This lick features an "Asymmetrical Pick Strike Pattern" as well as a "Pedal Point". We have discussed pedal point technique in previous licks. Simply put, we return to a given note ( in this case the E on the 12th fret, high string). The asymmetrical strike pattern is created by striking the fretted note once, and the open string twice. Getting used to this type of picking pattern can take a bit of practice but it's worth doing. It opens up a new avenue of your playing.

You got it!!! Your second pass was spot on. Once you speed up I notice that your hand synch starts to drift a bit again. At higher speeds, your hand synch is just a pinch lose. It needs to betighter than that for REC in order to get a good result/points. Try to add a middle speedbetween the slow version and the shred version to work up to your fast speed. You
can clearly shred but your synch seems to drift in direct relation to how fast you are playing. The good news is that both quick licks and especially bootcamp can fix this.
Bootcamp is graded more strictly than quick licks and has much more complex bitsthat will help your hand synch at speed. Try to do a few Bootcamp Missions when you can. Add this lick to your practice routine and use both the Ben (few notes fast at at time) and the standardmetronome, all notes at one speed slowly increased. To help with synch. But you clearly havethis lick in hand so you just....
LEVELED UP!!!!!Todd

NAILED IT!!! Per usual, your execution is as good as anyone could ever expect. This lick has an odd tempo vibe to it which throws some folks off, not you!!! Very well played. Great pick articulation and your timing is spot on. Couldn't ask for a better example of this lick.

Todd

Take 1 Sarge

https://youtu.be/-xwR7-pS4eA

Nice! Good picking control. Also scoore on no string noise. This is a great warm up lick and works on every string. It's a great way to work up speed as well. Speed is just a matter of repetition. You are picking these up more and more quickly. It's good to see. Keep it up!!!

You just...
LEVELED UP!!!

Thanks Todd,

I'm trying to catch up, once I've caught up ill do the weekly one and get back into bootcamp which I know is a strict course but can only do good for both playing and discipline.

Cheers

Phil

It seems like you are having less and less trouble picking up quick licks and playing them which is great. The more you do the easier it will get. Given your time restrictions, you are doing amazingly well. Not everyone has 12 hours a day to practice as some folks with fewere demands on their time have. Your results are speaking for themselves. Super congrats!
Todd

Thanks buddy, I always do my best, if things are taking time it's often that old devil called life getting in the way, not always, sometimes things are tricky to grasp for a while but my biggest enemy against progression is life demands.

What I am noticing is that I'm starting to remember sequences more easily, I spent around 10 minutes on that one and then a few minutes getting the recording, that sequence, last year, would have taken an hour in four 15 minute sessions across four days for me to remember

Cheers

Phil

You've made vast improvements over time. These licks barely phase you at all!
Todd

Cheers buddy, I struggle to build speed though, no matter how long I try I never manage to break a certain barrier.

It's just a matter of repetition and relaxing. It's an instinct to tense up when playing fast which actually limits speed. One has to learn to relax the hand and almost let the fingers work without thinking about them. This is one thing that helped me break my barrier. I would play a drill while watching tv and forget I was playing. After a couple of hours my fingers would find their own path and bam I'd notice I was playing the drill at top speed.
Todd

Yeah, it's hard, for me anyway, to relax when trying to go quickly, faster I go the more tense I get. Maybe we could have a mini course in speed picking starting from just one note on one string?

Cheers

Thats easy, just pick one note on one string and pick it evenly. Slowly add more speed. Try the same watch a movie trick. Once you get your brain to stop thinking about your fingers the tensing will go away. you don't even need to plug in your guitar. I used this movie/tv technique with just the guitar itself.

I'm not really a film watcher, never seem to get 2 hours to watch one, but I guess it could just be the TV, I only watch one hour per day, the other thing is that I think my wife would be driven insane with the sound of a guitar being picked just a few feet away from her while she is watching the TV

Obviously I should have been way more specific. Doesn't have to be a move or even TV. It can be any sort of stimulus that takes your conscious brain out of the equation. Does this make more sense?
As for objection number two about the wife. I should have mentioned that you do not have to do this in her presence. Again I should have been more specific. You can do this in your room by yourself during your normal practice time. You don't have to do it for any specific period of time. You can do it for any amount of time that you think you can spare using anything you want to try to get yourself to forget you are playing guitar. Does it make a bit more sense now? I think it could be the key to making the break through you have been working on for several years. It sure helped me break through mine. As a matter of simple fact, I think it's the one thing that keeps players from getting to the next level. I was sure stuck at the same spot for years until I came up this by accidentt. It's kinda "touchy feely" and seems a bit like voodoo. Yet, it's something that took me from fighting it to being free of that feeling that something was just holding me back. I hope it works for you : )




Todd

I fully understand and did 100% already realise that I didn't need to be watching a film in the presence of my wife .

Thing is, I'm out of the house at 06:30 and back at 17:30ish. We then eat dinner or go out for dinner. At home dinner is finished around 18:00 when we watch the news and chat about our day until around 19;00 which is when I have a shower and then enter my practise room until around 20:45-21:00 when I go and spend until around 22:00-22:30 watching TV with my wife then it's off to bed.

When we go out for dinner we're back around 19:30 and it's straight into practise room until around 20:45-21:00 then TV until 22:00-22:30.

Weekends are usually spent going out for the day and on Saturday evenings I dedicate more time to my wife and have a shorter practise session.

So as you can see, I don't get much spare time to play while taking my brain out of the equation without ignoring my wife and /or annoying her with repetetive guitar picking, my practise time is full with my Gab work, Quick Licks and improv practise so no time there to do it.

I hope you see why it's more difficult for me than a teenager to get all of this "brain out of the equation" practise in. I did fully realise that it needn't be a two hour movie in the presence of my wife, this ain't my first rodeo cowboy

Got a good giggle reading your reply and I was in need of a good giggle so many thanks

I have some good news. This techniique does not require much time. I see that your time is booked and i get that your practice time is spoken for. I'd say take 15 minutes of the time that you would spend working on one of my quick licks or one of my what have you thingies, (so as not to get in the way of your other bits) and at least attempt the "Brain Out" technique I really think you'll find that it can finally break you through the barrier that your fingers have been facing for many years. It does not take a lot of time, or effort. It's probably one of the easiest things you'll ever do to be honest. Pick something distracting, start playing my latest quick lick (once you know it well enough to play it without looking at your hands of course) and just let it happen. 15 minutes should be more than enough time. Try this a couple of days a week so that it really won't impact your overall schedule that much.

After a few weeks of this. Take note of your playing of said lick. See what you think. The proof is in the pudding as they say

Todd

I'm glad you took the post in the way it was meant buddy, it was tongue in cheek and could have been took the wrong way.

By the way, it's "The proof of the pudding is in the eating"

I'l give it a try on a QL that I've already done I think, then I can still do new ones. I will give it a try though.

Cheers

We've known each other longer than many of the gals I've dated in the past phil! We are darn near family at this point I can get your dry English Humor and appreciate it quite a bit.

Do give this a go when you can. Gabriel mentioned using a similar technique in another thread. It really can work wonders! It was how I finally broke my own speed barrier many years ago. Once I learned the technique it was much easier to apply.
Todd

I've made a decision, I hope you go with it, I'm going to do the "Brain Out" technique once I've caught up with QL, then I will have one QL and on BC per week so then two or three times a week I can BainOut for 10 minutes. Might as well give it a try but I really want to get up to date with QL first.

Cheers Sarge.
Phil

Whatever works for you Phil my man "Brain Out" is just yet another method of trying to get the fingers to adapt to the brain. Looking foorward!
Todd