben's courses, he's a fantastic teacher. I bought the 'Badass Mega Bundle'. One thing I love about Ben's courses is that the videos aren't long. They're succinct, concise, they're to the point. You just watch for a few minutes and boom - you've got some new techniques or new approaches to practice. Seriously Ben thank you for taking my money and in exchange helping me bust through a 10+ year guitar plateau!
Wow thank you - I'm really pleased you've gotten so much out of my courses and that my main aim - clarity & no nonsense advice - is coming through! Awesome, keep up the good work!
Your the only one , I have heard give this very important advice. ( pick sticking to the string )
Awesome - hope it helps
Yes 7 years ago . Shredding my brains out ! 😄
This channel is highly underrated!!! From one Ben to another! TY! KIND SIR!
Thanks man!
As mentioned a few times here, your videos are great. They are simple and yet very valuable. The videos are relatively short but very informative, which I think is great. Honestly there are many good videos on the net. But constantly messing about everything ... that takes time. You just want to see and do something and practice first. And that is exactly what is made possible here.
Looking forward to the other parts.
Thanks, there's more to come!
Yes sir, on it and glued to it, it does work Ben, I'm happy with my mega bad ass bundle as well.
That's awesome, Blake, glad to hear it!
I made a major breakthrough 3 days ago with picking thanks to Ben. I can easily do 160bpm in a relaxed, smooth, controlled manner.
And I can finally play Miserlou faster than the record! All thanks to Ben’s videos and I bought a few of his courses. He’s the TRUTH. 🤟🤟🤟🔥🔥🔥
I'm really pleased to hear you're making epic breakthroughs with your picking - well done to you for doing the work!!
BenHigginsOfficial thanks brother! Practice is fun again!!
@@rookymusic6310 Excellent - THAT is the whole reason why we play. If we're enjoying what we do then that's all that matters. It's only sound!
1.pick tips on strings trembling
2.h&p to build left hand strength
3.sync both hands by 4212 etc
4.practice all time in same way in case without being aware
5.play 3+1 notes on 2 strings crossing
6.break stuff down and play from less to more
7.play 6 notes by 4 picking and 2 h&p on 2 strings
8.cross more strings but stop at 1st note every string like lesson5
9.dont change wrist angle while crossing strings: moving whole forearm up and down
10.practice untill remember every note of licks and play mindless
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Thank you Ben! Your approach and your teachings have given me so much confidence and speed gains in my playing! Thank you for being such a great mentor and a friend. Hope you are keeping well and safe brother. Cheers.
Thanks Gurtej - keep up the good work!
I bought some Ben’s courses at his website and the free warm up course still is part of my daily routine practice! What i think is great about Ben’s courses is that he leads you to where the problem is and how to fix it! How can you improve your playing if you dont know where the problem is? That was me before knowing Ben’s method! Now i know the road to go! Ben, i will never thank you enough for making me believe there is the chance that one day i will be able to play like my guitar heroes!
That's great to hear, Francisico! The reason so many guitarists are unsatisfied and frustrated is because they've been made to believe they can't do it because people keep saying shit like 'you needed to play 12 hrs a day from the age of 8' or you needed 'natural talent'. These are myths! Yes, you DO need to put in time and effort but it needs to be on the right things, not just aimless hours. I look forward to seeing you in the Speed Accelerator next week!
@@BenHigginsOfficial Thank you for your comment! Now i Know it depends on mastering the right skills and turn on the full focus mode! I will join the free acelerator course! 🎸🔥🤘
Good video mate.
Thanks!
Interesting pick 🤘
hmm. this is educational. I learnt alot here.
Sir. I heard many people telling that picking the string flat actually is the not the best way to do that and we should make an angle of 45 degrees , so that the string offers us minimum resistance and we can pick fast. Please sir , cover this topic. Love from India
Hi Pranit it depends on the individual and what kind of hand position they have and where their hand rests when they play. Having a slight angle can be what somebody needs but other times they might get better results with a flatter pick angle. I have a video talking about using a slight angle ruclips.net/video/ySlJ47C5BLU/видео.html
@@BenHigginsOfficial Thank you sir. For all your support.
@@k-2floyd910 You're welcome!
I think 45 degrees is overkill but a slight angle (say 15-30 degrees) is definitely to be desired for efficiency! That's what is most comfortable to me anyway.
@@Rodrigo_xt8c2 yes bro! I also felt that. Having too much angle hampers proper articulation of the notes, especially in an acoustic.
Great Sir
Thank you!
First!! lol Awesome vid as always Ben ;) BTW I changed strings to 9's soooooo much better to play with, thanks for the tip man!!
Right on! I find I play much better with them, bending and vibrato is easier. Why make your life harder than you need to? The more comfortable you are, the more of yourself you can give, the better you play.
@@BenHigginsOfficial Thanks man, YES!! That's exactly how it feels....I used to get tired really quickly, but now I can play for longer ;) Which one should I get next bending or vibrato course? :)
@@OneLifeYourWay If you only choose one then go for bending first because if you learn string bending then you can definitely perform vibrato. What type of stuff do you play?
