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Guitar Gym: Speed Picking Workouts

Speed picking exercises to take your playing to the next level

Marty FriedmanTommy EmmanuelSteve VaiEric GalesEric Johnson

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Guitar Gym: Speed Picking Workouts
Chris Buono

Chris Buono

Educator

multi genre

Genres

About this course

In this edition of Guitar Gym, Chris Buono focuses on developing your speed picking technique with an emphasis on control, stamina, timing and (of course) speed. Buono will guide you through 27 Workouts across 3 levels. In Level 1 you rock 16th notes through open string-based ideas that make use of all six strings with Workouts ranging from 50 BPM to 110 BPM. In Level 2 you strategically race through the three most common three-note-per-string sequences while the tempos increase to 60 BPM through 120 BPM. Level 3 really fires the afterburners by having you fly through three-note-per-string scale cells in sextuplets that descend down the neck in thirds in a zigzag motion at a tempo range of 70 BPM and 130 BPM.

Each Guitar Gym course focuses on a specific guitar technique by guiding the student through a deliberately prescribed series of optimized workouts, organized across a series of levels with increasing intensity. Buono demonstrates each of the workouts by explaining how the workout is engineered and then showing you how to play the workout correctly.

The workouts are ALL interactive video playalongs -- Buono performs each workout with you, for the correct amount of time, at all of the prescribed tempos. You will not be alone in the shed!

All of the workouts also include text guides, PDF charts, Guitar Pro files and all of the practice metronome tracks, at all of the prescribed tempos. Everything you need to develop monster chops by practicing correctly is included.

Practice does NOT make perfect -- "perfect" practice does. We've heard this time and again from our instructors and we get it; practice the wrong thing, or practice the wrong way, and you'll learn how to play it perfectly wrong. Makes "perfect" sense but what exactly do we practice, and how specifically do we practice it? TrueFire's resident Professor of the Deep, Chris Buono has invested the last couple of decades coming up with the answer.

Developing solid guitar techniques is particularly subject to the quality and intensity of your practice regimens -- you'll only get so far relying on repetition and frequency alone. Chris Buono's Guitar Gym workouts will take you the rest of the way with 12 collections of tried, tested and proven intensive workouts for Triad Arpeggios, Tapping, Hybrid Picking, Alternate Picking, Hammers & Pull-Offs, Power Chords, Scales, Speed Picking,Triads, Harmonic Minor Triad Chord Scales, Major Triad Chord Scales and Melodic Minor Triad Chord Scales


Guitar Gym -- your path to "perfect" chops!

What you'll learn

  • Develop speed and accuracy in three-note-per-string scales
  • Understand modal scale construction
  • Develop speed picking technique
  • Develop finger independence
  • Build speed and accuracy
Release date: 10/21/2012 • 1h 36m runtime
intermediatelate intermediateguitarelectric guitartechniquepractice
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Sample lessons
Speed Picking: Level 1
Speed Picking: Level 1
Workout #3: Overview
Speed Picking: Level 1
Speed Picking: Level 1
Workout #3: 60 BPM
Speed Picking: Level 2
Speed Picking: Level 2
Workout #1: Overview
Speed Picking: Level 2
Speed Picking: Level 2
Workout #1: 95 BPM

What's included

42 lessons • 27 charts • 36 Jam Tracks

Speed Picking
Chops: Our heroes have them and we all want them. In order to get them you gotta do what any other person training to better themselves in some way would do - get to the gym! Well, that's exactly what you’re going to do - welcome to the Guitar Gym series. No matter what level you're at or if you have various strong and weak points in your technique, Guitar Gym has you covered. Each course is comprised of a collection of leveled workouts waiting for you to dig into.

Here in Guitar Gym Triads those infamous three-note chord voicings that seem to pop up in just about every style of music. Split into three leveled sections Guitar Gym Triads throws you right into the fire with these close (or closed) voiced grips in their three configurations – root position, 1st inversion and 2nd inversion. Each level is split up into three workouts made up of 13 video segments starting with the overview where I'll give you a quick synopsis of what's in store. The following 12 videos are the three workouts further split up into three tempos - slow, medium, fast - that all have an accompanying introduction video where I explain the ins and outs on how to play the workout. Each workout is clearly laid out for you in Power Tab and will be readily available for you to download right from the TrueFire player. In the three actual workout videos I will play through the workout for the amount of time I prescribe in the overview and introduction videos so you always have me right there with you (in various views) as you sweat it all out here in Guitar Gym. At the heart of any drilling regimen including this one is precise timing. It not only keeps things orderly in all aspects of music, but it also serves as a guide and indicator as to how you're progressing. What's more, anyone who has been in the chops shed knows that one of the most important practices is to increase the tempo incrementally one-by-one. While the three parts of each workout will be presented in a slow-medium-fast fashion in regards to tempo, it's up to you to take the workout into your own shed and incrementally up the tempo while you practice, preparing you for the next tempo mark. Dig? Ready!? Let's do it to it!
Working Out in the Gym
Developing great chops is not about just mindlessly drilling an exercise over and over. There has to be a method to the madness.

First and foremost you need to create what I call in my Guitar Gym Sherpa classroom a Workout Schedule. My Workout Schedules carve out a set amount of time on set days of the week that slot out precisely what it is you're going to play. This helps big time and results are inspiring to say the least! And, this is not as much time as you might expect. If you're working on just one skill such as the one here in this course you need but 15-30 minutes a day depending on how many workouts you want to drill down. That said, you could set it up so you do a morning and evening session. The key is focused, disciplined practice time with a metronome. Just stick to your "WS" and let your fingers do the rest!

