Can anyone recommend some exercises to develop speed and accuracy with the picking hand, or do I need to just keep doing scale exercises and be patient?
Thanks!
How to develop picking speed?
Having recently transitioned from acoustic fingerstyle to electric, I'm having difficulty..umm..using a pick.
Can anyone recommend some exercises to develop speed and accuracy with the picking hand, or do I need to just keep doing scale exercises and be patient?
Thanks!
Can anyone recommend some exercises to develop speed and accuracy with the picking hand, or do I need to just keep doing scale exercises and be patient?
Thanks!
# 1
do you practice with a metronome?
Best way to build up speed to pick slowly, choose a speed that feels far too slow. The key is to be 1000% accurate all of the time.
Pick up and down some scales that you know. At this slow speed. When you can do it 10x without any errors pop the speed up 5 bpm and do it again.
Best way to build up speed to pick slowly, choose a speed that feels far too slow. The key is to be 1000% accurate all of the time.
Pick up and down some scales that you know. At this slow speed. When you can do it 10x without any errors pop the speed up 5 bpm and do it again.
# 2
That's pretty much what I'm doing. Guess the answer is to be patient.
Ahh, that old chestnut. Hard work, persistence and all that. :D
Ahh, that old chestnut. Hard work, persistence and all that. :D
# 3
Originally Posted by: WurlakinThat's pretty much what I'm doing. Guess the answer is to be patient.
Ahh, that old chestnut. Hard work, persistence and all that. :D
Yes Sir - and the rest is to pick a few of the instructors here, Andy, Chris, Anders and many more and practice their lessons... These riffs, scales, and rythyms will improve you rpicking faster than just trying to pick scales - and then time is the rest - unfortunately, and if it was easier than that, there would a whole lot more very good guitarists out there I suspect
THe rest is "use it" or "loose it"
***************
[FONT=Tahoma]When I think, I get the
Blues, When I'm depressed, I get the Blues
When I am tired, I get the Blues, Shit, I get the Blues
All the Time!
So naturally, When I play the guitar, I play the Blues[/FONT]****************
[FONT=Tahoma]When I think, I get the
Blues, When I'm depressed, I get the Blues
When I am tired, I get the Blues, Shit, I get the Blues
All the Time!
So naturally, When I play the guitar, I play the Blues[/FONT]****************
# 4
Originally Posted by: WurlakinHaving recently transitioned from acoustic fingerstyle to electric, I'm having difficulty..umm..using a pick.
Can anyone recommend some exercises to develop speed and accuracy with the picking hand, or do I need to just keep doing scale exercises and be patient?
Thanks!
Patience is key yes :) There are many exercises out there to help you with your picking. Here are a few links, that while basic, really do help in helping you work with a pick.
http://guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=621
http://guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=13957
Again, these may be a little basic; but if you are using a pick for the first time, these will certainly give you something to work with. One thing to remember is that you don't want to grip very hard on your pic. You want to make sure that you have a light grip, like holding a pencil, as you don't want any unnecessary tension in your right hand. Also, try finding some more rock oriented songs that you enjoy listening too that use a pick, and learn those as an excuse to practice with a pic. Here are a few more links to some GT lessons that teach parts of some popular songs that are played with a pic;
http://guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=13981&s_id=874
http://guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=13935&s_id=866
http://guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=13677&s_id=831
http://guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=13575&s_id=819
Hopefully this helps you somewhat. Best of luck and keep us posted on how your doing.
Douglas Showalter
# 5
Alternate picking, for most players, is something that has to be worked on FAITHFULLY for some time in order to see some real improvement.
A while ago I decided that I wanted to put the final nail in the coffin of my alternate picking problems. It took 1-2 hours a day of consistent practice for several months but I am finally getting my alternate picking to where I want to be.
I focused on three aspects of picking and practiced JUST those things for 1-2 hours a day for several months. The cool thing is that after a while you can just practice this stuff while you watch TV or something.
STEP 1: Practice on just single strings. Get your picking as efficient, clean and even as you can on each individual string. I spend about 20-30 minutes just picking single strings in groups accented of 3's or 4's. Make sure that you spend time on each string. Especially if you have a guitar with a small fretboard radius.
STEP 2: Practice inside and outside of the string picking by itself. For example play the B string with a downstroke and the high E string with an upstroke. Repeat over and over. Outside of the string picking right! Do this on all string pairs. Do it with inside picking too. Start off with an upstroke on the B string and then a downstroke on the high E string. Inside picking. I spent 20-30 min on just this every day.
STEP 3: Practice moving from string to string in groups of three. For example play thee notes on the B string starting with a downstroke and then move to the high E string and play three more notes starting with an upstroke. Do this on all string pairs. Once you finish that start over and start the whole regimen with an upstroke on the first set of three notes. This will make sure that your inside and outside picking skills progress evenly.
Once you get to this point you can start to practice your scales and runs more. If you have been faithful to your practice you should notice a huge difference. Remember to only practice all of these things at a speed at where you can play them perfectly clean.
It is A LOT of work but it is totally worth it. In several months you should see a GIANT difference in your alternate picking.
Nate Savage
A while ago I decided that I wanted to put the final nail in the coffin of my alternate picking problems. It took 1-2 hours a day of consistent practice for several months but I am finally getting my alternate picking to where I want to be.
I focused on three aspects of picking and practiced JUST those things for 1-2 hours a day for several months. The cool thing is that after a while you can just practice this stuff while you watch TV or something.
STEP 1: Practice on just single strings. Get your picking as efficient, clean and even as you can on each individual string. I spend about 20-30 minutes just picking single strings in groups accented of 3's or 4's. Make sure that you spend time on each string. Especially if you have a guitar with a small fretboard radius.
STEP 2: Practice inside and outside of the string picking by itself. For example play the B string with a downstroke and the high E string with an upstroke. Repeat over and over. Outside of the string picking right! Do this on all string pairs. Do it with inside picking too. Start off with an upstroke on the B string and then a downstroke on the high E string. Inside picking. I spent 20-30 min on just this every day.
STEP 3: Practice moving from string to string in groups of three. For example play thee notes on the B string starting with a downstroke and then move to the high E string and play three more notes starting with an upstroke. Do this on all string pairs. Once you finish that start over and start the whole regimen with an upstroke on the first set of three notes. This will make sure that your inside and outside picking skills progress evenly.
Once you get to this point you can start to practice your scales and runs more. If you have been faithful to your practice you should notice a huge difference. Remember to only practice all of these things at a speed at where you can play them perfectly clean.
It is A LOT of work but it is totally worth it. In several months you should see a GIANT difference in your alternate picking.
Nate Savage
Take a look at the Practice Routine Generator at www.BeginnerGuitarSystem.com
# 6
