Legato Exercises That Actually Build Speed!
I love the sound of Legato, from the silky smooth alien lines of Alan Holdsworth and Brett Garsed, to the rock ferocity of Eddie Van Halen and Joe Satriani. Legato in the dictionary is meant to mean “to play smoothly” – meaning, the notes are connected, each note lasts right up to the next note and so on. As a technique on the Guitar, it’s a technique for producing a string of smooth sounding notes with Hammer ons and Pull offs. Some players opt to pick dynamically when changing strings to keep the “smooth” legato sound, or they ditch the pick entirely, like our very own Tom Qualye and use Hybrid Picking to create a smoother sound and get more control on string changes. I’ve said in other blogs and places at LickLibrary that the two foundational “driving techniques” of guitar are Picking & Legato. These are the core techniques that are universal across all genres that guitarists should be focusing on within their technique, however it manifests in their chosen styles of music. Speed is something that is worth working on as well, even if you’re not wanting to be a “shredder”, having some headroom for speed in your playing is going to help you sound smoother, its going to give you some places to go, making you sound smoother, more confident and have more control over your technique. Legato is a superb technique for building speed and stamina, the focus the on fretting hand hammer on and pull off motions helps develop finger co-ordination, strength and tone. There are some common challenges that come up with legato technique however, which include timing, volume and stamina which can all impede our ability to get any speed happening in the first place! In this blog I’m going to reflect on one of the exercises that I’ve come across in my 20+ years of playing that have helped me develop my Legato technique and build some speed.
The Thrill of the Trill
Trills are where we take 2 notes on one string and move back and forth between them. They make great ornamentations for notes, they sound great within licks and they can also serve as a great “gym” for our finger strength, stamina and independence.
Lets take a basic pattern, 1 finger per fret, maybe frets 5, 6, 7 and 8 on the G string. The index finger for the 5th fret, middle for the 6th, ring for the 7th and pinky for the 8th. We can change things up later on in terms of distance between notes to accommodate for different scales, arpeggios or finger combos.
A foundational exsersise from here is to trill between the 5th and 6th fret. So hold down the index on the 5th, hammer on with the middle finger to the 6th and “pull off” back to the 5th fret Index finger. Keep this going! Aim for even, in time notes that are clear. You can try this with a metronome, try keeping strong 8th notes for now “1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +”.
With this basic exercise laid out, you can try different combinations, for example frets 5 and 7 (1st and 3rd finger) trill, or perhaps a more challenging trill between frets 6 and 8 (2nd and 4th finger). I’ll write a list below of suggested fingerings to start with that you could try within any 4 fret span of your choosing.
1 + 2
1 + 3
1 + 4
2 + 3
2 + 4
3 + 4
I think if you can get these happening and keep them going evenly for 1 minute or so, you’re in a good place, providing they A: Sound clear and controlled, fairly even volumes and B: You feel fairly relaxed, your not bent double over the guitar and you’re still breathing!
Trill Tips - Timing & Accuracy
Timing is key with any technique, don’t just “hammer away”, focus on connection and releasing tension when/where possible. Timing and accuracy are key to building speed. Accuracy is enhanced by ensuring a good connection with the string/fret. So make sure you’re hammering on near the fret you’re on for clarity, make sure pull offs aren’t “dragging” the string down so it goes out of tune, as you practice it’ll become slightly more subtle, and you’ll find the sweet spot. Its not important to be robotically uniform in volume, but aiming for a fair consistency is a good goal.
Tone? Clean? High-Gain? Crunch!
No right or wrong with tone, however consider the following and follow what suits you and change when you feel its right. A total clean tone is very transient, so you’re really going to hear the volume differences, this can be helpful for developing power and timing, but if we over-compensate for the clean tone, we may end up impacting our stamina and potentially strain our hands if we are new to this technique.
On the other hand, a high gain sound is going to even out the notes nicely, but there is going to be much more noise, which means it’ll help us focus on keeping things quiet around the string we’re playing, and make sure our pull offs don’t sound scrappy or ruin the ‘flow’ of the sound. A crunch tone is a nice go between, most of the super fusion players, even when playing “clean” are really playing a rolled back “crunch” tone mixed with great legato control. The crunch tone is a nice middle ground between clean/high gain, it will also help you develop the “tone” of your legato.
