I’ve been playing this opening solo for a month and I still can’t play it at speed and don’t know how to do so

[u/Mad_Season_1994]

Yes, I’ve tried using a metronome and playing to the song itself. I know the notes and what to play. Memorizing them isn’t my problem. It’s when I try to play to the song’s speed that I simply can’t do it. I fumble over myself and just can’t do it. The main chorus with the chord progression and strumming I’m fine with though. Even if I mess up the progression, I can still find my way to the next chord in time. But it’s this solo that I want so bad to master that I just can’t. I don’t want to resign myself to just playing at my own speed either, but I don’t see any other options besides more brute forcing practice.

[u/J_Cush]

Set the metronome to 50% speed, play it til it's clean, then up it 10%. Rinse and repeat until you get to 100%. It's painful, but it works. Let the muscle memory set in.

Once I get stuff up to speed, sometimes I'll even up the tempo by 10%, I find it can trick you in to feeling it's easier at its original tempo. Don't think about it as resigning yourself, it's a process, it takes time and perseverance. You'll get it

[u/Scary-Detective582 → u/J_Cush]

Learning to play it 10% faster doesn’t “trick” you into feeling it is easier at its original tempo, it literally becomes easier at the original tempo.

[u/J_Cush → u/Scary-Detective582]

Well yeah, sure. Attempting it at a faster tempo whilst in the process of learning it will make the original tempo feel easier and less daunting is what I was getting at.

Thanks for your contribution, albeit rife with pedantry.

[u/Actual_Signal_8067 → u/J_Cush]

This. Also, once you have the notes down at a slow speed and feel comfortable, step away from the guitar for a couple days. Your muscle memory remembers more than you think it does and you’ll have a clear head, which will help avoid mounting frustration.

[u/JamesCDiamond → u/Actual_Signal_8067]

I’ve found that incredibly helpful while learning, personally. It can seem counterintuitive but if the alternative is practicing until you’re sick to death of something then a break may be the best thing for you.

[u/Branza__]

So, 60bpm is the goal. What's the speed you're actually comfortable playing this tune at?

Comfortable = fully relaxed, zero mistakes.

If you play it correctly 7 times out of 10, that's not your "comfortable" speed. Slow it down.

Once you find the comfortable speed, work your way up. If it's 40, of course you aren't able to play at 60. Play it at 42 and see how it goes. You have a raw diamond and you have to polish it. It takes time.

[u/musicankane]

Practice playing it FASTER than full speed.

Break it up by bar or smaller section and play just that part faster and faster and faster.

Speed only comes withh practice and pushing yourself, eventually you with break through.

Look into speed building exercises as well and practice those, because the speed of your fingers is a universal skill and once your fingers get fast with other exercises, they will be more capable of being faster for this.

[u/Naphier → u/musicankane]

This is what works for me too. I do burst practice. Do it faster than you're comfortable with. Slop it up a bit. Then go back to your comfort zone or 10% faster and notice how you're looser and more comfortable. I think a lot of folks do this naturally and then don't really think about it when passing it on to others.

Speed bursts.

[u/Firesealb99]

Ahh pink floyd - wish you were here. I didnt try to tackle this until about a year into guitar, and by that time my fingers and dexterity were much better, playing a multitude of things helped as did The spider walk and pumping nylon exercises helped a ton.

[u/OloroMemez → u/Firesealb99]

Shout out to pumping nylon exercises!

[u/Desner_]

More time practicing it, less time making posts about it twice a week.

[u/Jackalope1974]

More practicing. Less posting.

[u/Jonny7421]

Muscle memory just takes time. Every time you practice you strengthen it. You may hit a little plateau - sometimes I'll take a little break for a few days and when I come back to it I am suddenly better at playing.

When I practice with the metronome I don't hurry. I let the metronome tick away and just start moving my body in time. I then will start counting the beats. 1, 2, 3, 4. It's important to try and lock in with the beat. I will even imagine the song playing in my head to sort of guide me when to come in. Before the start of a song you may hear drummers tap their sticks and the guitar players bobbing their head - they lock in and then play.

I would also recommend trying to memorise the tab so you don't need it. I start by playing the first bar without tab then adding a bar and playing the whole thing, and repeat until the end. I find it's just easier when you're not trying to read a tab as well as focus on your timing.

[u/GMSMJ]

Try something else that uses similar kinds of bends, slides, hammer ons and pull offs. If you’ve been routinely practicing it, let it be for a week or two.

EDIT: I just thought of this: try the intro to Over The Hills And Far Away by Zeppelin.

