Customer Reviews

Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar

5 star:		(71)
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3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
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This is a great book. However, I should warn some, you'll need the appropriate mindset to get anything out of it. There's really not much theory in here. Basically it's ALL technique. Excercises designed to strengthen left and right hands separately and then putting them together.

At first when I got this book, I kind of skipped around to the stuff I liked practicing better -- more along the picking excersizes for right hand and cross picking. I found the first chapter on just left hand REALLY TEDIOUS. Basically it's lots hammers and pulls in various patterns all over the fretboard. The pull-offs I found especially tedious and difficult.

I got some speed up in the picking, but really discovered that I could only get so far because I was finding that feeling what my left hand fingers were doing was rather muddy. Then I went back to chapter 1 on the left hand and really concentrated on it.

First off, it hurts! Which is good! If you're hurting, you're using new muscles and you're beginning to teach those muscles how to move. I found that after only a few days I was getting a LOT better at hammering and pulling all over the neck and also the finger muscles were getting stronger. Also, synchronizatiion with fast picking was getting better. Now, I'm mostly concentrating on left hand technique and seeing a lot of improvement.

When I first mentioned the right mindset, what I meant was some of you may find practicing this stuff BORING. You're not going to be ripping melodic solos with these excersizes, the concentration is on TECHNIQUE. If you can't play some of this simple stuff fast amd clean, how can you expect to play a real solo fast and clean? Your mindset has to be to make the exercises interesting so you can get over the hump. Once you start seeing improvement, it will naturallty become more interesting. What helps a lot is a metronome. You can make it kind of a game with yourself too see how fast you can set the tempo and still play clean, and then go back and forth between slow and fast.

I also have Paul Hanson's "Shred Guitar". That book is more along the lines of presenting a chord progression and then analysizing the progression a bit and then covering a bunch of licks for each progression. You'll get more immediate soloing out of that book, but IMO, in terms of basic mechanics for speed, Stetina'ws book is much better. Getting both books wouldn't be a bad idea.

For what it's worth, I've been playing guitar over about 30 years although I went through several years without picking up my guitar at all. I played a lot my first 10 or so years, but really stopped progressing after a while. I just wanted to play stuff, not practice. I can tell you from experience, if you don't have a good practice methodology, you'll never get better. I picked up the guitar again about a year ago and now concentrate mostly on HOW I play, not WHAT. It makes a real difference. Also, I don't much like heavy metal. Both this and "Shred" focus on metal, but don't let that deter you from buying these books as there's plenty in here that is universally applicable.

First, Let me state that I'm primarily a Jazz musician but studied
classical guitar and composition for my bachelors. I respect all kinds of music, and metal guitarists can have great technique, so I thought I'd give this book a try to give my pick playing a shot in the arm. It is a very GOOD method for those willing to put in the time. Most of the musical samples are technical, not musical in nature so you really have to stick with it and understand it has a purpose beyond its sound. But I also found that most there aren't any "new" approaches to technique here- it just cleans up economy picking, sweep picking, hammer-ons and pull-offs.
So if you know how to practice those things on your own, have patience and can write out or create your own exercises, the book isn't necessary.
For convience, especially rock/metal lead players, it is a Great book. For guitarists in general trying to clean up technique, decide if you are motivated enough to do this stuff on your own. if you are, save your money. Troy, however, is a great guitar teacher, the book is clear and well written.

This book is about fundamentally improving your playing through hard work. This is not about "impress your friends in three days". It is not even about "impress your friends in 100 days". This book is about hard work and analyzing your lead playing.

For example this book provides more than ten different exercises for improving alternate picking while shifting strings. There are an even greater number of exercises devoted to things like
- Helping your little finger
- Using Hammer ons and pull offs to improve speed
- Playing sequences of notes in bursts
There are quite a few more concepts in the 196 exercises this book has.

A lot of the practice licks are in the Aeolian mode - which is great for metal players. I imagine you could just change the mode to suit the style you like, and still benefit from the exercises. However this will be a problem for people working on styles like the Blues.

Other disadvantages:
- I do wish troy stetina had included some licks from players like Steve Ray Vaughan or Mike Bloomfield to round out the vocabulary you gain through practice. Randy Rhoads seems to be Troy's favorite player.
- Part 3 of the book - which is the section really devoted to soloing versus practicing, could have used some more depth.
- This book absolutely skips over the importance of chords in playing lead.

You really have to spend hundreds or thousands of hours on practice to gain much from this book. Though beginner and beginner-intermediate players could benefit from this book, it may be an inefficient use of your time. This book should only be used to strengthen one aspect of your playing - and should not be used as you sole guitar practice book. That being said - this is definitely a great book by a teacher who really knows his stuff.

