How to fix my alternate picking?

Hi justreleased09, 🙂

I too struggle with improvement in this area, but I know that I need to spend more time-per-day practicing my technique in general – LOL! 😮

I noticed that you use “wrist AND arm” movement, but that is OK for Vinnie Moore and Michael Angelo Batio (who are AWESOME!) 😉

Anyways, I noticed that you use a thumb-pick. That in-and-of-itself does NOT have to be a problem (the great Aussie Tommy Emmanuel amazes with a thumb-pick!) However, in the video, it’s tough to see your right hand’s “pick-guaging” (or the amount that the pick “digs-into-the-strings!”) When I struggle, I often find that I am NOT consistently “guaging” the depth of my pick relative to the strings’-surface, and that is one area where a thumb-pick can be potentially problematic (since they tend to stick out a bit more than one’s ability to “choke-down” on a regular flat-pick….) Keep an eye on the amount of the tip-of-the-pick that goes below the strings’-surface and keep that to an absolute minimum! (You may already be doing this? As I said I couldn’t tell from the camera-angle that you used here.) Also, Paul Gilbert talks a lot about angling the pick, but he references this as a difference maker in “tone” not so much technique, although I personally find that it helps to reduce “pick-drag” or “string-resistance.” 😎

Best of luck bro! 🙂

~Bill Meehan (A.K.A. – “The struggling-picker!” :o)

Hi justreleased09, 🙂

I forgot to mention the importance of relaxing your forearm/wrist muscles and relaxing your mind & body in general (like breathing deeply & consistently, etc.) Again, I only know these things, because I struggle with them – LOL! 😮 😉

Oh yeah, one more thing…I have an old book by Al Di Meola (simply titled: Al Di Meola’s Picking Techniques (which I bought way back in the day (1983) when it came out, and BTW, it’s a GREAT little book! (Gee, d’ya think Al Di Meola might know a thing or two about Alternate-Picking?!? – LOL! Anyways, it’s only about 30-pages long, and it includes several “standard-notation only” transcription-excerpts of some of Al’s famous “fusion-instrumental masterpiece compositions” to demonstrate the various picking-techniques necessary to conquer the melodic-devices/obstacles therein! – Great stuff! – Anyways, I digress a bit… – LOL! 😮 :p) In this book, Al mentions the importance for players (especially “rock/top-40” players!) to practice many picking-drills/excerpts with:

1.) ALL UPSTROKES.
*2.) ALL DOWNSTROKES.
3.) ALTERNATE-PICKING STARTING ON A DOWNSTROKE.
4.) ALTERNATE-PICKING STARTING ON AN UPSTROKE.

* I usually omit Al’s #2 variation (ALL DOWNSTROKES) especially for those who play a lot of rock/metal rhythm-guitar already – See below!

It’s funny because for years, I’ve encouraged students to reserve some repetitions of any “picking-intensive” drill or musical-excerpt/motif for ALL UPSTROKES, and I usually even mention that I learned that from Al Di Meola’s book! BTW, the theory behind why this works simply lies in the fact that our ALL DOWNSTROKE mechanics/motions are constantly being developed/practiced by virtue of playing standard rock/metal rhythm-guitar! Think about the average rock or metal tune on rhythm-guitar…How often are you called upon to play (for example,) an up-tempo repetitve palm-muted eighth-note rhythm (BTW, I call it “The Chunk” – LOL!) Right?!? So that motion is probably already developed WAY more than one’s ALL UPSTROKE motion (unless you’ve been playing a lot of reggae, ska, or latin music!) So by developing the ALL UPSTROKE half of the Alternate-Picking motion, you’re subsequently improving the entire Alternate-Picking mechanics/technique! If you’ve never tried it, check it out. I SWEAR BY THIS! It’s a super effective and efficient method of developing one’s Alternate-Picking Technique! 😎

Best of luck! 😀

~Bill Meehan~ 🙂

@Mandz 11633 wrote:

Just watched your video and can’t see anything wrong with your picking technique that needs improving.

Maybe you meant were actually wanting to improve your phrasing (like the rest of us I’d guess) and learn interesting interesting licks and improvisation methods?

Mandz, 🙂

I thought it looked pretty good too! 😎

~Bill Meehan~ 🙂

Hi justreleased09, 🙂

Honestly, I see NOTHING wreong with what you’re doing technically! You are already a far more accomplished alternate-picker than I am, so “far-be-it-from-me” to tell you what you’re doing wrong – LOL! 😮

That having been said, I have been teaching/coaching guitarists of all levels (mostly beginner – intermediate, but some advanced too!) and I can share a few observations with you:

– When you were playing the sixteenths (1/16ths) at the beginning of the video at approximately 145 – 150 BPM, (I didn’t actually clock your metronome settings, so I might be off a bit on my BPM estimations – LOL!) I noticed that you adhered to a “Paul Gilbert-approved” wrist-only range of motion, and that looked very controlled/comfortable and effective for you.

