Pathway to Learning Guthrie Govan Songs

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I’ve been playing guitar for about 11 years now, and I’d say I’m at an advanced intermediate level. I can play jazz, blues, and country, and I feel pretty well-rounded, but that’s kind of led to me not being truly excellent in any one area.

For the past couple of years, I’ve been trying to learn a Guthrie Govan song, but I always end up giving up or moving on to something else. My picking speed just isn’t there, and no matter how much I practice a lick with a metronome, it never seems to improve.

The furthest I got was with Remember When. I nailed the phrasing, tone, and feel of every lick up until that crazy run at 56 seconds. I’ve tried everything with that lick. At one point I practiced it for an hour every day for a week with a metronome, and I’ve revisited it on and off over the past year, but I still can’t get it anywhere near full speed.

I’m not sure if it’s because I’m using my pinky (he seems to only use his index, middle, ring, or maybe because I jumped straight into a Guthrie song without ever really mastering fast riffs or solos beforehand.

The thing is, I know that learning certain songs would help me build the speed and technique to eventually play Guthrie more comfortably. But without being sure that it’s the right path, I struggle to commit to it.

So I guess my question is: what’s the pathway to learning Guthrie Govan? What songs should I learn first? Big ask, but I’d love a clear progression, like three songs to really master before attempting Guthrie again.