How I actually use the speed trainer

This is the routine, not the theory. If you want the reasoning behind it, the three zones and why I built this cover that. What follows is what I actually do when I sit down with the app.

The whole thing is built on adding one variable at a time. Right hand, then duration, then left hand, then notes, then position shifts, then tempo. Six things, never two at once. Every time something falls apart, it is obvious which addition caused it, because only one thing changed.

Setup

Pick a subdivision and a phrase. I use eighth-note triplets against sextuplets, and a scale run up the G string starting on D.

Set a slow tempo. I start at 85 BPM, which feels almost insultingly slow and is exactly the point: at this stage the tempo is not the variable being trained.

Ratios mode, loop 1 on eighth-note triplets, loop 2 on sextuplets, 2 beats each.

Step 1 — One note, right hand only

Play a single note. Nothing else. The ratio does the work: two beats of triplets, then two beats of sextuplets, cycling slow to fast against a click that never moves.

What I am watching for, in order of importance:

• A relaxed wrist. Not a stiff one being told to move faster.
• Small pick strokes. The stroke that works at 200 BPM is much smaller than the one that feels natural at 85.
• A neutral pick slant. Pick centred rather than tilted, a double escape, leaving the string in both directions. That escape shrinks on its own as tempo rises, which is fine, but it starts neutral.

One note. One string. No fretting hand. That is the entire exercise, and it is worth more sessions than you would think.

Step 2 — Extend the duration

Still one note. Now grow the fast pass: 2 beats, then 4, then 8, adding clicks systematically.

This is the step people skip because it looks like nothing is happening. It is the one that actually builds endurance in the picking motion, and it is where tension shows up. Two beats of sextuplets is easy to fake with a burst of adrenaline. Eight is not.

Step 3 — Add the left hand

Now, and only now, the fretting hand joins. The job here is synchronisation, while the right hand stays exactly as relaxed as it was in step 1.

Aim for finger independence and economical movement, fingers travelling the minimum distance to the fret and no further.

If the left hand cramps, isolate it. Mute the strings with a fret wrap or the palm and just tap the notes. This removes the picking hand from the equation entirely so you are not trying to fix two things while tracking two things. Cognitive overload is a real failure mode here, and splitting the hands is the cure.

Step 4 — Three notes

Play the first three notes of the sequence. Two beats first, then build back up to eight.

Same standard as before: if the relaxation is gone, the three notes are not ready, regardless of whether they sound right.

Step 5 — Move up the scale

Drop back to 2 beats and start extending the run, including the position shift. Pointer starts at the 7th fret and shifts up to finish at the 9th.

Build 2 → 6 → 8 beats again. Keep extending until you are running the full 24-note sequence.

The shift is its own variable and deserves the same treatment as everything else: if it breaks when you add it, work the shift alone before putting it back in the run.

Step 6 — Only now, raise the tempo

Then start over from one note.

That sounds like wasted work and it is not. Higher speeds genuinely feel different: smaller pick strokes, smaller finger movements, a different amount of escape. You are not repeating the same routine faster, you are rebuilding the motion at a tempo where it is a different motion. It only takes a few minutes to walk back up through the steps once the pattern is familiar.

The diagnostic rule

Stay at the edge of your comfort zone throughout. Not inside it, not far past it.

When things fall apart after adding notes, the cause is almost always one of two things: tension somewhere in a hand, or a pick that is not gliding cleanly through the string. Find which, fix it, then add notes again. Do not add more material on top of a fault, because the material is not the problem and adding to it just buries the fault deeper.

How long this takes

Weeks or months, not minutes. I want to be honest about that, because the step list reads like a session plan and it is really a training arc.

String crossing comes only after single-string mastery. That is the last thing to add, not the first, and everything above is what makes it possible.