Picking Hand Position

[metalhead4344]

Quick question of playing technique here. I notice that while alternate picking fast or tremolo picking you move at your elbow instead of wrist. I've been trying to learn to tremolo pick... I can do it fine on one strng, but when I move to a higher or lower strng my fingers get out on sync with my picking and I miss notes. Is this something that just comes from practice, or did you do anything special to refine your fast picking?

[Blondie]

When practicing try focusing on "inner" and "outer" picking, both ascending and descending.
Inner ascending = upstroke on low string - downstroke on high string
Outer ascending = downstroke on low string - upstroke on high string
Inner descending = downstroke on high string - upstroke on low string
Outer descending = upstroke on high string - downstroke on low string

Start slow (with metronome) and work Your way up.

[Blondie]

Outer Ascending

Inner Ascending

Inner Descending

Outer Descending


When You've progressed on those... here are some scalic sequences that are good for working on those string-changes. (You may notice that I've nicked the idea from excercise 1 from Speed Kills and build on it)
Seq.1

Seq.2

Seq.3

Seq.4


When You've nail these... try reversing the picking pattern. E.g. start each sequence on a upstroke.

Hope this helps...Good Luck

[WyldeStallion]

Blondie, on the very last exercise shoudn't the last note be D and not an E? (a 12 instead of a 14)

[Man Of Shred]

blondie

seq.1 is a typical metal metall riff i use!

which program did you tabs those with?

[Blondie]

WyldeStallion...You bet I'll fix it later...THX


Ramma187... Seq.1 is a A minor version of excersice 1 from Speed Kills
I used Power Tabs, as the picking direction looks better than in GP4

[Blondie]

FIXED

[$insofstring$]

inside and outside picking are fine for me but i have real problems with tension in my right arm when picking. picking has always been my down side untill MAB's dvd
but even when i hold the pik lightly it feels like my arm is all tense and my little finger is pushing into the body of the guitar.I have moved position and used open and closed hand picking styles but it still resolves to tension.HELP ME PLEASE.

[clameo]

shreddisciple said:

inside and outside picking are fine for me but i have real problems with tension in my right arm when picking. picking has always been my down side untill MAB's dvd
but even when i hold the pik lightly it feels like my arm is all tense and my little finger is pushing into the body of the guitar.I have moved position and used open and closed hand picking styles but it still resolves to tension.HELP ME PLEASE.

You should try different positions and keep your shoulders down, 'cos muscles communicate with each other, eg. this means that if your shoulder is tense you can't pick fast, I had the same problem myself, but I still can't pick fast when I sit, I have to stand if I wanna shred.

[$insofstring$]

:-XNice standing puts my hand into a better position than sitting and i have to lower my shoulder for comfort so it reduces tension in my hand.

[sweepingspagettios]

in my opinion..always put the guita in a position that accomodates your hand and never accomodate the guitar. never look cool first. the strings will always lay flat and never disobey you.its you who has the potential to disobey them..

[Shredder Steve]

Everyone plays differently, the most important thing is that you play comfortably for yourself. It doesnt matter how anyone else does it. The more relaxed you are the easier things will come to you. But if your all tense and trying too hard then it will just become frustrating. Find out which way you play that is the most comfortable and you can be relaxed.

[sweepingspagettios]

ECHO..echo...ech...o...o..e..ch..o.o.o.o.o.o.....o

[sweepingspagettios]

[Guitar1Jesse]

Just concentrate on keeping your picking hand relaxed. At first, don't even worry about what it sounds like when you play - that can be worked out later, mainly focus on not tensing up or locking your elbow. Just remember that picking fast is the same motion as picking slow, it's just quicker.

I used to have the same problem and i discovered that half of it was all psychological. There's a fast passage coming up and i get all tensed up because i think how fast i have to pick - now i realize that i just keep picking the same and keep my hand relaxed. After i stopped getting tensed up it almost seems like someone else is actually playing the guitar because i feel like i should be tense and shredding from the elbow, but i'm not - and it works great.

The first fast passage from Yngwie's Far Beyond The Sun (after the intro) is a great one to practice this technique on.