alternate picking ....

suhrimmetal

Well-known member
I know you've probably read it or heard it 100 times.. but play SLOW and flawlessly. Pay attention to movement and your form... a slight angle I find works best as I move across Low E-A-D-G strings.. when I alt pick or economy pick on B-E strings I lessen the angle to more of a straight attack...Seems I have more control, better attack, and I get more tone from high strings doing it this way. However you have to hold the pick, anchor picking hand or not, etc.. is up to what works best for you!! Play the passages perfectly 5-10x at slower tempos before increasing bpm up 6-8 and repeating... repeating, repeating, etc.. I also do this.. Any lick or passage Im working on, I will 1st do it starting on downstroke and alternate pick accordingly.. then repeat lick starting on upstroke... then pick economy if the lick warrants it. Good luck, have fun and stay inspired :rock: Cheers

Cory

ps.. For years I used Jazz III XL's cuz all my fav players at the time used them :lame: I recently switched to a lighter .90mm ultex sharp and find I have way more feel of the strings and picking attack... bare in mind I am pretty damn heavy handed and play hard :)
 
rrguitar":9i4qjomx said:
great advise.. Thank you !! I also use jazz III's Maybe I will try another pick option ..

You are welcome :thumbsup: You may find the jazz III's work best for you.. it's just in my case, I found a lighter gauge fit my playing style better. I've been thru Jazz IIIs, IIIs XL, red bear, v picks, standard tortex, paul gilbert, Jazz ultex, planet waves... Right now I am very satisfied with the .90mm dunlop ultex sharps!

Regarding playing slow and perfect... don't get so wrapped up in results or progress... I say this cuz its our human nature to WANT results immediately and we often get discouraged and push it aside if we don't see it right away. Great alt picking takes TIME and technique. Set a few minor, realistic goals per session and try and meet those...keep doing that, remain disicplined regarding playing slower and perfect then speeding up in increments of 6-8 bpm. Stay true to that and you will see and hear results start to develop... and in time you will be at a level you are completely satisfied and comfortable with. Good luck and stay inspired :rock:
 
What "suhrimmetal" said... But I might add:

Practice the picking hand ONLY!!! Play that same note on the same string for 10 minutes WITHOUT stopping.
Concentrate on small, concise movements with a slightly angled pick.

Then, build up to 15 and ultimately 20 minutes. Do this for three weeks! I promise you that it will make a BIG difference.

Start slowly and be patient. Don't allow yourself to make any mistakes.

It's really helpful to use a metronome that can automatically accelerate the tempo.

I use this shareware metronome. It works great!
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/21708/metronome

After the three weeks continue this same exercise daily. Eventually your picking hand will become very accurate. Then, incorporate the fretting hand but continue the picking hand only" exercises forever.

Robb
 
start at 40 bpm and for every 10 times correct move up 3 bpm(3 to 10 method) keep it slow and PAY attention to your right hand or left hard haha. just takes practice ! ;)
 
rrguitar":2fgxtxqf said:
I've been playing seruously for about 10-11 years now, and till this day, still get caught up when alternate picking rapidly.

Ive gone through metronome exercises... many different practice routines and still have trouble ...

Any one have any help on this at all ??

I see a problem of mine when string skipping.. ie.. to the next adjacent string..
Hmmmm. Sounds fairly familiar. I have a problem moving to the next string. Seems the E and B strings more than others. I've done the metronome thing and I don't seem to improve much. I mean while using the metronome i can get it cleanly (within my limits), but when putting it to play, I tend to miss the timing and get a percussive string as opposed to nice fretted note.

Perhaps I'm just not doing it enough? I think part of it might be a lack of thought and relying more on muscle memory....if that makes any sense.

But yeah, going to the next string is a frustration for me as well.
 
I used to use Jazz III's and was able to keep my alternate picking really tight. I have since moved onto using a V-picks psycho which is a ridiculously huge and thick pick. I can barely alternate now to save myself, but almost everything else (bar pinches) feel so much more comfortable. Oh the joys of tone searching... Those thick picks really do a lot for your sound though.
 
I've had good luck with switching to Ultex (.60) picks. Sometimes I use a .73 but I always come back to the .60.
 
Stevekoz speaks the truth. There's something about practicing at 40 bpm, then progressing up in tempo. It's painfully slow, but it works.
 
suhrimmetal":3bcffy1i said:
I know you've probably read it or heard it 100 times.. but play SLOW and flawlessly. Pay attention to movement and your form... a slight angle I find works best as I move across Low E-A-D-G strings.. when I alt pick or economy pick on B-E strings I lessen the angle to more of a straight attack...Seems I have more control, better attack, and I get more tone from high strings doing it this way. However you have to hold the pick, anchor picking hand or not, etc.. is up to what works best for you!! Play the passages perfectly 5-10x at slower tempos before increasing bpm up 6-8 and repeating... repeating, repeating, etc.. I also do this.. Any lick or passage Im working on, I will 1st do it starting on downstroke and alternate pick accordingly.. then repeat lick starting on upstroke... then pick economy if the lick warrants it. Good luck, have fun and stay inspired :rock: Cheers

Cory

ps.. For years I used Jazz III XL's cuz all my fav players at the time used them :lame: I recently switched to a lighter .90mm ultex sharp and find I have way more feel of the strings and picking attack... bare in mind I am pretty damn heavy handed and play hard :)


This man speaks with wisdom. Except for the last bit about picks - real men use real picks :LOL: :LOL:
 
Suhrimmetal speaks the truth. While it might make you bored or anxious or frustrated playing at what may seem a ridiculously slow tempo, it is this slow tempo that brings about your accuracy and synchronization of both hands. It's all about muscle memory. Any fluid shredder I can think of says the same thing...slow is fast. It's all about being patient.
 
Shawn Lane, a player who had a minor amount of technical proficiency, said in an interview that there was something to be said for practicing as fast you you possibly can. FASTER than you can. Sometimes you obtain insight into your own playing and coordination when you're playing at the absolute limit of what you can manage, insight that you wouldn't get if you were playing slow and perfect. I've certainly found that to be the case. To play fast yes you need to practice slow, but to be good at playing fast you have to practice playing fast too.
 
I have one thing to add to this....outside and inside picking on adjacent strings.....cant stress it enough. That's where everybody has the most difficulty is the actual transition between strings. Seems stupid but that's where the flaws come out if you have any :D
 
I find playing any difficult passage @slow/slower tempo is a must in my technique development. I just can't play in a relaxed fashion otherwise. I also find visualizing my picking hand alternate picking with precision without even having a guitar in hand helps for some reason. Wife calls it the 1000 yard stare.
 
I almost exclusively alternate pick, the other guitarist i've been writing with economy picks almost everything. It's really just a different sound, and to some extent different techniques work better for different types of groupings/etc. Ideally we should both be able to do both.

I find that I prefer a Jazz III for lead lines on the 7 string, the Petrucci Jazz III in general, and the Jazz III XL for my 8 string.
 
troy grady cracking the code john taylor for lessons larger thicker picks the better i use acrylic pick custom ordered from gravity picks 6mm how the tip is shaped makes a huge difference
 
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