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Learning to play fast is something many guitar players strive for. I wrote these 3 shred guitar licks to demonstrate a way to get more mileage out of the speed licks you learn, rather than feeling like you have to reinvent the wheel over and over and find millions of new licks all the time. Great classical composers used repetition, sequence, and motivic development to get more out of the musical elements within a piece of music (think Beethoven Symphony 5; da-da-da-dahhh / da-da-da-dahhh then after that the melodic motive is used over and over for the entire movement as a motivic theme). So, for shred guitar we can do the same thing to make longer and longer strings of notes, just by repeating the licks up or down an octave in one seamless phrase. A few tips:
- Go to this post and apply the instructions on developing speed to the licks in this post.
- Use a metronome! Practicing with a metronome has been around for centuries because it works. Subdivide the beat correctly, focus on rhythm and articulation, and speed will happen later.
- Speed development is not a perfect line graph, it’s more a a “hockey stick” graph. That means that you practice slow to moderate for a long time and then BOOM speed starts accelerating dramatically later on. Basically 80% of your time developing speed will be slow and the last 20% your speed will increase exponentially. Your hands have to build the reflex and muscle memory – once that happens the speed comes naturally.
Nate from Richards Guitar Studio and Richards Rock Academy shows you how to play 3 shred guitar licks using octave positions. Great for taking small licks and getting way more mileage out of them by extending them across the fretboard. Learn speed picking, alternate picking, legato hammer ons and pull offs, fast guitar scales, and more. In the style of John Petrucci, Yngwie Malmsteen, Joe Satriani.
Richards Guitar Studio provides professional guitar, drum, and bass lessons and rock band school in Aston, PA. Serving Delaware County – Media, Swarthmore, Springfield, Ridley, Garnet Valley, and Wallingford.