3 Reasons Why Guitarists Have A Hard Time Playing Fast & Clean

Do you make too many guitar playing mistakes at faster speeds? You're probably falling into the common traps other guitarists fall into. Here are the reasons why so many guitarists make mistakes while playing fast:

Reason #1. They Don’t Train To Make Their Articulation Powerful Enough

Playing guitar with excellent articulation is critical for keeping your hands in perfect sync. This is because it’s impossible to pick the notes with power if your hands are out of sync. Playing with weak articulation sounds worse and makes it easier to play sloppily without knowing it.

Bottom line: Practice picking notes with heavy articulation in order to force yourself to keep both hands in sync. Not only does this make your playing cleaner, but it makes it sound better too.

Reason #2. They Spend Most Of Their Time Looking For New Exercises

Spending your time locating tons of new exercises to work on doesn’t help you play faster without making mistakes. Learning correct practice methods and improving your technique are the things you need to focus on.

Bottom line: Clean and accurate speed comes through solid technique. Focus on improving technique and practicing effectively before spending time to find a bunch of exercises to work on.

Reason #3. They Don’t Focus On Releasing Of The Note Properly

The release of the note refers to how you transition from one note to the next. Many guitarists release a note sloppily and are unaware of the noise being created when moving onto the next one. For example: when two notes bleed together. This quickly ruins the sound of your playing if you aren’t careful.

Bottom line: Focus on how it sounds when you release notes as you play during a lick/exercise. Listen closely to hear any noise or bleeding. Pinpoint the cause of the noise, correct it and enjoy the clean sound you get as a result!

When you correct these three issues, your playing becomes cleaner and more accurate right away (which makes faster playing feel easier). However, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Read this article about developing better guitar technique to learn how to quickly clean up mistakes in your guitar playing.

Tom Hess is a successful professional guitar player, composer and international guitar teacher.