Playing Fast Doesn't Mean You're Good

BY AMIRY FAHMI

As any beginner guitarist would want, is the ability to play as fast as they can on the guitar. However, the misconception about guitar playing is that, playing fast does not actually give you the title of a ‘guitar master’.

            Playing fast-guitar is every guitarist’s ideal goal as a player. The ability to shred up and down the fret board endlessly without leaving any room or space; the ability to play 16^th notes (4 notes in one beat, one bar has 4 beats) in 180 beats per minute tempo; or, the ability to impress girlfriends or colleagues is essentially why guitarists strive to play fast on the guitar.

            Even with such ability, it is truly amazing to observe the skill of someone pulling such fast finger shredding on the guitar. But does fast-guitar playing actually make you better than someone who does not play fast-guitar?

            My answer to that, is a big no. The reason for this is because fast guitar playing, in my opinion, has no musical sweetness in it. Fast guitar playing, is simply just mixing the major and minor pentatonic, Aeolian, Dorian and other scales together without giving room for musical appreciation.

            In a musical sense, when we play guitar or any other instrument, we are conversing to audiences in a whole new entire language. Each note we play is basically each word we say in life. Each note combine together creates a sentence. Each sentences have pauses, full stops, commas, exclamation and question mark, intonation, volume and speed rate. All of these are exactly what guitar solos should be like: telling a story with sentences.

            Guitarist such as Eric Clapton, BB King, Albert King, Freddie King, John Mayer, George Harrison, Robben Ford, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimmy Page, and many more well-known guitarists play roughly the same speed. They don’t enter the world of shredders, yet their name and art is considered as a masterpiece. Why is that then?

            Well, their solos and crafts all revolve around sweet melodies that many can accept and remember. We have to keep in mind, that not every human being comprehend and appreciate fast guitar solos due to the fact that they don’t play guitar themselves. But they can accept solos that sing melodiously. For example, Hotel California by The Eagles has a guitar solo at the end that every person, whether or not you play the guitar, can appreciate and enjoy.

From top to bottom: Eric Clapton,George Harrison & BB King

            I remember when I first wanted to play the guitar at the age of 12, I was so excited and also, very ambitious. The first thing that came into my mind, was to nail the guitar solo in Sweet Child O’ Mine by Guns n’ Roses without even learning the basics of guitar playing.

8 years from then, I am now still and always in the learning process of becoming a better guitar player. But what I learn the most is that, how fast we play (doesn’t have to be an instrument, it could be as simple as reading) does not matter. In fact, how efficient you practice in that time frame is much more significant than the speed you play.

            Overall, whatever we do in life, whether it may be reading, cleaning, working, writing, singing, and running, we should always remember to go slow. Going fast may cause us to lose little things that may benefit us in the future. Do not worry about people telling you that you should do this faster, and stop doing that because it’s slow. You go the speed that you want and feel comfortable with, and let people say what they want.

            Musically speaking, always keep in mind that in an ensemble or a band, the guitar is not the only instrument that shines. Everything else does. As a guitarist, always think about the music that your band wants to play and the music that the audience want to listen, not let your ego take over you and play what you want for you own sake of pleasure.