So, what about Speed Sam?
Yes… I did promise something that actually builds speed, so here we go. We’re going to take that trill exercise and take it through two very good speed building practices. Firstly the “Speed Burst” and then the “Plateau Exhaustion” methods. Plus, the method that everyone knows but we don’t trust it!
Speed Burst
Speed Bursts are fairly simple. We could play a measure of 8th notes, then double it to 16th notes. This helps with our rhythmic control, which is a foundation of how fast we can play on the guitar, it also helps develop our rhythmic control, which is a key component to playing musically and in time with things!
The idea is to set a reasonable tempo so the slower sub-division, in this case 8th notes, feels comfortable and when we double the sub-division, we are just on the edge of our control. It’s a good idea to bring the overall tempo down at first and bring it up gradually as you feel.
The speed burst is a controlled way of developing speed and control. Each time you go to the double time sub-division, there may be mistakes, but you re-set when you go back to the half time sub-division. So each time there is an ironing out of the technique as we “check in” each time. This practice method is great for developing the core of any exercise or lick you may be working on.
Plateau Exhaustion
This is the guitar equivalent of the gym goers “1 rep max”. In order for our bodies and minds to be able to get past any plateau, we need to push beyond. Here we simply attempt to play past our perceived “top speed”. A warning: this should only be done once you’ve spent a good amount of time practicing slowly and doing the speed bursts. If we spend all of our time pushing beyond our top speed, we will eventually tire ourselves out, damage things and ultimately programme in bad habits that may slow us down ultimately. So use this only a fraction of the time of your other practice.
The benefit of this plateau method is that it shows your nervous system that you want to “grow” in a certain direction, in this case, push the speed of your fingers. It’ll be very messy at first, but if you do short attempts at this, you’ll find your fingers start to naturally correct themselves (providing you’ve done the slow practice and you’re doing short bursts of this method) You’ll find that you need to lighten up on the fretting hand, that there is a fine balance between tension and relaxation when playing fast.
Once you’ve done this a bit, go back to the slower methods. Spend time in the speed burst method and then go for a walk/do something else. The next day or week, go again, just push it slightly. You’ll find that speed starts to develop.
Natural Method
Guthrie Govan once said that “speed is a byproduct of accuracy” and ultimately, the more familiar with something we are, the more relaxed we are about it, the more we understand it. We can hear it, feel it, and see it. Speed then becomes natural, we will find certain ideas we’ve lived with for a while start to take on speed by themselves. These ideas then help us develop speed in other areas of our playing by a knock on effect. In my own experience, I’ve done a lot of practice and of course will always benefit from doing more. But if I had the chance to see where my “speed gains” have come from, I’d say 50% of it has come from slow, deliberate practice using the methods above and the other 50% has come from things digesting naturally. There are things that I’ve come to accept I can’t play fast and I may have to use other techniques to get a certain sequence of notes happening within my own technique. But that’s okay, I want to ultimately sound like me. Along the way, its helpful to have some universal approaches to help “take care of” my playing, rather than force it into abstraction. Trust and care is key here. As long as you’re playing, making it sound and feel good, speed will follow with a bit of careful practice and attention. Enjoy your playing!
Building legato speed isn't about forcing your fingers to move faster—it's about developing control, timing, relaxation, and consistency. By using simple trill exercises as a foundation and combining them with methods like Speed Bursts, Plateau Exhaustion, and focused slow practice, you can steadily increase both your speed and stamina without sacrificing musicality. Remember, the goal isn't just to play fast; it's to play clearly, confidently, and with great tone. Stay patient, trust the process, and you'll find that speed becomes a natural by-product of solid technique and regular practice.
By Sam Bell
Sam Bell has been playing guitar from the age of 4, since then he has played many styles from Funky Blues to screaming Metal/Fusion on 8 string guitar. A member of UK tech metal band ‘Mask of Judas’, he is also currently writing his own solo instrumental album. Sam’s playing and music have been praised by some of the world’s finest guitarists and musicians.