Fingerstyle speed exercise

How can you improve your speed on fingerstyle guitar? Which kind of practice is right for speed? Why, when I play fast, I screw up? How do I use the metronome? Do I need speed?

Today, I will show you three killing fingerstyle speed exercises that will help you improve your speed and control.

These are my favorite exercises as they focus on speed as well as control and strength.

Improve Fingerstyle Speed

When it comes to guitar, speed has always been a hot topic. Many guitar players practice every day, trying to improve their speed and control. Speed is not a gift. You must practice hard if you want to become better and control it.  People get quite frustrated when they can’t play fast, and many searches for answers and formulas to improve their technique.

What do you do Wrong?

Before we get started with the fingerstyle speed exercises, let me show you the five things you need to avoid to maximize your guitar practice.

Learn it!

Make sure you know the exercise by heart so that you can focus 100% on your fingers. Ignore this guitar tip, and you will struggle with speed forever. Learn the exercise inside out before you start pushing for speed.

Wrong method

You can’t go from 60 bpm to 90 bpm in one day. Trust me, a lot of people do that. They start too fast and keep pushing at the highest speed. They don’t know that the secret is to practice 90% of the time slowly.

Knowing Your Limit

When you start practicing, you have to know how fast you want to play. Saying “I want to play fast” doesn’t make sense. Each piece of exercise must have a speed limit.  Once you know your goal, you know how much practice you need. Be specific!

Don’t Start too Fast.

Remember: Speed and accuracy are inseparable friends. You can’t play fast without being accurate, and skill comes with time. I highly recommend you start practicing slowly. Give yourself time to improve.

Fingers Position

Posture and hands position. If you want to play fast, your fingers, hand, and posture must be perfect. The reason why you can’t play faster is probably that A) You are plucking the strings with a flat nail. Make sure you use the left-hand angle of the fingertip. Also, use a combination of flesh and nail. B) Your left-hand thumb is too high behind the neck. Make sure you keep the thumb straight behind the neck and right in the middle. C) Left-hand fingers using the wrong angle. Always use your fingertips and place the fingers close to the fret-wire.

By avoiding these five mistakes, you are already halfway from success.

Do I need to play fast?

For guitar players, speed is critical. They spend hours working on a certain lick or plucking pattern. I was like that in my twenties. I could spend hours practicing on my technique and speed, which I think had a positive impact on my guitar playing.

I remember being so devoted to speed that I could schedule three hours’ worth of technique a day, on top of another four hours dedicated to the repertoire. In my case, I enjoyed it so much that it didn’t feel long or tiring.

These three hours gave me confidence, motivation, discipline, and a solid technique. It definitely worked for me! The thing is: Will it work for you? And how can you find the fingerstyle speed exercise that works better for you?

Speed is not a must!

After years of playing and teaching guitar, I can guarantee you that speed is not the thing that will make you a successful guitar player. Musicality, tones, and dynamics are definitely more important than speed. What’s the point of playing fast if everything you play sounds flat and boring.

Don’t focus just on speed. Make sure you improve tone, dynamics, and musicality.

The Exercises that help!

Exercise n.1

In this fingerstyle speed exercise, we are going to start with just one note. Remember that we are focusing on the right hand, so make sure you follow all the guitar tips below.

The three killing rules to successfully improve your fingerstyle speed:

• 1: I really think that resting the right-hand thumb on the 6th will help you reducing flying fingers. You are also more likely to pluck the strings better and with more articulation. Also really important to keep the thumb in front of the fingers.
• 2: Break the rhythmic pattern down into small sections. In this fingerstyle exercise, I am thinking “3 3 2” because the first note is repeated three times, the second note, and the third note only two times. The pattern repeats. Check the Tab’s number at the top.
• 3: Use the same energy and emphasis. Keep the same articulation, movement, and posture. Don’t stiffen up when the metronome goes up.

Speed: 120bpm

Exercise n.2

I really like this fingerstyle speed exercise. The classical guitar inspired me. We are going to play a set of triads on the 2nd and 3rd strings. In this exercise, you must keep the right-hand fingers as close as possible to the strings. The thumb should hang relaxed next to the strings. 

Speed: 120bpm

Exercise n.3

Another good way to improve fingerstyle speed is by using the “Sprint” technique. In this exercise, I will play an A minor chord in 16th four times, then play the same chord with sextuplets.

By doing that, you have four notes per beat when you play it in 16th and six notes per beat when you play it with sextuplets. You can apply this concept to any chord progression you are comfortable with.

Speed: 110bpm

My Thoughts

Speed isn’t necessary, guys. You can indeed have a ton of fun practicing these exercises and improving your fingerstyle speed as long as it doesn’t become the only reason you play guitar.

Fingerstyle guitar gives you access to a ton of beautiful elements such as musicality, expression, melody, and musicality that are also really important for fingerstyle technique.

Make sure to use your guitar practice session wisely and spend just about the right time your fingers need on speed.

I really hope you enjoyed these fingerstyle speed exercises.