#57: 300 BPM Speed Picking | Technique Analysis & Demonstration

You've probably mentioned before, but I'm curious to know what kind of pick you use and what is best for fast licks and sweep arpeggios. I currently use a 2.0 mm Big Stubby, LOL. Occasionally a 1.5 mm.

Jackie Paper

its encouraging.after 2 months i can keep it tight at 200bpm for a couple of times.at 204 bpm i start to fall in pieces.

karlo Petigny

Bernth, thanks for the reply. I actually do one of the exercises in the "Finger Exercises You Should Do Every Day" and it does help. I also use a couple of your other exercises daily, like Hand Synchronization. I've improved on that one from around 60 bpm to 110 bpm. I've seen a lot of improvement in my alternate picking speed (and sweeping) since I've started following your videos as a patreon. But I'm not sure I'll ever get to 300 bpm. That is just blazingly fast.

Scott Walden

Hey Scott! Controlling my pinky (especially at fast tempos) is also a big topic for me - I currently work on the exercises from 'Finger Exercises You Should Do Every Day' every single day (15 minutes) since they focus on that - the fingers have to be very connected in these workouts and that helps me a lot but I'm also not 100% there yet. But I noticed a big improvement since I worked on that video! As for the second question - yes, it's all alternate picking! Descending is tricky here since I want to avoid getting stuck between the strings - but we will look at economy picking too for the first time in this week's longer lesson, this is an easier approach you could also use!

Bernd Brodträger

Thank you Karlo! It's really not easy and I can't just burst into 300 BPM at any second, I need a longer warmup and also can't keep going forever at this speed! But it's a lot of fun to push the technique and to see what's possible :) I'm sure you will get there if you keep working and pushing - but it takes a lot of time and there are plenty of other topics you will need more often when you're working creatively - but studying the technique closely brought me many advantages, happy to pass everything I learned on here!

Bernd Brodträger

Hey Hector, thank you! Yes, seems like some players sped up a couple of videos.. that feels kind of cheap since it takes much work to reach these tempos - not that this is the only important factor of guitar playing (it's absolutely not) but it does take a lot of work so I'm not a big fan of cheating your way there :) How long it took is a great question. I always pushed above my comfort zone and tried to play short bursts of faster picking, not nailing every single stroke but getting a feeling for these tempos. The motion changes a bit and it's really hard to keep it small and economic at fast tempos. So I think it's not possible to just raise the tempo a bit every day, you have to go for these faster tempos and fail over and over again to get a feeling for the motion - with time you build your fast technique! But I can't keep this up forever and it doesn't come easy for me to play at 280-300 BPM, much warmup is needed and the endurance isn't there yet - let's see what the future will bring :)

Bernd Brodträger

ok.... I´ll start from 100bpm... hahahahah

It's amazing that you can play it that fast. I have a couple of questions. (1) My biggest area of trouble when I start speeding it up is the pinky having to move from the 13th fret to the 15th and from the 15th back to the 13th, all without missing a beat. How did you master that? (2) When descending in pitch (from high to low in bars 2 and 3), on your alternate picking are you starting each triplet with a downstroke or upstroke?

Scott Walden

This is so tight and fast it looks impossible. i know its possible cos i see you do it but still......i have a hard time doing it at 200bpm and i have to almost double it. god help me. :)

karlo Petigny

Great video especially with all the controversy that had been going around with guitarist speeding up tracks. I personally never questioned your skill. How long would you say it took you to get to 280 once you where at 150-170?

Hector Jimenez