Cybernetic Shred

Skill Building Guitar Course from Stephanie Bradley

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  2. Guitar Lessons
  3. Skill Building

  4. Speed and Technique

There is a better player in all of us, but we often get trapped in unhealthy, tension-filled technique. Join Stephanie Bradley as we explore the most efficient ways to play faster, cleaner and healthier. We will dissect the requirements of speed, while studying the techniques of alternate, tremolo, sweep, and economy picking within a rock and lead context.

31 Lessons

Complete course with step-by-step lessons and practice examples.

Multi-Camera

Course filmed with 6 cameras for the perfect angles.

98% Appoval

317 of 321 of our members have given this their approval.

Tabs & Info

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Included

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Full Course Breakdown

We eliminate the physical and mental barriers which can limit your potential. Suited for the "still a beginner" or intermediate guitarists, Stephanie aims to show how healthy technique can unlock a new gear for your alternate, tremolo, sweep and economy picking techniques.

Begin the Course
1

Cybernetic Shred Introduction

JamPlay welcomes shredding extraordinaire, Stephanie Bradley! In this lesson series dedicated to speed picking, you'll start out with the basics and build speed through concepts and techniques like alternate, economy, sweep, tremolo picking and more. To get started you should have an understanding of the minor scale and basic knowledge of the fretboard layout.

2:24 Runtime

0.0 Difficulty

2

The Importance of Stretching and Resting

Before diving into your shred journey, it's important to make sure your physically up to it. Stephanie discusses the importance of stretching and resting your hands to avoid injury.

4:33 Runtime

0.5 Difficulty

3

Using a Metronome

Quality shredding is not only fast, it's accurate to rhythm as well. To be the best shredder on your block, use of a metronome during practice is a must.

14:10 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

4

Tapping Your Foot

You won't always have a metronome available to help you keep time. In this lesson, Stephanie discusses the importance of being one with the rhythm, by using your foot to keep on beat.

2:57 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

5

How to Warm Up

In lesson five, Stephanie has a discussion on warming up as well as some exercises to help you do so.

12:32 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

6

Holding Your Pick

To acquire the most speed and accuracy, everything has to be in harmony, including your pick. In lesson six, Stephanie discusses how to hold the pick for best speed and accuracy.

6:02 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

7

Pick Placement and Direction

Now that you know how to hold your pick, it's time to talk about placement at the strings and direction of pick travel.

6:28 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

8

Two Hand Muting

With the basics under your belt, it should already be a little easier to start bringing your speed up. You might find that the sound is muddy and ringing however. Now it's time to turn to the art of muting to help clean up the tone.

6:45 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

9

Accenting Notes

In this lesson, Stephanie discusses adding dynamic accent notes. At first you'll use this technique to help you know when a lick is repeating, eventually you'll use it dynamically in your shredding.

7:01 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

10

Muscle Memory

In lesson 10, Stephanie discusses using and building muscle memory to help with speed picking.

16:30 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

11

Thumb Placement

Equally as important as what your fingers are doing, proper placement of the thumb is also critical for successful speed picking.

6:40 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

12

Practicing with Repetitions

Now that you're starting to get some of the basic techniques down, it's important to talk about practicing properly. In lesson 12 Stephanie discusses using repetition to help build your speed quickly.

7:50 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

13

Syncing Your Hands

Two is better than one and that rings true for speed picking as well. You need your hands both working in sync to perform the most blazing speed picking patterns. Stephanie Bradley shows you how!

8:27 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

14

Finger Independence

Stephanie Revisits chromatic sequences, but changes them up to make sure your fingers don't find themselves always doing the same thing.

6:23 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

15

Practicing Slow to Play Fast

Stephanie is back again with some practice wisdom. This time she discusses starting out slow and building faster to learn intricate pieces of music.

9:10 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

16

Isolating Transitions

When building solos and speed picking between phrases, one of the more difficult aspects is the transition from phrase to phrase. Stephanie discusses her approach to this in lesson 16.

3:21 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

17

Increasing Speed

Previously, Stephanie discussed the use of a metronome. In lesson 17 she discusses how this can be used to practice at incremental speeds, from slow to fast to reach your speed picking goals.

3:36 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

18

Alternate Picking

In lesson 18 Stephanie takes a more exhaustive look at alternate picking which has been discussed in several previous lessons.

13:15 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

19

Tremolo Picking

As you're getting more comfortable with techniques that allow you to play faster, it's also important to look at techniques that help that speed shine. In lesson 19, Stephanie Bradley discusses tremolo picking.

6:11 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

20

Double Picking

In lesson 20, Stephanie again takes a look at a picking technique that can help add a bit of flare to your speed playing, via double picking.

7:11 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

21

Inside and Outside Picking

In this lesson Stephanie Bradley discusses alternate picking in two different forms from the inside of strings to the outside of strings, and when to use the different versions.

