So you've seen Paul Gilbert play a million notes a second and you want to be able to do the same. If you've hit a brick wall in your attempt to reach this goal then you are not alone. I've been there and know how frustrating it can be especially when your practise regime yields no rewards. However, after years of trial and error, research and studying, I discovered that I could play fast guitar despite nature not endowing me with Steve Vai's ability or huge hands.

And guess what, I know you too CAN shred with the big boys. It's not just what you practise but also how you practise that will make you an amazing guitarist. Here's my favourite saying ?Perfect practise makes perfect?. I say this all the time but it's the most important thing you'll ever hear as a player.

Looking back I now realise that my very desire to be great in as short a period as possible hindered me from taking my time to get it right! This is the first obstacle to overcome. Accept that to play like the greats you have to practise like they did; slowly and accurately. Do this and you will see results in weeks!

Now I must say here that I reserve the big secrets of correct practise for my ?Mach 1 guitar? members as I feel they would lynch me for giving away too much for free. However, I am going to share with you some words of wisdom and tell you the techniques you need to know to play like the top guys.

Firstly, as I mentioned before, you have to learn to walk before you can run, so practise slowly and accurately. You can speed up over time but NEVER at the expense of accuracy! And don't be tempted to practise slowly for five minutes and then attempt the same lick at full speed. You will undo all the benefits of the slow practise. When you're ready to play fast you will know.

As for techniques the essentials are: alternate picking, legato, tapping and sweep picking.

Alternate Picking: This involves picking the string in both directions - up and down. This is much more efficient than trying to play fast while picking all downs.

Tremolo picking is very fast alternate picking, but often little thought is given to note values. The best way to practise alternate picking is by playing specific note values such as quavers (2 notes per click of the metronome), triplets (3 notes per click) or semiquavers (4 notes per click). There are other note values but these are a good place to start. Try alternate picking figure 1. Play the first note with a down-stroke, then up-stroke etc, etc

Figure 1

E||------------------------||

B||------------------------||

G||-------------5-7-------||

D||--------5-7------5-7--||

A||--5-7------------------||

E||------------------------||

Now try figure 2 but starting with an up-stroke then down-stroke etc, etc

Figure 2

E||-------------------------||

B||-------------------------||

G||--7-5-------------------||

D||--------7-5-------7-5--||

A||--------------7-5-------||

E||-------------------------||

Legato: Legato means ?smooth? as in a smooth transition from one note to the next. This can be achieved with pull-offs, hammer-ons, slides and bends. Figure 3 uses hammer-ons when ascending the scale and pull-offs when descending the scale.

Figure 3

E||-------------------------------------5h-8-8p-5------------------------------------||

B||------------------------------5h-8---------------8p-5-----------------------------||

G||-----------------------5h-7-----------------------------7p-5----------------------||

D||----------------5h-7-------------------------------------------7p-5---------------||

A||---------5h-7---------------------------------------------------------7p-5--------||

E||--5h-8-----------------------------------------------------------------------8p-5-||

Now try figure 4:

Figure 4

E||---------------5h-7h-8p-7h-8p-7p-5----------||

B||---5h-7h-8------------------------------8p-7---||

G||*------------------------------------------------*||

D||*------------------------------------------------*||

A||---------------------------------------------------||

E||---------------------------------------------------||

Tapping: This is a legato technique, but using the picking hand to play hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides. Play figure 5 using legato and by tapping all the 12th fret notes with your picking hand (in other words play hammer-ons with your picking hand). Play a pull-off with this finger to sound the 5th fret notes.

Figure 5

E||---12p--5h--8--12p--5h--8--12p--5h--8--12p--5h--8----||

B||--------------------------------------------------------------------||

G||*-----------------------------------------------------------------*||

D||*-----------------------------------------------------------------*||

A||--------------------------------------------------------------------||

E||--------------------------------------------------------------------||

Sweep picking: This is the ultimate speed technique but also the hardest to do right. It involves playing the notes by ?sweeping? across the strings. It's often used to play arpeggios (broken chords). Unlike a chord, you only hold down one note at a time like in figure 6. Be sure to play the first 3 notes in figure 6 using downstrokes and the next 3 notes using upstrokes. Also, make sure you are ?pushing? through the strings for the first 3 notes and then ?pulling? through the strings on the last 3 notes. This is where most people go wrong - they think they are sweeping but are actually just picking in a conventional manner.

Figure 6

E||---------5--7----------||

B||------6--------8-------||

G||*--7--------------9--*||

D||*---------------------*||

A||------------------------||

E||------------------------||

String Skipping: As the name suggests, this technique involves skipping over strings. This is great practise for improving co-ordination, alternate picking and legato. Practise figure 7 using both alternate picking and legato.

Figure 7

E||----------------------------5-8----8-5------------------------------||

B||-------------5-8------------------------------------8-5-------------||

G||-----------------------5-7---------------7-5------------------------||

D||--------5-7-----------------------------------------------7-5-------||

A||------------------5-7--------------------------7-5------------------||

E||--5-8-----------------------------------------------------------8-5-||

Just to make sure then, let me say one last time before you start practising:

?Perfect practise makes perfect?.