First, a disclaimer - I am not a 'speedking', just a regular guitarist, so I do not claim possession to any superchops. This article represents the extent of my knowledge and opinions regarding developing a good alternate picking technique. It will be subject, I hope, to further refinement in the future.
If you are looking to develop speed, fluidity and accuracy in your alternate picking technique then hopefully some of these exercises will be useful!
If you are looking to develop speed, fluidity and accuracy in your alternate picking technique then hopefully some of these exercises will be useful!
exercises for guitar pro:
| exercises as pdf:
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Basics of the technique:
After a lot of thought, and reading a lot of differing opinions by other guitarists and teachers, I decided that the most logical technique for alternate picking was as follows.
When picking a string, the movement should occur in the wrist.
When moving to a different string, the movement should occur in the forearm, from the elbow.
This technique allows you to gain a lot of speed without planting the hand and restricting or tightening it's movement. It also allows you to develop a consistent technique which will not paint you into any corners while playing.
It's important to separate out the action of the wrist and the action of the forearm and be intentional about what you're doing, and don't inadvertently mix the two.
Also, this technique does not use the fingers and thumb.
Many guitarists will do this in a different way, and their way may work for them. This way works very well for me.
When picking a string, the movement should occur in the wrist.
When moving to a different string, the movement should occur in the forearm, from the elbow.
This technique allows you to gain a lot of speed without planting the hand and restricting or tightening it's movement. It also allows you to develop a consistent technique which will not paint you into any corners while playing.
It's important to separate out the action of the wrist and the action of the forearm and be intentional about what you're doing, and don't inadvertently mix the two.
Also, this technique does not use the fingers and thumb.
Many guitarists will do this in a different way, and their way may work for them. This way works very well for me.
Notes on the exercises:
1. Tremolo on 1 string
In this exercise you isolate the wrist movement. It may be that you haven't made these muscles work before, so go SLOW at first rather than speed up the wrong movement. If you do that you are doing worse than wasting your time, you are practicing doing it wrong! It consists of playing down-up on a single string. See the tabs for the exercise.
Practice points -
- Use 1mm of the tip of the plectrum max
- Minimize movement either side of string - to 1-2mm
- Hold plectrum at slight angle to horizontal - around 15 degrees, but adjust to 'feel' sweetspot where plectrum will slide over the string optimally
- Isolate the wrist for this movement - don't use fingers or elbow
- Try to make up- and down-strokes sound the same
- Keep your wrist relaxed, - don't tense to limit the movement
- Practice on all strings to 'calibrate' hand for each string - until you feel warmed up
2. Movement on 1 string
In these exercises, you add the left hand into the mix and try to synchronize it with the right hand. These exercises are still on 1 string so there's no string skipping yet.
a - Chromatic exercise
Practice points -
- Reduce distance of fingers from fretboard after playing a note, take it as slow as you need to do this consistently
- Optimize the pressure with the left hand - to do this try soft/loud with the right hand, whilst keeping the left hand just as soft and relaxed
b - Scalar exercise
Practice points -
- This exercise consists of playing along the major scale on a single string. Learn the patterns one bar at a time so that they are easy to repeat, don't under any circumstances speed up if there is any tension
3. Inside/ Outside picking
This exercise looks at the two possible ways you can cross from one string to an adjacent string - inside and outside.
Practice points -
- This is your foundation for string-crossing. Take it slow and whereas before you isolated the wrist, now you need to isolate the wrist for the string pluck, but the elbow must move the forearm to reposition to the next string. Try and get a feel for this, do it slowly and deliberately.
4. Troy Stetina’s 5 Mechanics
These five mechanics are taken from Troy Stetina's book. The basic gist is that they look at inside and outside picking, but he argues that it is different when you are playing mostly on the higher or lower string. I would take his word for it. If you are deficient in any one of these mechanics, then you will always fail on that one where it occurs in a given phrase.
Practice points -
- Look carefully at the plectrum movement for each mechanic. Make sure that the correct movement is happening between the forearm and wrist and that each is moving at the right time.
- Use all the principles from before, minimizing movement with the right arm and optimizing pressure with the left
Got questions/comments? Leave them below!
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