I Couldn't Play FAST Until I Learned This Benson Idea

[@louismaiden8360]

These videos that continuously build on something simple like the 4 note lick, but with different applications, are fantastic. Just discovered the channel a week ago and love it man

[@ChaseMaddox]

Glad you're enjoying them and found the channel! Definitely check out my most popular videos here.

[@Stephenloizos]

Excellent Chase-I've learned a lot this week working from this video....

[@ChaseMaddox]

Great! Glad to hear that 👍

[@HVL1977]

Just THANK YOU VERY MUCH !!!!

[@ChaseMaddox]

You’re very welcome!

[@danielmasih7731]

Thank you for this. It was great.

[@ChaseMaddox]

Glad you enjoyed it! 🙏

[@b.canpolat2182]

Great lesson Chase, thank you very much! I will try to use these ideas on my fretless guitar, wish me luck:)

[@ChaseMaddox]

Good luck! Let us know how it goes 👍

[@b.canpolat2182]

@@ChaseMaddox Thank you, I'll let you guys know:)

[@luckyl4746]

Awesome lesson

[@ChaseMaddox]

Thank you 🙏

[@JazzStrat781]

Wonderful video as always Chase 👍🎸 thanks man so much for everything that you do here, it's much appreciated!!

[@ChaseMaddox]

I appreciate it, Doug! Thanks for watching.

[@abcrx32j]

I've seen multiple videos on melodic cells by sax players and this is somewhat the same, plus the picking patern. It's funny how different instruments get to the same conclusion. Also, the legato escape has been a game changer for me, to access more lines, make it sound more fluid, without getting stuck, even tho i might use it for even notes too

[@ChaseMaddox]

Good points! A lot of the 4 note melodic cells (like 1-2-3-5) can work for this approach. Some just need to be translated to the right position on guitar so you don't split the notes up on too many strings.

[@zwiletti]

Great lesson! Thanks a lot. The first shape works great for me but I get trapped below the G string in the second shape (coming in at 2:23) after the single downstroke on the G string at the first C. How do you avoid getting trapped there and return back to the D string? And how do you practice problematic passages like that?

[@ChaseMaddox]

Thanks for watching! A couple of thoughts...first, I'd definitely recommend attending the live workshop tomorrow (or catching the recording) because I can demonstrate exactly how to avoid getting trapped. The general idea is you can turn your wrist back slightly so your down pick doesn't get stuck on the next string. You practice them the same way you would for anything, you have to break it down into the component parts, do it slowly, isolate which part is giving you a problem, and spend time on fixing that specific issue.

[@zwiletti]

@@ChaseMaddox Thanks for your help. I'll definitely try and catch the workshop.

[@hermanthompson8190]

Great Great lesson

[@ChaseMaddox]

Thank you!

[@johnculjak1798]

Secrets of the universe revealed! Great Stuff!

[@ChaseMaddox]

Haha thanks John! 🙏

[@jhall6926]

Yeah man good logic good player like how you see the fretboard....i've learned a bit alteady...❤

[@ChaseMaddox]

Glad to hear that!

[@TimNelson]

Smashing!

[@ChaseMaddox]

Thanks Tim!

[@b0gzie]

Good video, just gotta chime in to say that this stuff will be unplayable as fingered at tempo with certain picking grips/motions. You have to already have similar mechanics to George (or Yngwie, Eric J, or a Gypsy jazzer) for this stuff to work at bop tempo otherwise you will fall flat on your face every time you need to change strings. Anyone who’s struggling with this should check out Troy Grady’s stuff. He’s distilled the mechanics and anatomy of fast picking literally down to a science. There’s enough for free on KZbin for you to figure out which style of picking you are naturally inclined towards and refine what you already are predisposed to. Chances are you don’t have to start from scratch with your technique, but can make slight adjustments to refine what’s there and open up other types of lines. There’s no one style that can do everything equally well, but if you think of them like different dialects of a language then you can start to learn the ones that come less natural and over time get more fluent with changing between them.

[@ChaseMaddox]

Totally agree 👍 Thanks for watching 🙏

[@CliffieVanR]

I'm practicing the first Dm arp + 4-note linear lick and I'm finding my swept arpeggio starts to come undone around 210bpm or so. Hopefully practice will improve this some, but I'm curious what speed you're playing this at Chase? It sounds way faster.

[@ChaseMaddox]

I think in this I'm doing it around 280BPM. I can do it at 300BPM, but it felt too fast to be helpful to the viewer. I tried to have some balance between showing myself playing it fast and having it be understandable as an example.

[@CliffieVanR]

@@ChaseMaddox Makes sense - thanks! I realised it's the slur into the triplet that was tripping me up. For now I'm trying the line picking the triplet from the first beat and I reached 250bpm pretty consistently last night. I feel like I can go faster with more practice, and then go back and address that slur issue. Many thanks for the great videos!

[@kevinmaddox]

🔥🔥🔥

[@ChaseMaddox]

Yessir!

[@tonyphucthinh]

i’m here for the thumbnail only

[@ChaseMaddox]

🤌🤌🤌

[@rodericksibelius8472]

Learn from everybody, Classical Guitarists, Flamenco Guitarists, John Mclaughlin, Al Di Meola. Practice, Practice, Practice, with joyful passion...

[@Earthstein]

Thank you Chase. I don't have to kill myself, just yet.

[@ChaseMaddox]

My pleasure, don't do that!

[@andersrinnan5479]

great lesson, but you don't play what's written at 6,40 which is a bit confusing

[@ChaseMaddox]

I am playing what's written at 6:40. Not sure what you're talking about?

[@andersrinnan5479]

@@ChaseMaddox last measure around 6:40 you play c but you've written b-flat, also in the tab

[@vecernicek2]

Oh no, another Benson video without the consent of the General Secretary for all things Benson 😀 On a more serious note, it's going to sounds stupid, but what helped me play fast(er) tempos was just plain and simple forcing myself to play something over fast backing tracks. Mostly rhythm changes. Felt completely stupid the first 100 times or so, but then, gradually, I've become able to do something. I did that after seeing a masterclass with Tal Farlow who basically said that that's the way he learned to play fast when he started out with Red Norvo, who loved crazy tempos. Sometimes we're just overthinking it, folks.

[@ChaseMaddox]

I think this agrees with my point about the mental part being important for playing fast. You have to actually work on ‘fast’ lines because in many ways they are different ideas than your ‘slow’ ideas.

[@vecernicek2]

@@ChaseMaddox Yes! I believe having a mental block or inability to even imagine yourself playing fast or how it would sound is a big part of the issues on the execution side. I think you nailed it.

[@thecodshow5]

victrola record player is CRIMINAL, nice vid tho lol

[@ChaseMaddox]

It was a gift lol

[@shinyribs2178]

Bro, I appreciate the effort and time spent to put out this helpful video. But I can't watch it. The way the camera zooms in and out every other word legit made me the dizzy. Your offering quality information and advice. You don't editing gimmicks to make your video pop.

[@ChaseMaddox]

Thanks for the feedback! On the analytics, it's pretty clear that those 'editing gimmicks' improve the audience watch time at the beginning of the video, which KZbin takes into account for distributing the video to more people. I personally wish that wasn't the case, but people do watch more if there's more frequent visual stimulation. That being said, I think the fast captions are too much.

[@WickBeavers]

If this works? Kisses (and you don’t want that!)

[@ChaseMaddox]

It worked for me!