– When you ramped the tempo up to approximately 180 BPM’s, I noticed that your forearm got a bit more involved and perhaps you allowed a bit of tension to creep into your forearm/wrist muscles?!? I’m NOT positive of that, but it seemed like thta could’ve been a source of some “breakdown” or slight lack-of-control (This is common as one approaches the threshold of one’s picking abilty speed-vs.-articulation wise! Now I’m NOT saying that you cannot get the forearm involved with the wrist when advancing your alternate-picking mechanics (“vintage” Vinnie Moore footage or anything by John Petrucci or Steve Morse {Morse has some strange pick-grip/picking-mechanics/etc., so he’s a tricky one to analyze, even though he’s AWESOME – LOL!} will prove that the forearm coupled with wrist motion can work beautifully – as ALL of those guys are legendary pickers, IMO – LOL!) Anyways, I only bring it to your attention because I think it can help you to know how your picking-mechanics/technique changes slightly, as you approach/near your maximum-speed-threshold (For the sake of argument, lets say that you top-out your linear 1/16ths at approx. 192 BPM (which ain’t too shabby my friend – LOL I’d KILL to have my 1/16ths over 160 BPM, never mind 190 – LOL! But everyone’s needs/styles/expectations/work-ethic/etc. are different! It’s all about relaxation, economy-of-motion, repeatability/accuracy, rhythmic-precision, tone, and dynamics/volume-control. BTW, these aforementioned bullet-points/highlights are in no particular order of importance, since I consider ALL of them important and interconnected in that some of those elements affect other elements on the list! 😎

– Incidently, these things I mentioned about your picking whilst playing 1/16ths at approx. 180 BPM, were pretty much identical (except for the triplet-accenting/phrasing that naturally occurs) when you played the sextuplets/sixteenth-triplets at approx. 120 BPM. After all, 6-notes-per-beat at 120 BPM = 4-notes-per-beat at 180 BPM, right?!? So except for the accewnting which I mentioned, you’re still dealing with a similar top-end speed-threshold (approximately 12- notes-per-second, if you break it down a bit – LOL!)

Maybe I’m wrong, and everyone’s entitled to their own opinions and goals/expectations, but you’re still young, (which I envy – LOL! :o) which means you’ll definitely continue to progress/improve both MUSICALLY as well as TECHNICALLY/MECHANICALLY. That said, I would contend that you (and me, or ANYONE ELSE for that matter!) can become TEN-TIMES the musician they currently are WITHOUT gaining a single BPM on their top-end speed/notes-per-second! Even in technically demanding genres like neo-classical metal, speed-metal, progressive-rock, jazz-rock fusion, etc. musical-elements such as creativity/songwriting, uniqueness/identifiability/style, note-choice, phrasing, tone, melodic-sensibilty, rhythm, ability-to-play-with-others, etc. (…again, in no-particular-order – ALL important IMO – LOL!) ALL reign supreme, and ALL pretty much have NOTHING to do with blindingly-fast alternate-picking technique! (I’m sure you’re probably aware of most if not all of the things I’ve mentioned, but take it from someone who’s been battling their technique for a long time, 😮 even though picking-technique/ability is AWESOME and a very valuable musical-tool, it’s NOT the “end-all-be-all!” By all means, keep developing your picking technique/speed! ( I know I’m gonna keep at it myself – LOL!) However, be sure to spend proportionate amounts of time on ALL of the important musical-elements you (and your current/future bandmates) will be glad that you did!

– If you wanna try something a bit different (than most of what you did in the video) perhaps try to include a bunch of etudes or song-segments that involve WAY more string-skipping/intervallic-playing! It seemed like most of what you did involved decidedly more linear picking-patterns/sequences, as opposed to wider-interval ideas which usually require string-skips. Using the thumb-pick as you do, allows for a very easy transition from flat-picking to hybrid-picking/fingerpicking, which is GREAT! I would think that is one of the hugest advantages (besides NOT dropping the flatpick – LOL!) to using a thumb-pick! However, instead of ALWAYS using the hybrid-approach whilst string-skipping, try to ALTERNATE-PICK things you would normally hybrid-pick (I only mean whilst practicing! When playing for real (live or with others at a gig or rehearsal) play whatever you feel is BEST for the moment. However, in the scope of improving your picking-technique, it might help your overall strength and control if you develop the ability to do VERY demanding string-skips whilst alternate-picking! (Steve Morse and Guthrie Govan are INCREDIBLE at this – although Guthrie and guys like Greg Howe, Brett Garsed, and Tom Quayle will usually hybrid-pick such ideas!) BTW have you ever studied/checked-out Shawn Lane’s playing at all?!? Absolute MONSTER…but I digress! – 😮 :eek:)

Best of luck! 😀

Let me know if you have any questions or want my opinion on any other footage, etc! 😎

~Bill Meehan~ 😀

@FilipeRocha 12183 wrote:

I can’t really say anything more than what it has been said but the problem is probably in being relaxed. You have to be completly relaxed while playing, otherwise you have to push the tempo down. if you start to notice that your wrist is tensing up, than you have a problem.

Hi Filipe, 🙂

I agree with you 100%. I think relaxation enables economy-of-motion, control, stamina, etc! 😉 😎

~Bill Meehan~ 🙂