@@BenHigginsOfficial Great I'll get that, thanks! I'm into stuff like BFMV, A7X. COB....Loads of riffing and solos!!
@@OneLifeYourWay Great - yeah there's loads of lead work and technical stuff there! Bending and vibrato will help you nail those solos!
I'm curious how you'll go about string shifting. I definitely noticed an general improvement in speed when I applied your tremolo picking advice, similarly to this video.
How about fast strumming techniques? I guess, eh, chord tremolos? I struggle finding a way to "glue" the pick to the strings then, so it requires a wider hand motion to catch all the strings.
Ngl Im 1 year into to guitar
And I learned tremolo picking before I even knew what alternate picking was
How I did it was basically trying to learn a bocchi the rock song
And the first part of it was tremolo
So I spent like 2 weeks trying to figure out how to
And one day I remembered a video that sad relax your hand when tremolo picking
After I learned how to relax my hand
I could finally do it
And that was like 3 months ago
Can't argue with any of this. What is your opinion on rest strokes? Cheers.
They're great. I use them a lot either when picking hard with an outward hand angle or when sweep picking
Hi Ben! Just registered to your website and wow, only the warmup lesson has been a wakeup call. Fretting hand really was over-estimated in my case!
I've been playing the guitar for 14 years and just stopped for 3 years until today... family, kids, losing interest due to repetitive playing etc. I've always been a decent guitarist, but what shocked me was that it didn't seem my skills fell significantly over the last 3 years. So I thought, I must have done something wrong before I stoped playing.
Thankfully I found your channel and wanna do things right this time.
So after briefly going through your warmup course, I have a short question for you (or anyone else that might help). I was going through the fretting hand exercise and noticed somwthing I never adressed before. I keep my fretting hand at a very low angle (don't keep it perpensicular to the neck), think Gary Moore. So my pinky was rarely utilized since this angle gives my ring finger 3 frets reach counting from the fretting index finger.
When doing your exercise I noticed that I hardly move my pinky when doing hammer ons and pull offs. What I do is I mostly dig in with my thumb and pivot my entire hand around my fretting finger. This puts a lot of strain on my thumb which gets pointed towards the headstock (so my index is fretting perpendicular to the neck and my thumb lies on the back of the neck, pointing towards the headstock). Is there another way to correct this, or should I start the exercise very slowly at first, minding the angles of fingers on my fretting hand until I have them all in an upright position?
Thanks, and I'm looking forward to going through more of your courses.
Hi, it sounds like you play with angled position rather than a classical upright one, which is totally fine. Many players do it that way and it's enough as it is. Some players mix up both and switch to the classical position for longer stretches. Joe Satriani is an example of this. Your pinky is just not strong yet because you've never really used it. That's all. You can just let the thumb do its own thing, you should never need to consciously focus on it. So it's just a case of building strength in the fingers and especially the pinky, over the coming days and weeks - enjoy!
@@BenHigginsOfficial thanks for the reply! I cannot tell you how many instructional videos and technique related articles I've read back in the day when I was playing and progressing most. None of them, and I do mean NONE made such an impact like your warmup course alone. Attention to the little details like pick angle and how to angle your hand while picking up/down the string while starting with a downstroke/upstroke, those little "black and white answers"... I'm hugely impressed and have to say to all who might wonder - this fucking works!
For someone like me, who put in hours and hours and just kept hitting the wall and felt as if I reached my limit, this is precisely the sort of a push I needed, even after 3 years of completely not playing the guitar (except for some kiddy songs on the acoustic for toddlers).
Even some faster melodies I was able to play before, after 2 days with only your warmup course sound cleaner than ever AND using my pinky.
And what's most important, I haven't felt this excited for playing since I was probably in my late teens-early 20's, so thanks for that.
Got the Badass bundle, it's fucking time to jump that wall!
@@filips989 I'm really happy to hear you've made progress in such a short space of time - well done to you for putting in the work!
Alright Ben. What does the mega Badass bundle include? I can see all the lessons I.e legato. alt picking etc but wanted to know how they are taught? is it extra videos with tab or just tab on its own?
Hi, they are all video based courses so everything is explained and played in videos, with me walking through the techniques on camera. All guitar tab is included as separate files which are accessed in the appropriate courses. Hope that helps
@@BenHigginsOfficial Yes. Cheers very much
Wait where is Ben?
Is your pinky anchored or floating while picking?
Mine usually rests against the body
@@BenHigginsOfficial sorry, but you mean the body of the guitar? I used to anchor my pinky, but heard that it was bad for playing faster so I’ve tried to switch to floating my hand.
@@YouEatPlants Yes, anchoring to the body. No, it's not bad for playing fast at all, see Jeff Loomis, Jason Becker, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci etc. You can reach mega speeds using either anchored or non-anchored approaches
is this a cheddar swisspick?
It's from Talon Guitar Picks, it's a medium T1
🐻👍🏾