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Here are some things to do when you are working on increasing your speed for an exercise or song:
Use Correct Form
On classical guitar there is a fairly well defined form. There is a certain way to hold your hand and a certain way to move your fingers. On electric or acoustic guitar, however, there is often no accepted "correct" way to do things. Many incredible guitar players do things very differently. For example, Eddie Van Halen holds the pick with his middle finger and his thumb.
Still, there are things that will slow you down. You should develop a technique that suits you and stick with it. A good thing to do is to go to youtube and search for a guitarist who has very good technique so that you can watch them and try to copy (or borrow from a certain part of) their technique.
Play Slowly with a Metronome
Play the piece that you are working on very slowly and make sure you are doing everything perfectly. When you are comfortable at a certain speed, increase it. Repeat this until you are at the speed you want.
One way to do this:
- Put the metronome at a speed that you are comfortable with.
- Play there for a while
- Increase the metronome two clicks, and play there for a little while (but don't necessarily get it perfect)
- Decrease the metronome one click and play there until you have it down perfectly.
- Increase the metronome another two clicks and repeat.
Practice in Bursts
Play a exercise with, for example, eighth notes at a slow speed. Every once in a while, without stoping, go to sixteenth notes for a second and then back. When you get more comfortable with the sixteenths increase the length of the burst.
- - This is something that I had read about but never really did. When I started taking drum lessons again, my drum teacher made me do this. It helped so much that I tried it on guitar and it makes a world of difference. --Aslkvbiwbegv