Secrets Of Speed Picking, "Tricks of the Trade" Options

[Todd Simpson]

As I've been working with my Soldiers of Shred in my Mentoring Bootcamp, I've realized that there are a few tips that might be able to help loads of folks who are striving to reach the next level in their precision and as a result, in their speed (In my experience, Speed is a byproduct of precision)

These are NOT END ALL BE ALL RULES, just tips to try while you are in "Practice Mode" working intently on your ability. So here are the

TRICKS OF THE TRADE


1.)Use a sharp or sharpened pick that is at least 1.0 MM thick. (Pick Flex Kills Precision, our byproduct!)

2.)Dont sit "Side Saddle" when pushing the limits of your fingers. Maintain the discipline of good posture and classical guitar position with your thumb in the middle of the neck, left foot elevated on a book, good steep guitar angle, etc. The stuff we always talk about.

3.)Focus on relaxing your right hand at speed by taking your left hand off the guitar neck. Focus only on picking for a bit. Turn the metronome up 5 BPM at a time and force you hand to stay relaxed as you progress. Once you "Train" your right hand, you can then bring the left hand back in to it.

4.)Don't make big jumps in speed, E.G. from 120 to 160. Rome was not built in a Day.

These are the "Secrets" of breaking through that Barrier between thumb/wrist picking where things get sketchy. To give you some reference, take a peek at this vid. Look at the right hand. Notice how it barely moves and never gets very tense. I'm using a bit of wrist and bits of finger movement on the right hand.



Please feel free to add!

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This post has been edited by Todd Simpson: May 16 2012, 04:33 AM

[Yash]

This is not what Todd suggested but I like my pick as thin as possible. At the moment I use one that is 0.73mm thick. It gives me more room to move in between strings.. But maybe I am wrong, most probably I am since Todd says opposite what do you think GMCers?

I am with you. I use Tortex TIII .73mm. Its got the tip of a Jazz III and its thin, so works well for me. It takes much more force when using thicker picks. But that's just me.

I do often use Jazz III and ocassionally Tortex Sharpie .73mm

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[Nihilist1]

I am with you. I use Tortex TIII .73mm. Its got the tip of a Jazz III and its thin, so works well for me. It takes much more force when using thicker picks. But that's just me.

I do often use Jazz III and ocassionally Tortex Sharpie .73mm

I think you may need to choke up on your guitar pick, friend. Try using the least amount of guitar pick possible. It will allow for greater accuracy, control, and dare I say, AMAZING pinch harmonics.

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[Todd Simpson]

I think you may need to choke up on your guitar pick, friend. Try using the least amount of guitar pick possible. It will allow for greater accuracy, control, and dare I say, AMAZING pinch harmonics.

Well said! I usually choke up to where only the tip is extending. Much easier to control the strikes that way. If a player has trained his hand to pick without choking up, it's going to take some effort to retrain but it's possible.

Hi all,

This is my experience - I used thin picks for many years (and I mean many - 20+) but really struggled with speed and accuracy. Changing to a heavier pick a couple of years ago seemed like a backward step at the time, but it has absolutely transformed my playing.

In my mind, the fewer floppy things there are in the string/pick vicinity the better. With a heavier pick, only the string is going to give way and I was amazed after a while how I could 'feel' the strings much better than I ever could. I can now really feel how the movement of my whole hand translates into each string. This gives me much better control and dynamics.

It also really helps with speed for me, because I can feel the pick sitting on either side of the string when alternate picking. And I can also do simple sweep picking now, which I never could before, and i think that is for the same reason.

It has also relaxed my right hand and finger grip, again because the string is going to move rather than the pick. This was important for me because I was getting pain in my right hand and fingers, through gripping too hard and moving my fingers rather than my wrist.


I currently use dunlop tortex 1.14mm (purple ones).

Best regards

Martin

BINGO! And well said

How about the type of guitar and how it is set up?

I have a Jackson RP3 (now discontinued) its action is average not particularly low. I once tried an Ibanez in a shop and the strings were so low it felt weird from what I am used to, but I assumed it was to minimize movement for things like sweep picking etc? On my RP3 the higher up the neck you go the further away the strings are from the frets. I can't get the action any lower without string buzz so sweeped arpeggios above the 12th fret would be more tricky.

I'd love to know!

"So low it felt wierd" Well, to each his own But having the strings low can make certain aspect of play easier. It's not an accident that many of the players I'm fond of have many elements in common in terms of setup. Low string action among them. Some folks really want to work for it and set the action high and it's just awesome for them so more power to them. Personally, I can't stand guitars that are set that way, but whatever works.

As for your guitar, if you want to get the action lower and reduce buzz, and since it's a pretty nice Axe, I'd suggest taking it to a music shop and talking to their guitar tech to see if he can set it up a bit better. You can try it yourself, but if you are not careful, you'll just make it worse.

You think so? The neck is straight. A slightly higher nut (0.5mm or so) would make lowering the strings more equal from the 1st to the 24th fret. At the moment if you lower the bridge the 12th and above is fine but down the bottom of the neck not so much. I wouldn't be suprised if shred guitars have slightly higher nuts, maybe I need a higher nut.

Without relying too much on "maybe" just take it in and see what they say. Could be a simple fix

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