Speaking of focus and discipline, when starting to put together your own WS keep this mantra in mind: You absolutely must start out playing the workouts slow and gradually climb up the tempo ladder to the top tempo tier. No ifs, ands or lazy butts about it. Even if you think you can play the workout at the medium tempo, trust me, knock it down to the lowest tier and build. You may be masking playing anomalies you don't even know are there by jumping into passages at a medium to high tempo. Slowing down what you're playing will reveal what you may need to work on. Do it!

Not only does starting out at the lowest tempo tier ensure you'll get the most out of your practice time, but it will also help to prevent any injuries. Notice I mentioned 15-30 minute workout schedules, spaced out if you want to do more, and not marathon sessions. Playing in reasonable blocks of time is a much safer way to build your muscle memory as well as help you attain the ultimate skill in playing proficiently on the guitar: The art of relaxation. If you're relaxed and keeping your practice time calculated and spaced out, you'll be safely successful.
Speed Picking
The Level 1 Speed Picking Workouts are a set of open string-based drills that makes use of all six strings starting on the high E. The trick is as you play each open string with 16th notes you'll be dropping calculated hammer-on instances that descend down the neck. Watch for what I call "resting points". They're at the end of the second bar at the upbeat of 4 where you have the open string ring out for an 1/8 note breaking up the onslaught of 16ths giving your hands and head some time to rest and get back in the fight. Though not a big break it works out considering the simplicity of the workout. Also, the hammer-ons played throughout gives your picking hand a breather, too. While the first workout plays through a single A mixolydian scale the following two introduced multiple scale ideas!
Speed Picking: Level 1
Workout #1 is based in A mixolydian and will play the same pattern on all strings only making the necessary adjustments to stay within the scale. The aforementioned resting points are at the end of the second bar at the upbeat of 4 where you have the open string ring out for an 1/8 note breaking up the onslaught of 16ths. At the same time the hammer-ons played throughout gives your picking hand a breather, too. The hardest part of this workout could be making a clean transition from the 6th to 1st strings. Just drop your pick hand down as you dig into the high E and you'll keep any unwanted string noise to a minimum.
Speed Picking: Level 1
Workout #1 is based in A mixolydian and will play the same pattern on all strings only making the necessary adjustments to stay within the scale. The aforementioned resting points are at the end of the second bar at the upbeat of 4 where you have the open string ring out for an 1/8 note breaking up the onslaught of 16ths. At the same time the hammer-ons played throughout gives your picking hand a breather, too. The hardest part of this workout could be making a clean transition from the 6th to 1st strings. Just drop your pick hand down as you dig into the high E and you'll keep any unwanted string noise to a minimum.
Speed Picking: Level 1
Workout #1 is based in A mixolydian and will play the same pattern on all strings only making the necessary adjustments to stay within the scale. The aforementioned resting points are at the end of the second bar at the upbeat of 4 where you have the open string ring out for an 1/8 note breaking up the onslaught of 16ths. At the same time the hammer-ons played throughout gives your picking hand a breather, too. The hardest part of this workout could be making a clean transition from the 6th to 1st strings. Just drop your pick hand down as you dig into the high E and you'll keep any unwanted string noise to a minimum.
Speed Picking: Level 1
Workout #1 is based in A mixolydian and will play the same pattern on all strings only making the necessary adjustments to stay within the scale. The aforementioned resting points are at the end of the second bar at the upbeat of 4 where you have the open string ring out for an 1/8 note breaking up the onslaught of 16ths. At the same time the hammer-ons played throughout gives your picking hand a breather, too. The hardest part of this workout could be making a clean transition from the 6th to 1st strings. Just drop your pick hand down as you dig into the high E and you'll keep any unwanted string noise to a minimum.

+ 35 more lessons

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Reviews

20 results

vidakris

06/10/26

Great course

I suck at playing guitar for about six years now, speed picking is one of my weakest points. With lesson one, I felt my brain melting even at 60BPM. I listened to the advice and didn't advance until I felt confident, so I stayed with the Workout #1 for. . . months, probably. After changing to Workout #2, I noticed the insane difference that practice did, the learning curve was way faster, and this showed with other practice sessions as well. Much recommended!

jmsaz

Verified buyer

11/21/24

Speed picking workouts

Awesome! Chris Buono is the real deal. It's just what I needed to advance my technique. Thank you Chris!

Bill O.

01/29/24

Something you probably aren't aware of.

Your right hand picking technique in the videos changes when you play up to speed. When you are running through the 50 BPM exercises, your right hand is rocking back and forth with bouncing, which slows down everything. Repeating that will help get articulation and perhaps accuracy at slower speeds, but you need to just go full gas pedal with vertical rocking of the wrist only. This includes allowing mistakes and sloppiness in the beginning. Accuracy will eventually follow.

Felype L.

09/07/23

Speed is good but neat and clean... oh man!

I know, I know... we came here for that little extra speed. But it's insane how much this can clean up your act if you really spend your time and attention well. I've been playing for over 20 years, have a few degrees in music and guitar and still this course taught me some new ways to mute strings both with my left and my right hand. On another note: It's obvious to me that Chris Buono knows about strength training, progressive overload and all of that. He structured it in a way that there will be rests both for the right and the left hand and just enough variation to prevent excessive fatigue. On day one it might feel that the learning curve ramps a bit too steeply. Just don't worry too much and don't spend more daily time on this than you should. Specially in the first week.

Freakyrom

12/22/21

Improves picking hand endurance and speed

The principle of this workout is excellent: play simple lines with resting points to relax the right hand and gradually increase speed and endurance. I haven't finished the program yet but I have already improved my technique. Be aware that the focus of the training is on developing the speed of the aternate picking, but it does not address the problem of transition between strings. In all the exercises, the string changes are always done with a downstroke. If string transitions are your goal, check out the Alternate Picking workout in the same course series.

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