Well, after about a week of following his system, I started noticing definite improvements. My starting speed was around 120 bpm. By the end of the week, I was comfortably picking at 165 bpm.

A jump in speed of 45 bpm for one week may not seem like that big of a deal to some, but its a big deal for me, given that I've got short fingers to begin with. I'd always thought my only hope would be for someone to invent finger extensions ;-)

The reason Charlie's techniques work is because they focus on the most common weak spots.

For most guitarists, the problem areas come down to coordination between the right and left hands, the speed of the picking hand, and the strength of the 'pinkie' finger'.

Charlie addresses all of these problem areas and more through a series of focused exercises designed to build strength and speed in both hands.

For example, one of the earliest exercises focuses on finger dexterity. Dexterity, as far as guitar playing is concerned, means the ability to move one finger while keeping your other fingers still.

Although I might get in trouble for doing this, I'm going to reveal the dexterity exercise. Here's a screenshot from the book:

This is how all of the exercises are laid out. You get the tab, a picture and an audio example for reference.

He also includes some very helpful bonus material, such as: a desktop metronome, a quick tutorial book on the 'caged' scale system, and an extensive set of midi drum tracks for you to play over.