For any guitar players out there..

I'm learning how to play the electric guitar and I need a little help. I'm learning the pentatonic scales and I just can't play the damn things faster. How do you guys do it? (play them faster) It gets really discouraging at times. I've been playing for about two months (about an hour a day) and I still suck at them :(

um, keep playing?

i'm kinda in the same boat as you. Picked up a guitar a while ago, but still not very good (or even decent).

From all i hear though, just keep playing. Your muscles in your fingers are doing the learning here not your brain. This one of those things like riding a bike. Once you fully learn, you never really forget.

The only tip I got that helped (not with scales, but with songs), is to think of stuff in terms of patterns.

Finally, learn some easy 3 chord songs as small rewards. The guitar don't require the classical knowledge of all the pentatonic scales and such, and I've known many (well not true guitarist per se) to get by with just tabs and chords, never even learning how to read music. Yeah they aren't true musicians per se, but they can play the songs they want to play and to them thats all that counts.

I've been playing guitar for about a year and 2 months, and I can say that although it sounds very boring to hear it:

You have to play it  over and over and over...

Seriously, a lot of practice and patience is needed when trying to learn how to play something fast. But, make sure when you are trying to play fast, that you use alternate picking. (i.e picking up and down). Just practice slowly, and gradually get faster and faster till eventually once you've practiced the scale so many times you'll find yourself getting slightly better.

Hope this helps.

Thanks guys and yea it looks like it's just practice. And yeah I do alternate pick. The main reason I picked up the guitar is because I want to make my own solos so scales it is.

I've been playing for about 4 years, you need to get a metronome, and just build up the pace gradually. Really try to accentuate the first note in every scale and just do it over and over again to recognise the pattern. Just keep playing and you'll do great.

Pick three times.

Helps to put strings on that are taut enough to stand up to heavy picking. Most electrics will come with 9's. As soon as your fingers can handle it, move up to 10's. Ernie Ball's are what I use, regular slinky or hybrid slinkies are good.

Instead of trying to play the pentatonic scale fast right off the bat, I suggest going to metronomeonline.com, starting relatively slow, and play a chromatic scale pattern. For example, fret's five through eight on each string, starting with the fifth fret on the largest string and moving across the fretboard, then coming back. Pick every note in an alternating fashion, that is key. This exercise is to get your pick hand used to dealing with a string being plucked quickly, and for your fret hand to develop strength and muscle memory regarding the frets.

Speed is a byproduct of accuracy, not the other way around. Remember that and you'll be fine.