alternate picking with guitar

[bball_1523]

I need detailed tips on alternate picking. I've been doing Petrucci's rock discipline exercise where you string skip and alternate pick strictly, but I am having trouble just being consistent no matter how slow of a BPM I am going.

What's a good technique? How much tension do I put? How should my pick be held? How do I improve my upstroke so that it is more in sync with my downstroke? My upstrokes seem to be 10 bpm slower than my downstrokes and I don't know how to get it evened out.

 

[rockmanxpr]

You want Alt picking adivce, then there's two words: Paul Gilbert! Get his Intense Rock Sequences vids, just the 2 first exercises alone IMMENSLY improved my alt picking.

 

[Zax666]

I know you don't want to hear this, but it's the truth:

1)Practice.
2)Metronome.
3)Time.

No shortcuts.

 

[ABQShredHead]

You want Alt picking adivce, then there's two words: Paul Gilbert! Get his Intense Rock Sequences vids, just the 2 first exercises alone IMMENSLY improved my alt picking.

Man, you beat me to it. Definitely, Mr. Gilbert is the best source for alternate picking in a metal context.

If you want to really get someting going fast, play everything with only upstrokes for a couple days. You've probably spent a lot of time playing most of your stuff with downstrokes - at least that's what I take from your commentary. Now do the same thing with upstrokes. Of course it will feel weird, but you're working to develop your muscles here. As such, be very careful of the dreaded T word (tendonitis). Practice slowly and steadily.

Another thing to develop technique:


|-1-2-3-4-2-3-4-5-3-4-5-6-4-5-6-7-|-5-6-7-8-6-7-8-9-7-8-9-10-8-9-10-11--|
|---------------------------------|-------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|-------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|-------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|-------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|-------------------------------------|


|-9-10-11-12-12-11-10-9-11-10-9-8-10-9-8-7-|-9-8-7-6-8-7-6-5-7-6-5-4-6-5-4-3---|
|------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|


|-5-4-3-2-4-3-2-1-1---3---2---4----|-3---5---4---6---5---7---6---8----|
|-------------------2---4---3---5--|---4---6---5---7---6---8---7---9--|
|----------------------------------|----------------------------------|
|----------------------------------|----------------------------------|
|----------------------------------|----------------------------------|
|----------------------------------|----------------------------------|

Play everything with strict alternate picking. I haven't written out the whole exercise, but continue playing up the E and B strings to the 12th fret, then descend and start playing the E and G strings up and down. Then the E and D strings, etc. To further the study, do the first part (chromatics on one string) on every string (do the high E, then the B, then the G, etc.). And then do the high E and B, followed by the B and G, then the G and D, etc. Repeat for each string skip set. This is a tough workout and takes a good amount of time, but it's well worth it for the pick development.

 

[SyXified]

You want Alt picking adivce, then there's two words: Paul Gilbert! Get his Intense Rock Sequences vids, just the 2 first exercises alone IMMENSLY improved my alt picking.

Dead on.

Other than that, most of the stuff you asked is personal stylistic. I guess holding the pick at just a slight angle to parallel from the string is standard, and picking with just the tip lets you accomplish the stroke as quickly as possible and move on. Your upstrokes shouldn't really be gauged against your downstrokes, you never need to upstroke everything. If you are alternate picking to a metronome, your ups by default have to be in the same time as your down, so just speed them up together. Like Zax said, start slow and build speed gradually. No easy way around it, you just have to train your hands.

 

[bball_1523]

i have a problem where my thumb hits the strings often, how can I stop that from happening?

what i notice with my upstrokes is that I'll do a strict alt. picking exercise at 80 bpm with triplets, and then when I go with only upstrokes and 16th notes, I cannot do 80 bpm, I have to turn it down to 70 bpm and even then i struggle to pick cleanly and not miss notes often.

 

[Granskog]

i have a problem where my thumb hits the strings often, how can I stop that from happening?

what i notice with my upstrokes is that I'll do a strict alt. picking exercise at 80 bpm with triplets, and then when I go with only upstrokes and 16th notes, I cannot do 80 bpm, I have to turn it down to 70 bpm and even then i struggle to pick cleanly and not miss notes often.

To get the same effort, you have to do alternate picking on 16th note triplets, then do 8th note triplets just ups.

 

[!Aviso!]

Sounds to me like you just need more practice. It also sounds to me like you have trouble conceiving of time in a precise way, and this might in fact be the biggest problem you're having. Some tips...

Ever heard of the "Table of Time?" Get ahold of some drumsticks (otherwise, just use your hands, I guess) and set your metronome at a pretty slow BPM.... Now what you're going to do is just alternate hand-taps, right-hand, left-hand, right-hand, left-hand... Play 4 measures of WHOLE NOTE, that is, every time the metronome clicks, make sure your hand is tapping. Then play 4 measures of HALF notes (tap twice for every one click), then 4 measures of quarter-note triplets (six notes in total, evenly spaced, over the course of 4 metronome clicks...this one is hard), then 4 measures of quarter notes (4 taps per click)... then standard triplets... then 8th notes... then sextuplets... then septuplets... then 16th notes... then nonuplets... then 10 taps per click... then eleven.... etc...

The goal is to make it up to as many taps per click as you can before you can't think fast enough to do it anymore. Practice this... i dunno... four or five times a day before you start playing your guitar, or while you're watching TV.

Another good idea is to simply alternate hand-taps on the beat to each song on Frank Zappa's "Joe's Garage" album. It'll start out easy, but by the time you get to the 2nd Act, you'll start getting confused.

Other than that, there's no real magic trick to it besides practicing consistently.

