Speeds Kills by Michael Angelo Batio

There are various schools of thought on how to be a great guitarist. Some people think you need to play really smooth and relaxed sticking to some basic scales and blues roots. Ace Frehley and Mick Mars are pretty good examples of this type of guitar style and technique. Another school of guitar playing involves using various modes and exotic scales. It also involves using some smooth playing with blazing speed and phrasing. This is often seen most during solos. George Lynch and Michael Angelo Batio are the two best examples of this type of playing. Another thing to note about the style is that much of it can be influenced by European classical music like Beethoven and Mozart.

This review is about one of the best ways to increase your speed in playing the guitar. Even if you don't want to play like George Lynch this will help any guitarist play even better because of the exercises that are outlined in it. The video has fourteen exercises that are taught and it is broken up pretty well. There is tablature provided for each exercise taught as well as an explanation by Batio. In addition he also goes through each one of them at both slow and warp speed. The main thing that you need to pick up from the video is the value of alternate picking. There are various ways this is described. Some call it economy picking and others call it tremolo picking. The main point is that you want to alternate your picking with upstrokes and down strokes when you are playing. This will greatly increase your speed. You really need to watch the video to understand it. There are several excerpts on free websites that will show you some of the various things that will be gone over in the video. One thing I will tell anyone interested in this is that is does not have any songs taught in it. You can make a solo and a couple rhythms out of the exercises that are taught, but the main objective of the video is the get you to comfortable play faster. Batio does teach you to take it slow at first and then build up your speed over time.

I have personally found this video to have greatly increased my playing abilities. I can play much faster than I used to and also have a lot of more stretch in my hands for some of the songs I play that skip all over the fret board. I would highly recommend this video to anyone that is serious about their guitar playing.

Sources.

http://www.metalmethod.com/

http://www.angelo.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb5QaCfm7bg