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Thread: How do I play faster?

  1. #1

    Default How do I play faster?

    How can I play faster?

  2. #2
    Registered User jmp's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    Use this recipe:

    1. Play something only as fast as you can without making any mistakes
    2. Play it a little bit faster and see what passages cause you to make mistakes
    3. Play those error-prone passages over and over again first slowly then faster until you can play them correctly at the new faster speed
    4. Play everything together at the new faster speed until there are no mistakes
    5. Repeat everything again from step 2 until you are at your desired tempo

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    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    I agree with JMP. One of the keys is to get the tunes down note for note slowly at first. The speed will come with repetition. Good luck.

  5. #4

    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    I've been playing some tunes for more than 5 years and I still can't play fast. Are some people just not capable of it?

  6. #5

    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    sbhikes, I wonder if you are asking a different question than what has been answered.

    Some have a hard time playing tunes without mistakes, in which case it's about practicing correctly while building speed.

    Others want to be able to play fast runs, but lack the picking speed and fretting/unfretting speed to do so. That hasn't been addressed yet.

    If you want to build picking speed, it's time to put in effort on tremolo technique, using a metronome as an aid to even tempo. Different tremolo subdivisions and building metronome speeds will get your picking hand up to snuff.

    The same thing needs to happen for your fretting hand. Working scales and patterns with slowly advancing speeds will get you accustomed to getting your fingers on and off the frets.

    You'll also combine the fretting with the fast picking as you work different patterns (thirds, fourths, string skipping, etc.).

    There are great books for violin for building velocity, and a lot of them are available for free download, like the Schradieck books.

    Here's a simple example, with the metronome audible in the background.

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=P5wup0SP9BA

    The violin books won't deal with the tremolo picking technique you'll need to develop, but most folks can easily get to where they can tremolo-pick at the speed of the melodic line in that video. That leaves only one hand to build from that pint.

    Good luck!
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    Registered User Mandobart's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    Before you can reach a goal, before you can even start working on a goal intelligently, you have to be able to define it. "Play faster" is no more descriptive than "be better." This unfortunately requires some work on your part. Pick a song you like, that you want to play faster. With your metronome figure out how fast you can currently play it (in beats per minute, BPM) without mistakes. Now find a recording of it that you like and use your metronome to figure out how fast in BPM the recording is and work toward that tempo in bite-sized increments. If that is too hard then set a goal to play 5 - 10% faster. If this is too difficult try a more modest goal. Measure your progress weekly. Once you have measurable progress it may inspire you to continue. Five years? How many hours of focused practice does that equal? It's not the years, it's the hours you put in. I know many people who have "played at" or "played with" an instrument for many years but are still essentially beginners because they simply don't set and work toward goals. Noodling around for decades will result in some fluency with an instrument but won't impart great skill. You have to work for it.

    If none of this makes any sense then either get lessons or decide that you are fast as you can be.

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    two t's and one hyphen fatt-dad's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    To play fast slow down.

    Go to jams and learn to hang on.

    Make sure you have a good reason to play fast.

    Have you logged real time on the mandolin? It really does require serious practice. Hours a week for years. No joke!

    On the path to excellence, enjoy mediocre!

    f-d
    ˇpapá gordo ain’t no madre flaca!

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    Registered User Ivan Kelsall's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    I found that for me,it simply came as a result of a lot of playing at a slower tempo for a long time. Long enough to know the tunes inside out,so that i didn't even have to think about my left hand fingering. I can play prettyfast after a decent warm up,but even then,there are some tunes that i just don't care for because they're so fast they're just a blur of notes. If i want to play 'fast tunes',i'll get back on the banjo. In my opinion,the mandolin is capable of so much expression,that 'fast' tunes don't hack it for me.
    Give me a good medium tempo tune,that i can work my way around,dig in & put some really tuneful stuff of my own into & i'm good to go. If i was playing with a band & i had to play a 'fast' tune,then so be it,but they're not the 'best' of tunes IMHO. Here's a tune that i love & it's fast enough for me - The Lonesome River Band - ''Bonnie Brown''. Any 'faster' than that & it's all yours !!,
    Ivan
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    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    Well ..... firstly good technique keeping your hands relaxed with no extra movement , noting fingers close to the strings pick hand in position for the desired tone. Know the song you are playing so well that you don't have to think about what you are playing ..... work with a metronome gradually increasing your tempo. jmp lays it out nicely .... lastly .. be patient ..it all takes more time than you may think ... R/
    I love hanging out with mandolin nerds . . . . . Thanks peeps ...

