Playing 16th Note at High Tempo

Question

In Classical/fingerstyle guitar is playing 16th note at tempo > 100 BPM is normal ? I am I am practising at 60 BPM which i feel is fast, since the gap between each metronome click is very small.

But at Speed let's say 100 BPM playing 16th note, will be difficult ? Reason i am asking since the gap between each beat is very very small so for ears will be able to differentiate the 16th note pattern

Beat  1 e & a 
Beat  2   & a
Beat  3 e &
Beat  4   & a   

So it will be difficult to differentiate between Beat 2, 3, 4 ?

Answer 1

Accomplished guitarists routinely play 16th notes at tempos even faster than 100bpm. A trained ear (or even an untrained musical ear) can tell the difference between the rhythms you posted at the bottom of your question, although beats 2 and 4 are the same rhythm.

Correct me if I am wrong but I believe you are asking about practicing to a metronome where the clicks are set to 16th notes. Some metronomes can play specific increments of notes like 8ths and 16ths. The other solution is to double or quadruple the bpm for 8ths and 16ths. If you have a metronome that can vary the sound or volume of the note divisions, for example, accent the main beats:

ONE e & a TWO e & a…

…then it is not difficult to hear the beat within the clicks. If this is not possible it just becomes a blur of clicks and can be counterproductive to practice.

Even if you can vary the sound and volume of the click I highly recommend using a simpler quarter note click and becoming accustomed to feeling the subdivisions between the beats. It is easier to play this way in the long run and you develop an important skill, being able to feel the subdivisions and generate your own rhythm accurately.

Start weaning yourself off of using a 16th note clicks, even at slow tempos. Switch to 8ths and then quarter notes. Hearing a quarter note click and being able to feel 8ths, 16ths and different types of triplets between the clicks is an important skill and will help make you a better musician in the long run.

Answer 2

"Difficult" is subjective. For a novice, yes, but definitely doable with a little practice. I believe that most experienced players can accomplish this on guitar. It will be easier to play this sort of a line with a pick (my opinion), depending on what notes correspond to the rhythm.

This sort of rhythm reminds me of rhythm drills we were forced to practice in marching band. About 100 bars of a variety of 16th note patterns. A "bit" like reading binary if you're familiar with that sort of thing.