8 guitar exercises to improve speed, master scales, and improvise more musically

Hello guys, this is Edina, UK-based guitarist and educator. Today I’m going to teach you a few exercises that will help you improvise more freely, musically on Spanish Guitar. Remember you can also download the Guitar Pro files attached to this article to practice along and save them to keep improving your skills. Now without further ado, let’s get on with the lesson:

When I was younger and just starting out on guitar, I was always mesmerized by people who seemed completely free on their instrument. One of my most memorable early experiences was when I was playing guitar somewhere and a random person joined me, effortlessly playing beautiful solos on the spot.

I remember wondering: How can they do that so easily and sound so musical at the same time? How do they know what notes to play to sound good, even though they’ve never played with me before?

Early in my guitar journey, I was lucky enough to meet a jazz guitarist who helped me understand the major scale and showed me how to practice it in a way that sounded musical. That opened the door to playing over any chord progression with more confidence and creativity.

So, what was the secret of those guitarists who joined me and played solos over my chord progressions? What did they need to do to achieve a good sound while improvising?

To actually sound good, you need to be able to play at a certain speed and practice specific exercises.

The first two exercises below will help you increase your speed and strengthen your technique. After that, we’ll look at six more exercises based on one of the major scale positions. These will not only improve your phrasing and creativity but also help you memorize scale patterns more effectively.

How fast should you play to sound great when soloing?

To sound truly dynamic and expressive during improvisation, it’s important to be able to speed up, slow down, and incorporate a variety of rhythms. Some of the best guitarists in the world captivate their audiences not just with melody, but with the incredible speed and control they display in their solos.

The key to developing this level of control is using a metronome. It helps you track your progress, build speed gradually, and develop rock-solid technique. In this section, you’ll learn two excellent speed-building exercises: the three notes per beat and the four notes per beat.

Nearly every guitarist I’ve played with (especially before live gigs) relied on these exercises. The three-notes-per-beat drill, in particular, was a go-to warm-up for building clean, fast technique that translates into confident solos.

Before diving into the exercises, it’s important to focus on reducing unnecessary movement. This is essential for increasing speed and efficiency:

• Right-hand movement: Minimize motion. If you play with your fingers, use alternate picking (alternating between your index and middle finger) and keep movements small. If you use a pick/plectrum, also use alternate picking—alternate the direction of the pick with each stroke.
• Left-hand movement: Only move your fingers when absolutely necessary. For example, when playing consecutive notes on the same string, don’t lift your fingers unless needed. Keep them in position to reduce wasted motion.
• Hand positioning: Stay stretched and hover close to the frets you’ll be playing. Avoid pulling your fingers back unnecessarily, as this adds extra, inefficient movement.

Speed goals

• Aim for a minimum of 130 BPM when playing three notes per beat.
• For the four notes per beat exercise, aim for at least 100 BPM.

Some advanced players can push these exercises well beyond that, reaching speeds of 200 BPM and up with the three-notes-per-beat drill.

Three notes per beat speed training exercise

This exercise is excellent for practicing alternate picking and building speed. Since three notes are played per string, changing strings is forced in an alternating pattern.

• With a pick/plectrum, the picking alternates between downstrokes and upstrokes as you move across the strings.
• With fingerpicking, the strokes alternate between the index and middle fingers.

Four notes per beat speed training exercise

This exercise is also beneficial because it engages all four fingers, even though string changes are executed using the same finger (if fingerpicking) or the same side of the pick (if using a plectrum).

Now, let’s look at the six musical exercises to master scale positions

The exercises here will be on the C major scale, also called C Ionian. The names of all the modes originate from ancient Greek terminology, and C Ionian is what most people commonly refer to as C major.

When you start learning the scales, it’s best to start with the key of C, because this scale does not have any sharp or flats. It consists of seven notes: C, D, E, F, G, A and B.

The C note is on the eighth fret of the low E string, so that’s where we will start the exercises.

Exercise 1. C Ionian Up and Down

Set the metronome to 60 bpm and just go on the scale up and down playing two notes per beat.

Exercise 2. C Ionian Beat Switching

In this exercise, the exact same sequence is played, but the pattern alternates between two notes, three notes, and four notes per beat at a time. This drill is incredibly effective for building rhythmic control and flexibility. To truly sound musical during improvisation, it’s not just about hitting the right notes—it’s about how you play them. By practicing rhythmic variation, you’ll learn to speed up or slow down intentionally, giving your solos more emotional expression and dynamic range.

Exercise 3. C Ionian Steps

In this exercise, the scale is played by moving two steps forward and one step backward until reaching the last note, after which the same pattern is followed in reverse.

Exercise 4. C Ionian Thirds

In this exercise, thirds are played within the scale by playing the 1st note, then the 3rd note, followed by the 2nd note, and then the 4th note, and so on.

Exercise 5. C Ionian Four Notes

In this exercise, the scale is played only in reverse.  Four notes are played, starting from the top, then the starting point moves to the second note of the scale and another four notes are played, and so on.  This pattern continues until the first note of the scale is reached.

Exercise 6. C Ionian Arpeggios

In this exercise, arpeggios are played using the first, third, and fifth notes of the scale, repeating the pattern across the next octaves within the shape.  After that, seventh arpeggios are played using the first, third, fifth, and seventh notes of the scale, with the pattern repeating throughout the shape.

Of course, these exercises are only the start of your improvisation journey, but they’ll help you sound better than simply running up and down generic scale shapes. With consistent practice, they’ll not only improve your musicality but also reinforce your understanding of each shape and position on the fretboard.

Jam over a backing track

Ready to try improvising over this position? Here is a Spanish rumba backing track in the C major scale so you can jam over right away. The chords for this backing track are: C major, A minor, D minor and G major.

Learn more

If you want to truly master the fretboard and take your improvisation skills to the next level, check out my newly published book: Learn to Improvise on Guitar with Exercises.

Inside, you’ll find everything you need to master the major scale and its modes, including:

• 6 hours of video lessons
• Over 200 Exercises
• Key Changes
• Backing Tracks
• GuitarPro files

Ready to dive deep and unlock your full potential on guitar? This book has got you covered!

Now available on The Spanish Guitar Hub, Amazon USA, and Amazon UK.

What students are saying

“The best improvisation course I’ve ever taken.” – Huy Nguyen

“Edina Balczo’s courses are always educational and highly recommended. In this particular course, what I learned exclusively was the key change through modal scales. There are tons of lessons about modes on the internet, but they are mostly limited to theory. Even after studying them, I still didn’t know how to apply modes in practice. This course opened the door to modal application. Although it’s just a small part of the course, it was the most important part for me and fully met my expectations. I look forward to more courses from Edina Balczo.” – Felix Chen

“I wish I had this course when I first started playing Spanish guitar!! I highly recommend.” – Philip W Empey

Great course!! Fantástico! – Ferzy Torrez

About Edina

Edina Balczo is an award-winning UK-based guitarist, author, and educator with over 25 years of experience. As a registered guitar tutor (Grade 8 with distinction, University of West London), she is passionate about helping students master Spanish, classical, Latin, and folk guitar styles.

Edina is an official Guitar Pro artist. She also runs the popular YouTube channel The Spanish Guitar Hub, which has garnered millions of views and tens of thousands of subscribers worldwide.

In addition to her solo work, Edina performs with her acclaimed guitar duo De Fuego, winners of the 2019 LUKAS (UK Latin) Award for Best Jazz/Folk Act of the Year. Through her books, Edina shares her expertise, passion, and proven teaching methods to help guitar players at every level unlock their musical potential.