My friend recommended that I try this book, so I went with him. 2 months after buying it, I cant beleive how much i have started to improve(technique wise...dont get this book if you want to learn theory)! Though most of the techniques are mainly geared towards metal/heavy rock guitar, it certainly helps with any style(as shredding is quite technical and fast paced). Ive noticed much more finger independence, speed and accuarcy on the left hand, better trem and alternate picking with the right, and better overal coordination(which = cleaner, faster lead runs) between the two. Ive only develed deeply into a few of the exercises, so this book will keep me busy for quite a long time. Everything from simple, chromatic legato exercises all the way to crazy six string sweeps. Some great song examples too....really weird version of the flight of the bumble bee. The CD is just as good as the book, and the two paired together are a great learning aid. In short...buy this book if you want to improve your chops and dont know what to do.

After dog-paddling around for 3 months in the sea of so-so small town guitarists, I finally decided to get up and do something about it. After practicing out of it every day, this book increased my techinque exponentially. It's been a year now, and I still play this book every practice session I have. It goes over every facet of playing speedy guitar, seperating the hands first, then putting them together. The good news is, after you've got Hammett down in the first "mechanical" section, you can work on becoming the next Hetfield with the "rhythmical" section, and you'll already have the right hand speed to play songs like Battery and Damage Inc.!I honestly can't say enough good things about it, it's a breadcrumb trail through the forest of half-players who think they're good because they can play "Smells Like Teen Spirit". A great pick and a must have for current dog-paddlers with the desire to become great.

If you are thinking of learning how to play lead guitar or need to increase the speed of your playing this book is for you. It contains exercises that are built on each other throughout the book and if you practice with this daily after a month you will see results. It does exactly as it says in the beggining it shows you how you need to practice to become the best you can be.
Troy is in my opinion one of the best guitar instructors around.

This book changed my guitar-playing life.
Unlike most other guitar books, this one isn't about licks or how to play your favourite songs.
The book goes deeper than that -- to the fundamental elements of playing.
Speed Mechanics is definitely geared for the metal player, but the skills learned, such as good alternate picking, are applicable to ANY style of music. I've found my blues playing to be lightyears better than it was before I started.
Troy has figured out the most important elements of good lead guitar playing, and created exercises that develop those skills.
One warning though -- this is probably not for the beginning player. I'd recommend it for someone who has the basics already under control, but might be frustrated with their lead playing.
The book really depends on the use of a metronome, and it requires a lot of patience. I've realized that great skills come from hours and hours of practice. If you are willing to put in the time, this book is for you.

I began playing the guitar in 1969. My preference was hard rock, and at 45 years old, it still is. I have looked at (and purchased) many hundreds of dollars worth of instructional books, audio tapes, CD's and videos. This is the finest heavy metal instructional book and CD I have found yet. Mr. Stetina takes a wonderfully comprehensive approach to presenting some of the hottest techniques I have yet to see. I would be happy to pay twice the price for this information. It would be worth every penny.

Troy seems to be uniquely qualified to teach you how to pick fast(ie:extensive study of Blackmore & Rhoads) and this book delivers exactly what it states on the cover. He knows how to do it and more importantly he knows how to convey to you how to do it. 'Flight of the Bumblebee' was recorded in the neighborhood of a quater note equals 120 bpm in 2/4 time and it's all 16th notes,(except for the 3 note 32nd note rake in measure 104), so it's fast ! Troy has made a difficult piece of classical music accessible to the average guitarist. If you want to play faster and cleaner, you've happened upon a proven winner here. The only negatives to me are minor but if you are going to describe riffs as modal(mixolydian,phrygian, etc,), you should include a brief primer on modes. He probably didn't want to get too bogged down in theoretical discussions. [Sidebar] His little scale primer book is pretty good too. It has alot of relevant info crammed into a short space. Even better would be a large spiral bound book with nice big diagrams for each mode of each commonly used scale in each key so you could spend an honest half hour to hour per day cycling each one. But having said that, the positives far outweigh the negatives. As far as the CD is concerned, many exercises can be on a single track, which is again incovenient but only minorly so(you can pause or fast forward). This is a book mostly about technique but he also wants to impart an aesthetic element which I applaud. It really humanizes the book ! I found it worth the price.

Inspirational music manual, full of useful examples and building blocks for personal, creative soloing. The last part of the book dealt with ear development if you can believe that. I was impressed with the structure of sweep arpeggios and tips for developing faster yet cleaner picking technique. You don't have to be a headbanging metalist to get into the book, although nearly all the examples are fast and flashy. The technique he teaches is applicable to other styles as well. Highly recommended.