 

[bball_1523]

Sounds to me like you just need more practice. It also sounds to me like you have trouble conceiving of time in a precise way, and this might in fact be the biggest problem you're having. Some tips...

Ever heard of the "Table of Time?" Get ahold of some drumsticks (otherwise, just use your hands, I guess) and set your metronome at a pretty slow BPM.... Now what you're going to do is just alternate hand-taps, right-hand, left-hand, right-hand, left-hand... Play 4 measures of WHOLE NOTE, that is, every time the metronome clicks, make sure your hand is tapping. Then play 4 measures of HALF notes (tap twice for every one click), then 4 measures of quarter-note triplets (six notes in total, evenly spaced, over the course of 4 metronome clicks...this one is hard), then 4 measures of quarter notes (4 taps per click)... then standard triplets... then 8th notes... then sextuplets... then septuplets... then 16th notes... then nonuplets... then 10 taps per click... then eleven.... etc...

The goal is to make it up to as many taps per click as you can before you can't think fast enough to do it anymore. Practice this... i dunno... four or five times a day before you start playing your guitar, or while you're watching TV.

Another good idea is to simply alternate hand-taps on the beat to each song on Frank Zappa's "Joe's Garage" album. It'll start out easy, but by the time you get to the 2nd Act, you'll start getting confused.

Other than that, there's no real magic trick to it besides practicing consistently.

I don't know if timing is an issue with me since I feel like I usually play in time when I'm just jamming. It's the playing the notes the evenly and consistently smooth that I am frustrated and struggling with. I can't alternate pick the upstrokes even with the downstrokes, and vice versa.

 

[bball_1523]

when practicing alternate picking, what do you guys practice? What exercises and for how long for each exercise?

 

[rockmanxpr]

when practicing alternate picking, what do you guys practice? What exercises and for how long for each exercise?

As I wrote before, I use the Paul gilbert Intense Rock video to learn alternate picking. So the exercises I do use 3 notes a string patterns. Here is one really basic exercise, looks simple but do it CLEANLY!

E--------------12------------
B--12--13--15-----15--13--12
---D---U----D--U--D---U---D- repeat at the last note

You can play this pattern anywhere on the neck so try this at the 5th fret on the Low E string (A) etc etc
Now, when I use a metronome I start off at 100 bpm but use triplet feel for 5 minuetes, then I increase the metronome by 5 to 105 bpm, so on and so on. I ususally stop at 120 bpm before taking the metronome down to 60 bpm but now play the pattern at Sextuplet feel, again for 5 min then increasing the metronome by 5 bpm.

I use different patterns using the same approach as above, I'm no great player but thanks to Paul Gilbert and Max Dible (Get to know him!!!) my playing has greatly improved.

 

[frankfrank]

I couldn't play the petrucci exercises. It sounds false (not in any scale), it sounds shit and isn't fun. You can get there if you have much discpline, but if you are like me you want to do it by playing, not practicing. (after all practicing is what you do in schooltime ;-))

Use the paul gilbert technique you can find here http://www.intimateaudio.com/psycho_licks.gilbert.html
That's basically the way.

Don't learn his things; make your own licks/patterns. It's much more fun to be creative and see how it becomes. It doesn't really matter how it sounds slow, when you speed it-up it will sound cool.


I've made this one:
(put these in one beat)

|------------------------
|------------------------
|------------7-----------
|--7--9--11-----9--11----
|------------------------
|------------------------


I first couldn't make 80bpm on this. After some days (now) I can play it at 110bpm. Maybe this is not real shredding yet, but I feel improvement.

4 Sugesstions:

1) Use a distortion pedal. When you are bored of a sounds, change distortion.
2) Try it in different posistions.
3) Do not worry much about speed. Put the metronome on and play it. If you can play it well (and played it like 5 or 10 times) put the speed 1bpm higher.
4) If you are bored of it or so, do something else on guitar for 50 or 30 minutes. Then the exercise again. The key is _keep_ doing it, do not change lick. Within some weeks you can do it real fast. Also maybe usefull is to use a clock or stopwatch. Put it at 10 minutes, keep continue playing.
5) Try few stringed first. Play it on one or two strings.

Also get the paul gilbert videos.

 

[Granskog]

I couldn't play the petrucci exercises. It sounds false (not in any scale), it sounds shit and isn't fun. You can get there if you have much discpline, but if you are like me you want to do it by playing, not practicing. (after all practicing is what you do in schooltime ;-))

Use the paul gilbert technique you can find here http://www.intimateaudio.com/psycho_licks.gilbert.html
That's basically the way.

Don't learn his things; make your own licks/patterns. It's much more fun to be creative and see how it becomes. It doesn't really matter how it sounds slow, when you speed it-up it will sound cool.


I've made this one:
(put these in one beat)

|------------------------
|------------------------
|------------7-----------
|--7--9--11-----9--11----
|------------------------
|------------------------


I first couldn't make 80bpm on this. After some days (now) I can play it at 110bpm. Maybe this is not real shredding yet, but I feel improvement.

4 Sugesstions:

1) Use a distortion pedal. When you are bored of a sounds, change distortion.
2) Try it in different posistions.
3) Do not worry much about speed. Put the metronome on and play it. If you can play it well (and played it like 5 or 10 times) put the speed 1bpm higher.
4) If you are bored of it or so, do something else on guitar for 50 or 30 minutes. Then the exercise again. The key is _keep_ doing it, do not change lick. Within some weeks you can do it real fast. Also maybe usefull is to use a clock or stopwatch. Put it at 10 minutes, keep continue playing.
5) Try few stringed first. Play it on one or two strings.

Also get the paul gilbert videos.

that was some awesome advise! thank you