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Posted by: Hajduk Jun 19 2013, 07:38 PM

What is the general rule in regards to alternate picking as far as how hard you should pick the strings? I know there are different circumstances in regard to how you want it to sound but when alternate picking should you strike the pic hard on the strings or does the amp take care of that unless of course using a acoustic guitar?? Thank you

Posted by: jstcrsn Jun 19 2013, 10:03 PM

THE FASTER you want to pick , the lighter you will need to pick, the trick to good alt. picking is making sure your pick angle of attack is the same on the upstroke as it is on the down. If this is not the same, you will teach your brain to pick harder on one or the other and when you try to speed up uneven picking , thats when you will notice the problem.
As far as how hard, different occasions call for more aggressive picking

Posted by: David.C.Bond Jun 19 2013, 10:07 PM

I have to agree with the above comment. Generally speaking to pick quickly need to pick lightly. I'm not a big picker myself but I know this is the case for those who are!

Posted by: Hajduk Jun 19 2013, 10:13 PM

Thank you Makes sense because I notice the harder I pick the more tense my hand gets and I cant relax it to move faster.

Posted by: jstcrsn Jun 19 2013, 10:22 PM

Saturday in Todds chat , he has use do a lot of double picking drills, this helps establish an even picking stroke cause you will hear if you are picking up or down harder and can adjust it till they are equal.
Take one of your drills(you do have drills, don't you) and try double picking , you will hate it at first, but only cause it will show you where your problems are

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jun 20 2013, 12:29 AM

Great advice from CRSIN!!!! And BINGO!!! PICKING DRILLS!!!!!!!

A lighter touch is a good idea when you speed up, try to exert the minium force needed to make the strike and use very little motion. Also, DO NOT PICK FROM THE ELBOW!!!! Or the Guitar Gods will frown upon you. Pick from the wrist down, not elbow up, so you can pick with just finger motion, but not with shoulder motion!!

MOST OF ALL DON"T TENSE!!!!

Join us Saturday and Sunday for our weekly Picking/Drilling/Killing party video chat, and you will be nailing it in no time


BTW: DOUBLE PICKING!!!!! All this means, is pick every note twice Makes a great picking drill!!

Todd



Todd

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Jun 20 2013, 08:51 AM

Todd is definitely the picking master here, but in order to add my 50 cents -> picking in itself is a form of expression, because of the dynamics you can definitely deploy strength or finesse in your picking. It is all a matter of practicing and then when the technique becomes natural, work on being more or less firm while picking in order to obtain various effects.

As Todd said - firm grip/loose wrist is the way to do it

Posted by: Hajduk Jun 20 2013, 10:34 AM

Thank you all, the only real drills I use for alternate picking is as of recently Hand synch from Ben Higgins and Darius waves Last lesson on Alternate picking. Great advice on the picking really helpful

Posted by: Darius Wave Jun 20 2013, 11:06 AM

Most of important things are already written in this topic. I can only add that practicing hard picking in fast tempos is also a good challenge. Most of Your playing mechanism are dependent on the amp You use. I found that playing on the multiple effects like boss zoom etc needs less attack to get same descent sound but distortion from the amps (of course not all of them) are more demanding and You could found that You need to pick really hard to get the sound You want.

Also...If You will learn to play only soft You could have problems playing live with a high volume and high distortion level from Your amp. When You increase the amp volume...usually gain needs to go down a bit (feedback issues) and it's better to be prepared for this. It's good to be able to play fast and hard.

One more thing - sometimes it's good to keep hard accented notes and play softer the all notes between. It gives a feel of hard playing but still give a headroom for being enough relaxed

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jun 21 2013, 02:56 AM

I'd say join my SHRED BOOT CAMP or just work your way through my SHRED JOURNEY series one lesson at at a time. Here is the link to the Lesson Series in the WIKI.


http://bit.ly/twtgmc

If you wanna join BOOTCAMP just shoot me a PM

Todd

Well thanks COSMIN Has a great point here. I spent a lot of time teaching people how to play like a ROBOT so that they can later SHRED LIKE A GOD which is entirely different. Learning to play like a robot is just step 1. Bottom line, you need to be able to pick evenly, and precisely and any speed you like. After that, once you've gained a measure of control, then comes the GOD part where you introduce dynamics (harder/softer/faster/slower) in to your picking/phrasing. Once you can command the pick, you are well on your way



Todd

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jun 21 2013, 05:05 PM

This is a very interesting topic. You already received the necessary feedback about this. In short I think that you have to be able to go from very soft to very hard, to master dynamics and to adapt to different situations, equipment and styles. In this case, as our old friend Malmsteen said... more is more.