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    Registered User T.D.Nydn's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    Here's some speed exercises that I do.first,play a tremolo,Any speed,just keep it smoothly consistent.the goal of a fast tremolo is equal to a buzzing insect. Any string,,,02420..02420..ect....0245420..0245420..ec t....then 1457541.1457541..ect..(it's early,I think I got it right)..practice this all night while watching tv..at the end of a week,,you'll be playing faster,,then move to 2 string full scales..

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    String-Bending Heretic mandocrucian's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do I play faster?


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    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    I guess I mainly have trouble with, I don't know how to explain it, but getting all tangled up. I find it difficult to play faster than a certain speed. Scale runs, arpeggios, too many notes all at once, certain string crossings. My fingers (and the pick) get tangled up. Been trying to play slow and speed up but I always get tangled at some point.

    I have learned everything at speed at the jam (our jam's not all that fast, and it's old-time) so I've learned a lot of the tunes without some of the notes or some of the parts that no matter how often I hear it I still can't make it out. Plus I seem to always get stuck next to the guitars or the hammer dulcimer so there are some tunes I've been playing wrong for years because I never actually heard the tune, just a wall of noise. But that's a different issue.

  18. #13
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    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    Face it, some pickers are just wired to pick fast. For me, I'll quote the late B.B.:

    "There are plenty of guys who pick faster than me."

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    Purveyor of Sunshine sgarrity's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    Monroe once described himself as a quick player, not a fast player. Simplify the tunes to be able to play them at speed. Also, you have to practice fast to play fast. Throw caution to the wind, make mistakes, and push yourself in the speed department.

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  22. #15

    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    Amen AlanN.
    Ricky Skaggs is Ricky Skaggs. Same for Ronnie McCoury. They are truly special. They are bad for comparison. Everybody should be able to pick that fast, is like the notion everybody should look like Barbie & Ken.

    I pick until my fingers start being late, then I slow down. That's how fast I can pick. (and it's getting worse not better)


    sbhikes -
    I know what you mean about a muddy sounding Old Time jam. A bad place to learn an intricate, lacey fiddle tune. If you're getting the last note in the phrase right, you are right.

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    Registered User Rodney Riley's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    I have to loosen me grip on the pick and not dig in to the strings. Quieter, but faster. Only trouble I have then is my pick outruns my fretting.

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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    Here are some practical things that I know have at times slowed me down. If you are already beyond this advice, my apologies. I mean no insult, I just don't know where you are at. I know from my own experience that at five years I was NOT beyond all of these issues:

    Hold the instrument properly (see the classic Mike Marshall video, review it from time to time.)

    Don't hold the neck too tight - if you hold the instrument properly your left hand (fretting hand) will not be carrying any of the weight of the instrument. That way you won't feel compelled to grip tight to keep the instrument from falling. You can keep a very light grasp, just enough to fret the note. A strap helps, but this can be done easily enough without a strap.

    Alternate picking - I spent way to long picking every note down. It was down down down down for the longest time. If you haven't already, get in the habit of alternate picking, down up down up. There are lots of threads on picking patterns for this or for that kind of tune, and there is optimal and there is good enough to get you going. Down up down up is good for most things, and much better than down down down down for just about everything.

    Flying fingers - try not to raise your fingers way up in the air after each note but keep them hovering right over the strings, if not on the strings (see next item).

