What speed should I be aiming for

I've not done alot of practice on scales in the past but about 3 months ago I started on the major scale and minor pentatonic yet again. Although I was increasing my speed I was only increasing my mistakes. So a couple of weeks ago I turned the metronome back to 40bpm :oops: and practiced playing 2 notes each beat making sure I'm playing each note cleanly and landing the fingers in the right place. Its helped me get alot more control of my fingers and i'm working my way up on speed but making sure I keep the notes clean.
No need to be embarrassed about slowing down to get it right.
That's what pretty much everyone suggests you do. Get the accuracy first, then worry about speed.
I don't have any need to play really quickly but I wondered what speed if I'm playing 2 notes per beat I should be looking to work to before moving on to other scales.

There's no absolute answer to that.
Once you've been working on one scale for "a while" and you feel comfortable with it, then add another to your practice schedule. (again, starting slow and speeding up a bit at a time)
Don't forget about the scales you have already learned, though. Keep practicing them.

And don't get caught in the rut of just practicing scales "just 'cause they're good for you", find some way to apply them to real music.
Here's one place to start with that.

You were smart to drop the metronome speed. Practice at a slow speed until you can get all the notes. Then bump it up a few beats. I believe Noteboat (Tom Serb) has addressed this issue in smart fashion. Playing guitar is not a race. I believe the GN editor David Hodge addressed that. Seriously. You may play 40+ years. Why rush it?

As an aside, I did "rush it" myself, yet I learned that it's just best to go slow on all your playing. Don't practice mistakes. Practice slow progression.

... Don't practice mistakes...

Well put, dude!

Cat

I try to go too fast too, much of the time. I have to consciously slow myself down. I don't know what is is with wanting to go faster. When I do, that's when everything falls apart. I don't think there is enough time to anticipate and react to what's coming up next when we are new. We just haven't formed the necessary mind-body connections yet. When I slow down, I can think about what's coming up next and then I can do it right.

I agree with the above. I recently went back to my metronome and now start playing every chord progression and scale at 60, and it amazed me how difficult it was to keep the time, I always tried to rush it. Now I focus on the single notes, the duration, the melody - and even though progress is slow, I believe that this is the best way forward.

Well, if you are playing two notes on each beat at 60 BPM, that is playing eighth notes. That is the same as playing quarter notes at 120 BPM. When you get so you can play sixteenth notes at 120 BPM you start getting in the realm of sounding fast. And when you can get up to sixteenth notes at 160 BPM you are going to sound really fast.

Now, as others said, it's not a race. And you are very smart to slow down and work on precision. If you try to keep up with the metronome set too fast you are going to be sloppy. And the way you practice is the way you play.

Play a scale or riff at a comfortable speed where you can play without mistakes and with precision. Get it down. Now speed the metronome up maybe 4 BPM and practice the same scale or lick until you get it down at this speed. Continue in this manner until you start to make mistakes. When you get to this point, drop the metronome about 10 BPM and start again. This is the method taught by Troy Stentina in his book Speed Mechanics for Guitar.

Don't get discouraged, speed kinda creeps up on you. If you practice in this manner, in a few months you will pick up maybe 10-20 BPM speed. Just try to practice consistently for at least 30 minutes several times a week. It works, just stay at it, and try to be patient.

Well, if you are playing two notes on each beat at 60 BPM, that is playing eighth notes. That is the same as playing quarter notes at 120 BPM. When you get so you can play sixteenth notes at 120 BPM you start getting in the realm of sounding fast. And when you can get up to sixteenth notes at 160 BPM you are going to sound really fast.

Now, as others said, it's not a race. And you are very smart to slow down and work on precision. If you try to keep up with the metronome set too fast you are going to be sloppy. And the way you practice is the way you play.

Play a scale or riff at a comfortable speed where you can play without mistakes and with precision. Get it down. Now speed the metronome up maybe 4 BPM and practice the same scale or lick until you get it down at this speed. Continue in this manner until you start to make mistakes. When you get to this point, drop the metronome about 10 BPM and start again. This is the method taught by Troy Stentina in his book Speed Mechanics for Guitar.

Don't get discouraged, speed kinda creeps up on you. If you practice in this manner, in a few months you will pick up maybe 10-20 BPM speed. Just try to practice consistently for at least 30 minutes several times a week. It works, just stay at it, and try to be patient.

I think Wes speaks the truth. Here at GN we have many accomplished players who have played for decades. Reread his post 3x and you'll be good.

Great advice by all. A piece played smoothly with no mistakes will sound faster than one with a lot of glitches.

Keep practicing !

It's the same for every instrument. When practicing, play as fast as you can without making ANY mistakes. You don't want your fingers to learn the mistakes, you want them to learn the correct fingerings.

Speed will come in time, accuracy is more important when you are practicing.

Insights and incites by Notes

Thought from another newbie- I always seem to want to play as fast as I can...and when I'm really pushing it, it's like I'm always about to make a mistake, and it doesn't sound good; even if I don't make real "mistakes," it's like driving too fast- you feel nervy instead of confident, and the sound goes.

A lot of guys here are always saying "tone is in the hands." One of these days, I may figure out exactly what they mean by it. I can say for sure, though, that when I'm playing faster than I'm ready to, my tone is really crappy. When I go slow enough to do it right, tone improves.

One suggestion to stay motivated- don't just do scales. Solo, and learn songs that use the scales you know. Don't pick songs that you want to play faster than you can, or if you choose fast songs, write your own slow arrangement. (Sometimes these sound really cool.)

For pentatonic scales in real life, I'm working on "the Loner" by Gary Moore. It's not too fast. (well, the parts of it I can play aren't.) But I love the song, and it's really forcing me to play pretty accurately, and work on vibrato. Slowly, slowly, slowly. The notes aren't hard to play, but it's hard to make'em sound good. And sounding good is better than sounding fast and crappy.

Best,
Ande