Quote:
Originally Posted by garageband  Scales and arpeggios. Patterns descending. Patterens ascending. Thirds. Fourths. Chromatics. Whole tone (nice for augmented chords). If you can't play it slow, you can't play it fast. Think about the note you'll play as far before you play it as you can: while you are playing others.
Don't worry about the pinky. You've got other fingers to worry about. DO NOT WRAP YOUR LEFT THUMB. You're not Jimmy Page or Jimi Hendrix. |
Right in the first paragraph. I do all those, for at least an hour a day if I can.
Sorry but you're wrong in the second. There is no hard and fast rule about the thumb and creative players can dodge both ways. For a lot of shredding, I keep my thumb on the back of the neck, but that can compromise your bending control and vibrato, so I freely move my thumb up and over to add different sounds to my repertoire.
Rule #1 of guitar playing: there are no rules.
As for the picking issue, I let my hand float above the strings on fast passages. Doing so improved my speed greatly.