How to get your finger picking into over drive

[harmonics101]

Does anyone have tips or techniques to help improve finger picking speed ?

How do I go from doing Green Sleeves to picking and a grinning with Buck Owens and the Buckaroos ??

I have been doing finger picking for about a year now but seem to be hitting a brick wall to get that speed to steadily increase ?

Anyone else feel my pain with regards to this ?

Any suggestions welcome ! Thanks guys,

Harmonics101

[riorider]

Huttlinger's got a DVD out called essential exercises for fingerstyle (or something like that) available through Homespun. I have found and am finding that helpful in speed, execution, and dexterity.

rr

[darylcrisp]

+2 on Huttlingers DVD

dkc

[Howard Klepper]

Speed comes with rhythmic accuracy. It does not come with trying to play as fast as you can. Probably the best way to learn to play faster is to practice playing slower--with a metronome, and never any faster than you can play with accurate tempo and rhythm.

[Larry Pattis]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

Speed comes with rhythmic accuracy. It does not come with trying to play as fast as you can. Probably the best way to learn to play faster is to practice playing slower--with a metronome, and never any faster than you can play with accurate tempo and rhythm.

Amen......

[harmonics101]

Thanks for the sales plug. I will definitely check his stuff out on the net.

Does anyone have any testimonials as far as breaking that speed barrier when it comes to finger speed ?

Both left hand and right hand testimonials would be much appreciated !!

Thanks guys,

Harmonics101

Added : I posted this prior to Howard's suggestion with regards to first slow with repetitive practice and a metronome. I totally agree and am using these techniques. It just seems i have hit a brick wall when it comes to plucking speed. You know, the way those banjo players make it sound so easy to go fast. How do those guys do it ??

[harmonics101]

Can i assume that finger speed without a pick basically cuts your theoretical picking speed in half ?

Am I correct in that assumption or is there a double edged technique for the finger pluck folks ?

Harmonics101

i guess it also largely is dependent on what the left hand is doing Oh yeah

Originally Posted by harmonics101

Does anyone have tips or techniques to help improve finger picking speed ?

Harmonics101

Do a search on Google for "fast fingerpicking lesson" and check out the links!
Good Luck!

[harmonics101]

While doing that, i ran into this YouTube presentation on Spanish style

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo5Uc8lRUgU

That seems hard on the hands, I am thinking more like flat picking fast.

I can "sound" faster when i strum than i can when i finger pluck.

Weird huh,

Harmonics101

[rick-slo]

If you are using fingernails to pick figure out the best shape and length of your nails for you and keep them that way and polished.

In a single string run of more than just a few notes divide it up mentally into sections and have the last note of each section as a goal to reach (of course it helps if you divide it up so it fits in with the beat and accented notes).

Some of the stuff you hear the ease of speed comes from hammers and pulls mixed in with the picked notes.

[harmonics101]

Thanks for those tips Rick.

I play with flesh only if that makes a difference but i see your advice is not dependent on that.

I try to keep accustomed to the standard fat plectrum but have never gone near fingernail ! Kinda scares me !

I like your advice of a pause or transition structure between different structures. That makes for making a short piece a bit longer and that helps sometime !

I am learning quite a bit in this thread. Thanks for all the input guys,

Harmonics101

[jmcphail]

And open strings mixed in there too.

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Some of the stuff you hear the ease of speed comes from hammers and pulls mixed in with the picked notes.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by harmonics101

...I have been doing finger picking for about a year now but seem to be hitting a brick wall to get that speed to steadily increase ?

Hi H-101…
A lot of ''speed'' connected with both fingerstyling and flatpicking is in well designed and executed hammer-on pull-off techniques as well as creative patterns which emphasize and utilize efficient fingering patterns. I agree with the suggestion of the Pete Huttlinger "Essential Exercises for Fingerstyle Guitar" DVD.

[devellis]

I agree with Larry, though I'm obviously a far less experienced player than he is. At 63, my hands and fingers are only going to move so fast. But by doing left-hand rolls, for example, I can get a lot of notes to sound quickly without a blazing-fast right hand. the other thing is to just enjoy playing at a slower speed. Paradoxically, playing slower has increased my notes per second because it has encouraged me to do more left-hand ornamentation. So, I've ended up playing a more ornate style despite not picking really quickly with my right hand.

Actually, what I've just described applies more to my flatpicking than my fingerpicking, which I haven't done as much of. But there, too, the same principle applies and as I get more fluid, I find that my left hand can carry more of the load. WHile I think it's important to develop new skills, I also think it's useful to exploit what you can do relatively easily. I once had a banjo teacher who claimed (don't know if it's true) that once Earl Scruggs developed his basic style, he just did what he found easy to do that sounded right and that became the standard everyone else was shooting for.

[lw216316]

There is a fellow on youtube with some free lessons
rob bourassa

He walks you through using a metronome -

first he has you play one note for each 4 beats,
then two
then double that

Rob can play very fast and is a good teacher
you may want to check him out.

- Larry