Wendell,

If I understand you correctly, you are asking, “How can I avoid mistakes in technique that will slow my progress?” I’ll answer with another question: “What’s wrong with slow progress?” The masters have spent countless hours developing playing techniques that were dead ends. Part of mastering a musical instrument is stumbling into mistakes, making corrections, and starting over. In my book, I talk about how my methods and tools give you the freedom to change your technique and start over. In twenty-plus years of playing guitar, I have tried to develop at least five different picking hand techniques, some suggested by various teachers and others I found on my own in the ‘ole woodshed. Maybe the best way to master a musical instrument, say for example the violin, is to find and eliminate all the ‘bad’ techniques, leaving you with the only solution that works, à la Sherlock Holmes.

Regarding your question, my best teachers include the works of Chris Brooks and Troy Grady. I look to Chris Brooks, specifically his “Viking Shred Guitar Suite” and Troy Grady’s “Cracking the Code” for comprehensive courses on picking techniques (‘comprehensive’ might be selling both short). Both of their massive courses are aimed at Malmsteen-esque shred guitar, but their lessons can be applied to any style, including jazz. Both teachers offer personal video critiques to members to diagnose problems and improve technique. I developed my method because Brooks and Grady threw so much information at me that I was overwhelmed and quit practicing (Notice my tag line: So many licks, so little time). It wasn’t until I developed my method and tools that I felt confident enough to start practicing again with a clear path to reach the goals they put in front of me.

Interestingly, I asked Grady to write the foreword for my book. He declined, telling me he’s the wrong person to ask because he believes a method like mine, which expects results after months, if not years, of consistent practice, is unnecessary. He believes that he can diagnose his students’ mistakes and teach them the ‘correct’ technique to help them reach shredder speeds in the short term. However, check out Grady’s forum, and you will find many of his students, like me, who initially experienced a fantastic breakthrough in playing speed with his help. Yet, we soon hit another brick wall and were nowhere close to neoclassical speeds. I agree with Grady because I experienced dramatic results after replacing my less effective picking technique with ideas that he gleaned from his deep dissections of ’80s videos of Malmsteen and Johnson. Though I greatly admire his work, he has not convinced me that a guitar player can become a shredder overnight by simply decoding the techniques of the fastest players.

Grady is correct. Relying on the experience of successful musicians to help you identify elements of your technique that may be preventing you from reaching your goals is essential. However, to master your musical instrument and play at speeds that impress, you have to practice consistently for a long time. Ask George Benson, Al Di Meola, Paul Gilbert, Eric Johnson, Yo-Yo Ma, or anyone you think has truly mastered their musical instrument, “How many hours have you practiced to reach this level of mastery?” Each would tell you something like, “You know that 10,000-hour rule to master anything? Double it!” Grady talks about his success during his college years, initially decoding the technical secrets of Malmsteen and Johnson and copying them to play at speeds that impressed his friends. But, if he is honest, how many hours has he practiced to play Malmsteen and Johnson licks flawlessly at neoclassical speeds today?

At Cracking the Code, Grady offers the best picking hand technique lessons on the planet. But he’s wrong about the path to mastering your musical instrument, and unfortunately, some of his students, like me, tend to get frustrated and walk away. That’s where my PATH2FAST method and tools can help. My goal is to keep you practicing by showing you a clear path to mastering your musical instrument and playing your favorite phrases at speeds that impress.

One last thought. Be careful with the word ‘mistake’. Many teachers would have beaten Vinnie Moore and Steve Morse’s picking hands with a ruler because, according to these teachers, their technique is ‘atrocious’. What if these maestros had quit playing guitar because some silly music teacher tried to force them to play the right way right now? But, they are astonishingly successful at playing the way they play because they took the 10,000-hour rule… and doubled it, proving to me that time with the instrument, not technique, is the deciding factor among musical masters.

Wendell, I might be wrong. If you find a teacher who can teach you how to play guitar at neoclassical speeds in a few weeks, without the hassle of making, then finding, and eventually correcting all the mistakes and retracing countless dead ends, please let me know. However, if I am right, I hope you enjoy a lifetime of musical bliss with my revolutionary practice plan, which continually gives you the freedom to refine your technique with each new teacher or solution. Buy my book, Rehearsals and Exercises: A Method for Playing Speed Guitar, and sign up for unlimited lifetime access to my website, PATH2FAST.com. Use my method and tools to enjoy spending a lot of time practicing your instrument, and, in time, many of your ‘mistakes’ will be magically swept away like sawdust in the wind from the floor of the ‘ole woodshed.

Take care,
Greg