Posted by: Hajduk Jun 21 2013, 05:09 PM

Thank you all for the awesome feedback.

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Jun 22 2013, 07:29 AM

Always a pleasure Tom! May the wind be in your picking sails!

Posted by: Mertay Jun 22 2013, 11:19 AM

I used to pick hard and since a few months I'm practicing lighter picking and its really rewarding

Nowadays I'm trying to focus on grip of pick. Besides everyones excellent comments above, I noticed when picking lower strings a little loosening on the pick (enough still not to let the pick slip) helps stability.

This actually almost automaticly happens with softer picks (like speedpick HIO, nice for lesser picking noise when recording) but I don't use them cause when expression is needed they feel wierd

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Jun 23 2013, 09:06 PM

True indeed man I for one like to hit harder when playing riffs involving some alternate picking passages, even at some moderate to mildly higher speeds, strictly for the punch it delivers. Currently trying this stuff out on Pantera songs and I love the way it sounds.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jun 24 2013, 12:58 AM

This is true, the pick is also important. I use heavy picks (1.5 mm) to be be able to play strong and soft and to get a more precise picking. I started to use Dunlop Tortex Sharp and I'm very happy with them.

Posted by: Mertay Jun 24 2013, 01:02 AM

I've been fooling around with the petrucci picks lately, actually like them for distortion but on clean sound it doesn't sound good at all specially when the pick is still angled. It sounds like I'm using a coin

Posted by: Darius Wave Jun 24 2013, 11:21 AM

The most common dramma of all time is that...indeed - string sounds better when the picks is straight - more tone, less sharpness but...for speed picking it's much efficient to make and angle and "shorten" distance between the strings this way. Another (my personal) dramma is...I like thin picks (Twin Peaks? ) to play muted notes on the low strings....instead of this...prefer thick to play fast on the higher strings. ...Seems like have to borrow a duplicate of my right hand so I could play both ways

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Jun 25 2013, 09:11 AM

Darius Have you seen this movie? I guess this could do for you: Each right hand holds a different pick

Posted by: Hajduk Jun 25 2013, 04:12 PM

I have always preferred a heavy pick 1.2 mm always find soft picks to be well soft as far as picks go I don't personally know but the special ones ( Petrucci picks and the others I have seen) seem a bit like a gimmick to me! Am I wrong on that?

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Jun 25 2013, 09:05 PM

Not entirely

The Petrucci pick has its advantages because of the beveled rims, the grip, the tip and the shape - in here I get 6 JP picks for about 3 dollars - which is a good price.

Posted by: Mertay Jun 25 2013, 09:26 PM

Yeah, compared to a jazzIII it sounds a little brighter. Size is between the jazzIII small and bigger one.

It has a nice "quality" feeling when you first hold it, which I like but I think I'll like it more when as the sides hitting the string melts a bit

Getting further out on topic I like having a few picks around specially when playing clean sounds its like the most affordable thing one can use to alter sound fast and easy

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jun 25 2013, 10:20 PM

BINGO!! The reason I suggest 1.5 mm acetate or now Aluminum Picks (beta testing some for VonHotch) is for their complete lack of FLEX/BEND. When learning your picking techniqe, the pick bending can interfere with your precision. Eventually, once you have a better grasp of it, you may decide you prefer the tone of a soft pick or the feel.

Then again, I still prefer a thicker pick that won't bend. Bendy picks just feel less precise. This is also why I typically don't use ULTEX as it has inherent flex but that never stopped JOHN PETRUCCI He uses ultex picks to great effect. Just goes to show it's a very individual thing and not everything works the same for everyone

Todd