Review Of Guitar Speed Trainer

I recently stumbled upon a program called Guitar Speed Trainer, or GST as the massively loyal and growing fans refer to it. The truth of the matter is that the internet is becoming over-run with every perspective imaginable. For instance, I recently was researching video hosting sites, much like youtube, and found that there are even more sites that offer programs to set up your very own video hosting site. Every time someone comes up with an idea, ten other peeps find a simple way to expand upon that one person's idea, and the process continues.

So you can only begin to imagine just how skeptical I am of all of this internet noise. I don't know why, but for some reason I decided to see what all the hype was about, regarding Guitar Speed Trainer. Sometime ago I picked up a copy and quickly realized that GST was not just some generic program. Once you start using it you soon understand that the curriculum in the program was designed by people who know what they're talking about.

Many of you have heard me make comments about how being the fastest guitarist in the world has never been my bag, but I admit that I picked up more speed than I had before, by using Guitar Speed Trainer.

What's really amazing about this program is that it shows you the secrets to true speed development. Things that other great guitarists just don't explain. The program contains a virtual guitar neck at the top that is fully programmable. So for instance, when I'm working on a new riff that's a little out of my league, I simply program in the notes on the neck using my mouse, and using the elaborate metronome that is provided with Guitar Speed Trainer, I work the riff up to its true potential.

The Course

The program runs in a linear fashion, but you can also jump around. If you are a beginning guitarist and are really striving to develop your shredding capabilities, I would highly suggest that you follow the course outline and let it guide you. The course actually gives you a strategy for realizing your guitar potential at a much, much faster rate. They don't leave anything out. The course gives you the mental knowledge that you need to excel at alternate picking, tapping, sweep picking and other methods.

I really appreciate the mental aspect of the course because it discusses key points of knowledge like "walking and running" and the "seven classes of fast playing".

It features a guitar tuner that is fully customizable, as it allows you to alter the pitch and the sound of the strings. For instance, you can change the tone of the strings by selecting Nylon, Steel, Mandolin, Ukulele, 12 string, Jazz guitar and at least 50 other instrument settings.

The Virtual Neck

An amazing guitar fretboard spans the top of the program, and with a simple click of the mouse, you can add notes to any fret that you want. This is very powerful for when you are watching an instructional video or see a tabbed exercise and want to program it for purposes of practice. I do this as well.


The Metronome

As I had mentioned before, a very sophisticated metronome is provided. Most metronomes only feature the recognizable "tick-tock" sound, but Guitar Speed Trainer's metronome has that and plays back the notes that are either provided to you, or that you programed in yourself. What's also nice is the fact that you can create a new exercise, name it, program the notes and then it will automatically save it for you. So in other words, you are constantly creating your own archive of practice and song material. I'd be curious to see what other users of Guitar Speed Trainer have in their own versions of the program.

The Drills

Guitar Speed Trainer provides you with the drills that you need to fully develop your fretting and picking hands. These drills are listed in 7 categories.

1. Single Speed Training
2. Double Speed Training
3. Chromatic Speed Training
4. Scale Speed Training
5. Pattern Speed Training
6. Random Speed Training
7. Burst Speed and Special Drills

The idea behind these drills is to go in order and work on one exercise at a time, in the order provided.


The Ideal Curve

I love this program because the people who developed Guitar Speed Trainer actually found a way to show beginning guitarists the "curve of practice". I have been talking about this approach for a while, and its really the biggest secret to speed development. You can drag and drop the line of little dots to alter the training curve, but I would seriously suggest that you leave it alone and only up the dots, maintaining that practice arc that they have setup for you.

The idea behind this is that you start at a comfortable speed, and the program will automatically bump the exercise up a notch until you reach a more challenging speed. After that it starts to slow the exercise down, until it reaches a mid-point in between the slowest and fastest setting. Most people make the mistake of only working up to a really fast speed, without coming back down, which helps build your muscle memory. This curve meter ranges from 40 bpm (beats per minute) to 300 bpm (as insane as it gets).

Very Helpful

In this article I can't even begin to touch upon all of the features that this program has. It has so much to offer that at times it could be daunting, except for that fact that Guitar Speed Trainer has a help box on the right side of the screen that guides you through what you need to know. This help box will automatically display information relating to the section of the program that you are on.


I've been using this program for a while now and never thought to mention it - sorry. I realized that this would be an excellent thing to recommend to any guitar enthusiast who reads GuitArticles. I think the best part about the program is the fact that it is really fun to use, and its always a blast to watch your playing grow. It really takes the mystery and the guess work out of it by just saying "do as we tell you and golden riffage will be bestowed upon you", and because of this I use it every day for practicing.

If you'd like more information on GST check out Guitar Speed Trainer.

Happy shredding!!