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Just be aware that advancing the ignition timing causes a rise in cylinder pressure. As Jerry mentioned, this increases the amount of heat in the chamber and often means you have to run a higher octane fuel.
Before you get too deep into this, I would suggest getting very familiar with the whole theory and terminology behind ignition timing.
That said, here is the simple version. Your intake charge takes a fixed amount of time to ignite and burn. Because of this, it has to be ignited before the piston reaches Top Dead Center. This is why ignition timing is often listed as X degrees BTDC (Before Top Dead Center). If your engine currently has a base timing of 15 degrees BTDC, then to advance the timing means you are actually firing the spark plug sooner, so in this example lets say you advance it 2 degrees. Now your ignition timing is 17 degrees BTDC. Since the fuel is ignited even sooner before the piston is done reaching TDC on the compression stroke, it is fighting more pressure on it's way up, and the flame of the ignition is in the cylinder just a bit longer. All of this extra pressure and fire in the cylinder for a longer period of time causes an increase in heat, which means the plug and combustion chamber are hotter, thus at a certain point means you are more likely to run into pre ignition.
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