    Releasing the notes too soon - keep your fingers on the strings. For example a tune goes up a scale. Well keep your fingers down on the strings as you add one finger at a time going up the scale. (You can have multiple fingers on the same strings, as long as the highest finger is the note you want.) Likely you will have to come down again and your fingers will already by there. What ever comes next your fingers will be closer than if you just removed them.

    Look for opportunities to pin a finger - i.e. various arpeggios and tune licks where the melody oscillates back and forth, well can you keep one of the notes fingered and just move the other one?

    The previous three items, once I "got" them, significantly increased my speed on everything. Really, stuff started to take off and I could tell things were going to catch fire.

    Instead of thinking of "playing fast" think of "getting this or that tune down fast". Practice a particular tune, making sure of all of the above, and working to get all the notes at what ever speed you can and slowly increase that speed, as described in previous posts.

    I hope that helps. I have noticed that there is a certain zen to increasing my speed - for me anyway. I can't get there by trying to get there. I have to do all this stuff described above, and eventually "there" happens.
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    Registered User Bill Bradshaw's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    Quote Originally Posted by AlanN View Post
    Face it, some pickers are just wired to pick fast. For me, I'll quote the late B.B.:

    "There are plenty of guys who pick faster than me."
    Hey, I've said that plenty of times, but just for the record, I am still alive.

    Cheers, Bill Bradshaw

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    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    Quote Originally Posted by sbhikes View Post
    How can I play faster?
    How long have you been playing?

    For me, my right hand (pick) is the speed bump. The better my up/down stroke gets the faster I can play

  30. #20
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    Quote Originally Posted by sbhikes View Post
    Are some people just not capable of it?
    I am sure there are some, but few. I am a living example of someone with no particular talent or ability who got to an acceptable level of competence through figuring it out and practicing and playing with others as often as possible.

    I don't know if you are capable, but I do know you will get a lot farther assuming that you are and working at it.
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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    If anyone tells you playing fast doesn't matter - ignore them - or put the thought aside for now.

    Yea they are right, but most of the folks who say that can play fast.

    Of course of course playing fast is not as important as getting the notes right, and playing expressively and musically. But lets get real - playing slowly because its a decision - to increase the drama or pathos of a tune - is a wonderful thing. Playing slowly because you can't play fast - just plain sucks.

    And the faster you can play well, the more folks you can play with. Which for me is the goal.
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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    You'll get there.

    When you do, be patient and gracious with the folks "behind you" who are still struggling. Give'em a hand and make them feel welcome. You were one of them once.
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  33. #23
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    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Bradshaw View Post
    Hey, I've said that plenty of times, but just for the record, I am still alive.

    Cheers, Bill Bradshaw
    Too wise.

    Another salient quote, this time from the lovely and talented F.W.:

    "Let your hand shake your wrist"

    I have no problem shaking off a break, if I feel it's above my pay grade. Some of them dadgum banjo tunes are just too spry. Plus, the trend in our post-Thile world, is F-A-S-T. Yes, there were pickers before CT who play/played fast, but since then, the rules of the road have changed, big time. I had a long discussion about this with a super picker at IBMA. The younger set has started with Thile (and post Thile). That is what they know and base their thing on. Makes all the difference in the world.

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  35. #24
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    1) Do everything - at least, try everything - that has been advised so far, especially by jmp, Explorer, Mandobart, and JeffD
    2) Drink lots of coffee

    Repeat these steps. In fact, just repeat. Repeat, repeat, repeat. The more you do it, the more natural it will become. Hopefully you'll get to where you're not thinking about it so much anymore, if at all. That's when it will really be natural.

    If you get the shakes, lay off the coffee a bit. Naturally.
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    Default Re: How do I play faster?

    Yes, it's true. Some people can play faster than others, no matter what. Biology and neurology. But you don't have to play fast to make good music. Playing slow and accurately is the best practice method for acquiring speed.

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