Guitar Tremolo Picking Exercises
In another lesson about tremolo we covered the general idea of this rapid-picking technique. Since tremolo picking offers the guitar player many interesting possibilities, we thought it would be a good idea to explore a few more in-depth exercises here.
Tremolo Patterns
Three-note pattern
This is similar to the patterns often found in classical guitar repertoire. There are four notes per group: the first is a bass note of the chord, and the next three are the tremolo.
Four-note pattern
Four-note patterns have a wider appeal. For instance, in an improvised guitar solo, you wouldn't really need to play the root note of each chord, and you may choose to play a pattern closer to this one.
Five-note patterns and more
When practicing tremolo, try using a metronome as a guide and practicing one tremolo for each number between 3 and 8. If the metronome is set to 80, first you would play 3 notes per beat, then 4 notes per beat, 5 notes per beat, and so on. This is a good way to push your picking speed. At 80BPM, playing an 8 note tremolo would be almost 11 notes per second, so don't beat yourself up if you need to slow the metronome more.
Key Results
- Practice the tremolo patterns until you can play a sixteenth note tremolo at most tempos.
- Tremolo will also help you to improve your general picking speed and coordination because it will remove "picking-hand speed" from the equation. If your picking speed is fast enough to do this, a lot of other things become easier, too.
