Fed Up With Alternate Picking! (video) |
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Oct 17 2013, 04:45 AM
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I've had trouble with picking for as long as I can remember, where as legato came very easily to me. Most of my guitar heroes have been people who are really solid alternate pickers but no matter how hard I practice I make no progress. On the flip side, I can practice any other technique and have a lot of progress. There's just something about alternate picking I can't get! No matter what I do my right hand just feels awkward and clumsy. I feel maybe my right hand technique is the problem. I play with my palm resting (not anchored to the bridge and my pinky fingers resting (again, not anchored, they both move a bit when I change strings) on the body below the bridge pickup.
Oddly enough I can play triplets at 130bpm and it's quite clean, but the whole time my right hand feels very awkward and like I'm using up a ton of energy for every stroke, despite me always focusing on being relaxed and making very small movements. I should also note that I have no problem tremolo picking at high speeds for extended periods of time (very accurately in time with specific note groupings, note just a mush of fast picking), but I'm using a different technique for that that I see a lot of people use for trem picking, and NOT for alternate picking. Here's some video of my technique, can anyone help me out? https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=playe...p;v=ZmAsM3PYh4M It has honestly gotten me so frustrated. I'm such a calm person and I rarely get angry, but alternate picking always gets me frustrated, despite my immense patience for practicing any other technique, and my experience with how to properly practice techniques and get them up to speed. |
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Replies
(1 - 16)
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Oct 17 2013, 09:13 AM
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Hey there! This is a video of mine that already helped some people. There a few different approaches to speed picking but it's worth trying each for some time, beofre You judge if it works for Ya:
First and most important thing is that alternate picking IS NOT a technique that You will feel comfortable andrelaxed at high speeds...at least not without regular practice and very good warm up all the time. A few of guys confirmed that - for exmaple Muris himself. You can also see John Petrucci having his wrist tensed while playing very fast. So first thin is to realize what exactly is happening with all the muscles. You can try one of my lessons. Taking look at the right hand view might give You some new ideas to try https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Heavy-Funkin-Soloing-2/ Basicly I use sort of 3 mechanisms combo - fingers (circle picking), wrist and forearm. I switch between those to use other while the first one gets tired. Also...main problem with getting constant speed is that people tense instead of searching for every single moment that's possible for relax. |
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Oct 17 2013, 05:09 PM
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Checking your video I can notice that you are starting the movement from your wrist but you have the rest of the arm a bit quiet/rigid. I think that you should relax your arm an also start the movement a bit from your elbow. I recommend you to check videos of the great alternate picking players and see how they move their hand / arm to get the fast alternate picking. I think that there is the main problem.
My right hand / arm movement is close to a mix of these two ones: This is a short video showing you my right hand playing AP at fast and slow tempo. -------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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To wit, I created the SHRED BOOTCAMP!! |
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Oct 18 2013, 09:08 AM
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QUOTE (ConnorGilks @ Oct 18 2013, 02:06 AM)  It's crazy how all over the place the advice I'm getting is. I asked on several forums and I get people telling me not to pick perpendicular to the string, then people saying I should, people saying to play only from the wrist, people saying to play from the wrist AND the thumb, I'm so lost! Just goes to show how varied guitar technique is and how everyone does things differently. I'll try all the advice given here and see what I come up with, thanks everyone!  Unfortunately this issue is not that easy to give You one BEST solution. Nothing ever guarantee success. In this particular case there is probably no advice that will make You able to improve Your picking in a second. Probably You will not be able to judge any of those in a short time perdiod but...You said You practice and feel like You can't make progress so...It's worth trying some new things. Not so long ago I made a topic with a few different picking methods used by famous players. All of them seems to be efficient so my one and ONLY true advice is ... DON'T LISTEN TO PEOPLE WHO SAY "YOU HAVE TO DO IT THAT WAY, DON'T DO IT OTHER WAY". Here are the proves and concept You can try. You might also find some very tiny details to "borrow"from all those techniques and find Your best, https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...showtopic=50098 This post has been edited by Darius Wave: Oct 18 2013, 09:08 AM |
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Oct 18 2013, 11:18 AM
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Yea nobody has the "right" picking technique for you. There are several out there, but they all have strengths and weaknesses. Try a little bit of all the techniques and see what your hand naturally gravitates toward. Here's a VERY in depth article about the different strengths and weaknesses of different picking techniques.
http://www.tuckandpatti.com/pick-finger_tech.html -------------------- "To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time." -Leonard Bernstein
"The only love affair I have ever had was with music." -Maurice Ravel "There's no such place as dumb question." -Dose One |
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Oct 18 2013, 05:41 PM
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QUOTE (verciazghra @ Oct 18 2013, 10:18 AM) Yea nobody has the "right" picking technique for you. There are several out there, but they all have strengths and weaknesses. Try a little bit of all the techniques and see what your hand naturally gravitates toward. Here's a VERY in depth article about the different strengths and weaknesses of different picking techniques. http://www.tuckandpatti.com/pick-finger_tech.html Great article mate - thanks for sharing! Also, I remember someone telling me a very interesting thing one day - 'I can't teach you how to play the guitar, I can only show you how I do things and if my approach fits you and you get good results, not necessarily like mine, it means you are on a good path.' Thing is that, exploring your playing while keeping in mind the various advices coming from everyone, should help you in discovering what works for you and what doesn't. It's all a matter of trying
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I would also add - 'Be like water' - by that, I think you should keep in mind that not everyone of us can be Guthrie Govan and thus, proficient in every technique
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