8:16 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

22

3 Note Per String Scales

In lesson 22, Stephanie breaks down the 3 note per string scale technique which is a great way to add scaler moves to your speed picking.

8:25 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

23

Economy Picking

It's time to get back to learning some technique in this series. In lesson 23, Stephanie discusses economy picking.

8:39 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

24

Sweep Picking

Now that you've got economy picking and alternate picking under your fingers, it's time to use the basis of those techniques to learn sweep picking.

10:31 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

25

Moving in Octaves

With some more technique under your fingers, Stephanie discusses keeping things dynamic by moving around the neck. She tackles this by moving in octaves.

7:31 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

26

Moving in Intervals

Like the last lesson, you'll be moving around the neck of the guitar. Instead of focusing on shapes an octave apart, you'll be moving in different interval spacing's.

7:40 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

27

String Skipping

In lesson 27, Stephanie discusses the art of string skipping and how to incorporate it into your speed picking.

7:13 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

28

Tasteful Speed Picking

Taking a break from exercises and technique, Stephanie discusses the use of these techniques in a tasteful manner. While adding speed and flair to your playing is cool, too much of it can make the listener tired and reaching for the skip button. Stephanie talks about where she likes to add speed picking to her own compositions.

3:25 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

29

Standing out with Vibrato

Speed is only one part of the total equation. To sound truly awesome, you need some more flair. Stephanie discusses how she does this with the use of vibrato.

3:29 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

30

Speed Picking in Solos

As an adjunct lesson to her discussion on tasteful speed picking, Stephanie discusses how she uses speed picking in her own solos.

2:49 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

31

Bonus Exercises

To wrap up her course on speed picking, Stephanie provides a couple added exercises to help you hone your skills.

7:09 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

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Stephanie Bradley

317
  • Nashaville, Tenesse
  • Playing since 2004
  • 31 lessons at JamPlay
Begin Course
Stephanie Bradley has been playing guitar for 15 years and teaching for almost as long. Since the moment she first picked up a guitar, she hasn’t put it down. Her instrument is truly a part of her, as you can see in the joy in her face every time she plays. Stephanie has become a regular exhibitor at NAMM and other trade shows for a wide variety of companies, and has also been a hired gun for multiple bands; performing shows all over the country and at major festivals like Bonnaroo. Stephanie has studied under some of the world’s top guitar players; Bruce Bouillet (Racer X), Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big/Racer X/Solo Artist), and Chris Broderick (Megadeth/Nevermore). And now, her skill and personality have made her an extremely sought after teacher herself, both online and in person. While still teaching over 30 students a week, she also worked at award-winning composer Hans Zimmer’s recording studio where she learned how to compose for television and major motion pictures. After her time at the studio, she went on to find her favorite niche, consulting clients in the music industry and making high-quality promotional guitar videos as well as other content for them. Stephanie has taken her guitar skills and mixed them with her digital media marketing skills to build not only her own guitar career, but help some of the biggest music companies and artists with theirs. Alongside her husband, their company’s clients include Gator Cases, Levy’s Leathers, Steve Vai, Billy Ray Cyrus, Kenny Rogers, ESP Guitars, Megadeth’s A Tout Le Monde Beer, and many more. Stephanie is currently working on an instrumental album.

Reviews & Feedback 98/100 with 321 ratings
wesedwards

16th's are super difficult. I'm good up to and thru 8th notes. Teacher is awesome.

mherlich

Agreed with all of the above

Marco4cone

Enjoyed lesson 20 on Double Picking! Opened up some new ideas for me.

beek420

ez on the eyes

RubenGarayar22

Maybe she's not the best player but what a world class teacher you have! Great!

Mgresham10

Good start. I'm getting back into playing regular and this was a perfect start.

jharbieh

I am lucky I clicked on this course. This is amazing!

strat2010

I have bee suffering from serious tendentious since Oct 2018. Golfers and tennis elbow in my left arm. Doing proper physio stretching and eccentric strength training is key to recovery and warming up. Thank-you for this reminder - hopefully

RalfRamone

I how this problem thank you

sartek7

She leaves no stone unturned in preparing me for what to expect in the class. I like that.

jala_mye

I've noticed my muscles getting sore sometimes from playing too much. I wondered if there was some stretches that could help.

Rattlecage

These exercises showed me that I can play fast, but I can't play fast well, and I have some bad habits that need breaking

Big Burt

So generius. Impressive playing. Very good progression lessons and good tricks to avoid injuries. Thank you so much. I'm your fan : o)

Draperthedog

very friendly. God teacher

LarsAhlstrom

Wow! I am so unskilled when it comes to plectrum picking, and I constantly do the wrong way, i.e. upstroke, downstroke , up down... This is wrong, and I know I have to wash away that technique totally, 180 degrees. Down, up, down up,.. And