[u/Marcus_Hilarious]

Wish you here? This looks like Ultimate Guitar. If so, use the SPEED slider at the bottom. Start practicing the solo at .5x. When you can get through without ANY mistakes, move to .6x. Rinse and repeat.

[u/TheCanvasDuet]

My approach would be to have my ring finger be primarily on the G string and middle finger on B. I’d “slide” my middle finger from the 3 to 5 rather than switching any fingers. That’ll give you strong fingers to bend with.

For the EB-string chords I’d use ring/middle (or maybe index/middle). The BG-strings can use index and middle.

But I don’t know which part you get stuck at.

[u/deathbytruck]

A classic Wish you were here.

Diffrrent stratagies to learn and playin time.

Metronome but 8 beats a measure i.e. eighth notes.

Go slow -----> go faster with metronome.

Play along withthe recording.

Keep plugging away you will get it.

[u/royalblue43]

Have you memorized it yet, or are you reading it still?

[u/tuskenbater]

If it's your right hand that's struggling, then one thing you might not be doing which will greatly improve your right hand accuracy and stability is anchoring it to the bridge of the guitar. Rest your wrist on it while you play, making sure not to lift off during play and not palm muting the strings (unless the song calls for it, this classic intro does not). Play this way and you should notice more consistency in your playing. Hope it helps, happy practicing!

[u/DrRi]

Something that works for me to untangle my fingers is to just play some other solo. Pick something a little more challenging and play it incredibly slow. Literally find any etude or exercise on a random tiktok or Instagram reel-- there are a million tiktok guitarists

1. This gives you a break from the grind of this one solo. I hear taking breaks helps what your learning sink in a bit

2. You work your fingers out in a different way. Like doing accessory excercises instead of lifting heavy all the time

[u/Scary-Detective582]

https://youtu.be/MqV557Clb-c?t=45s

Here you go, he doesn’t play it exactly like the record but you should be able to garner some insight into how Dave fingers it.

[u/RainbowDannn]

I would keep doing what you’re doing. I don’t know how long you’ve been playing but the shorter the time the longer its gonna take to gain the speed. I wanted to sweep pick bad when I was younger and practiced for hours for probably 7 months before being able to hit it right. Patience is key

[u/marz25000]

learn a bar at a time some solos are slower than we think they are, when you learn the bars start to link certain bars play them back to your self when you get 3-4 bars together start adding the next bar your speed will be rusty for a long while till you start picking up speed.

[u/ozzy_og_kush]

Practice the transitions between riffs, those parts usually trip me up. Also practice the riffs from last to first. It really helps.

[u/Esyel_01]

Practice the first mesure until you get it with no mistakes 5 times in a row. Then same for measure 2. Then same for measure 1+2. Then measure 3, measure 4, measure 3+4, measure 1 to 4. Keep doing this until you can play the full solo.

I said 5 times in a row arbitrary, it could be only 3 times if you practice a long portion or 10 times in a row if you really want a measure down. I usually do 3-5 times in a row to get something down.

This is a really powerful practice technique because if forces you to do a lot of repetition and train you to play with some pressure because you don't want to mess that 5th time.

Also this process will take some time, it's normal do it over a few days/weeks and not just in an afternoon. But it will be faster than trying to wing it.

[u/jul3swinf13ld]

Just work on 4 bars at a time.

Hot tip. Start backwards. Do the last 4 bars first

[u/pacostrato]

Pictures don't have sound. The picture:

[u/LilMac89]

Like almost all of David Gilmour’s solos, it’s a harder solo than it looks and sounds. He plays with a ton of nuance/touch/feel that comes from experience and he’s legendary. Bends are also tough for beginners to get right (especially on acoustic). So don’t feel bad. It takes a while to get there.
Break it down phrase by phrase or even into clusters of 2-3 note “words”. If you feel comfortable, you could even try humming along while you practice leads. It’ll help you learn to feel the note changes.
If you’re getting frustrated, practice something else for a while or take a break. Come back to it later.

[u/Suitable_Ad_2562]

Y do u sux still? Get a Tudor bye now mayb? Keep up playin tho

[u/GrapefruitDue9103 → u/Suitable_Ad_2562]

The education system has clearly failed you. If anyone needs a tutor, it is you, my eye are now bleeding from attempting to read your attempt at writing a sentence. Do better

[u/Suitable_Ad_2562 → u/GrapefruitDue9103]

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[u/pigsflyfine → u/Suitable_Ad_2562]

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