if any of you have seen petrucci's rock discipline, you'll know exactly what i'm talking about. anyway, i'm doing a chromatic exercise where i basically just run all 4 fingers 1-2-3-4 down the fretboard (6th string to 1st) then 4-3-2-1 up the fretboard (1st to 6th). i can get the 1-2-3-4 part pretty quickly while keeping it clean, but every time i go in reverse quickly, 4-3-2-1, the notes seem to sound muted pretty frequently. i do the 1-2-3-4 part cleanly at 140bpm+ (8th notes) but 4-3-2-1 gets muted around 120. i just can't seem to get the timing down on that or something.

has anybody else experienced this? right now i'm trying to work on ring and pinky fingers to death with legato exercises, hoping that those muscles need to be tuned up more. i'm just not sure what else to do to help.

I've done that exercise before. I can do it a lot faster than I could 6 months ago when I first tried that exercise. Just take it slow and practice it clean. Gradualy up the metronome building speed. I actualy find it easier for me when I'm going down the pattern. Just keep practicing.

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Just sounds like you left and right hand coordination is out by a touch when you increase speed. The only way to make it better is just to keep practising!

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Yeah im experiencing that too! Its annoying but you just gotta practice.

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I was amazed on how fast I can do it. Just how much I had improved in 6 months. In that 6 months I didn't even think about that exercise but now since I've tried it I can do it considerably faster.

But yeah, just keep on practicing it slow and make sure every note is played cleanly and keep on upping the metronome till it is difficult. Keep on practicing then try it again and see how you have improved.

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man i must say, the biggest way i improved this was by getting one of those stubby Jazz 3 picks. They never get cought on strings (like the bigger ones do), and everything sounds, and is more accurate. At least try one. Other than that keep using the metrenome, it will come.

Here's another one, try practicing the harmonic minor scale for a month, using the 3-notes-per-string sweeping patterns (at least 1/2 hour a day). Just the scale, up and down. Then after a month of that, go back and play the chromatic excercises and you'll be amazed at how fast you can do them.

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I need theory lessons, I don't even know the harmonic minor scale

For someone who likes shred as much as you do, you should be learning it! The harmonic minor is posted several times throughout the scales and sweeps thread. If you look at my post on the last page I believe it's the second scale there, in the key of D. Of course you can shift it to any key you want by moving it up or down the fretboard and keeping the same patterns.

Here's a site for you to get started on the basics of Theory. It's not as good as a one on one instructor, but it will give you a head start.

http://www.zentao.com/guitar/theory/

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I've been there but i will give it another shot

Yeah those things help out a lot.

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the harmonic minor scale is great.

when you say 3 notes per string sweeping.. do you mean pick one note and hammer on the other 2, then pick one and pull off the other 2 on the way back down?

oh, and i do use jazz 3s.

I'm not sure about what hes talking but I think this 3 note per string sweep picking thing is also refered to as speed picking. You pick it like this:
U= up stroke pick
D=down stroke pick

E|-----------------------------------1-3-5----------------
B|-----------------------------1-3-5----------------------
G|-----------------------0-2-4----------------------------
D|-----------------0-2-3----------------------------------
A|-----------0-2-3----------------------------------------
E|-----0-1-3----------------------------------------------
Pickin-D-U-D-D-U-D-D-U-D- Etc etc.
You can go a lot faster this way as opposed to regular alternate picking. Once you get this technique down, it will help your speed a lot.

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No, I just mean 3 notes are played on each string, but you can certainly pick the first note and hammer on the second two on each string as a sweep. You can get pretty quick at that too. The pattern is posted below, whatever note you start on is your key. The numbers represent which fingers you should use.

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yeah corpse, that's a good way to do it, too.. i'd forgotten about that.

i don't see how you can sweet 3 notes on a string without hammers and pulls for 2 of the notes.

i used to do "sweeping" with hammers and pulls on the major scale modes, though.. you can definitely get pretty quick at that.

i think i basically just have to slow down and not lose patience. i've been making sure that every note sounds out perfectly.. i'm not doing 16ths at 140 anymore, but it sounds good the whole way through now.

are 16th notes 4 notes per click on the metrenome? sorry im new to the metrenome, but if that's so im at 210 or something like that

Easy, just alt pick 3 notes and use the fingerings I posted above. For the harmonic minor anyway. Yeah, if you're actually sweeping then it's hammer ons, or pull-offs. They just call them sweeping patterns.



Yes those are 16th notes. That's impressive if you're picking each note and playing something other than a chromatic scale. Is that the harmonic minor you're playing that quick, or chromatic?

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even chromatic would be very quick with 16ths at 210. especially for being new to the metronome..

i went back and focused more on my technique.. forcing myself to have patience, and i've already improved a great deal. i was building up speed before, but forgot to make it totally clean.. now that's getting done, too. just had to be more patient. thanks!

no sorry i was playing chromatic.