on technique [part 2]

what is the first thing one does when trying to increase his or her picking speed?
you guessed it, increasing the speed while practicing.
does this produce results? not at all.

this is another one of those issues that took me long to figure out.
to increase you picking speed you don't have to practice picking faster.
in fact, what you have to do is quite the opposite: practice picking at a very low tempo.

this might not seem logical at first glance so allow me to explain.
only by practicing picking at a low speed, can your brain build new neural connections. you do not build muscle memory if you play fast, the speed is giving your brain a "hard time to learn" so to speak.

the fastest way to learn is to practice everything, especially new melodies and patterns/licks at a very low tempo and to make sure you play it right at the first time. if you can't decrease your tempo even further.

I abandoned my old habits of trying to play everything fast and integrated this new habit into my practice routines - this was one of the most important changes for me. from that point on i became much more effective when practicing.
so to sum it up; it is vital that you practice everything slowly, especially when it comes to picking. try to play everything you learn right the very first time you play it, disregarding the target speed. play accurately, speed will come naturally - as a side effect of playing with accuracy.

this is harder to realize than one might imagine, because at first what you think when practicing so slowly is that you're loosing time, yet in fact quite the opposite is true.