picking direction with alternate picking

Hi Paul

Well, I am no expert by any means, although I have spent the last several years really trying to improve my picking skills. I have been studying a book called Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar by Troy Stentina for quite some time now. Excellent book.

Truth is, you want to be able to pick in any combination possible. Almost everybody starts a phrase with a downstroke on the downbeat and picks upstrokes on the upbeats. I think the vast majority would play a downstroke on the downbeat, and then start the next downbeat with a downstroke (I am referring to the example you gave). I know this is what I do.

Wanna try something really interesting, reverse picking order. Start with an upstroke followed by a downstroke on the upbeats. I have tried this and it is really difficult. Just shows the habits we develop. But I experiment like this to hopefully free myself from any habits.

George Benson is supposed to be one of the great alternate pickers. Check him out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7YAYQxmLh0

George does a little bit of everything in this great instrumental. He usually alternates straight down/up, but there are a couple of times he plays all downstrokes, and other times all upstrokes. It is all about the tones and accents you want to pull out of the guitar.

YA know, I was going to say exactly the same thing Wes said! :lol:

+1 Wes!!

thanks a lot wes. i've seen you mention that book a few times before and how much you like it. it is on order at our library so i'm going to take a look at it when it comes in. i have enough books to keep me busy for the time being (and probably for years to come!), but i'm always up for a book that describes something better or has some other benefit. i also saw someone else post about this book and you replied in that thread. that's the thing that is both great and tough with good instructional books - they provide enough material to keep you busy for months, if not over a year of solid practice. sometimes i just wished i could pick up a book and make it through the exercises within a month. doesn't seem to be possible.

it's funny - your example of upstroke on the beat wasn't any more difficult for me than the other way around. then again, i don't have 35 years of experience doing something one way and then trying to change, and i'm just doing some simple scales at this time with it (nothing too fancy).

i think for the time being i will stick with downstroke on the beat and upstroke in between beats. i have been playing a liitle more than 1.5 years and am pretty decent with finger picking, having spent 99.9% of my time doing that, but my picking with a pick really sucked. i just started to PICK it up so that i have something enjoyable to play if i break a nail and also as i get more into playing my electric. it is getting better, even with limited practice on it.

thanks again for your reply. btw, i love george benson and breezin - guitar player magazine said that that song started the smooth jazz genre of music.

paul

Paul

I think you will really enjoy that book. Although it was probably written with the Metal shred type player in mind, I truly think it is beneficial to a player of any style. The exercises really teach you to control your picking hand. And not only will you notice an improvement in solo playing, I think it has really improved my chord work as well.

And I promise you won't get through this book in 6 months unless you are a truly gifted player. The exercises get progressively more difficult and the idea is to get each one up to 160 BPM or more. Man, that is really screamin'! :twisted:

I find most exercises I have to start out at 80, maybe up to 90 BPM. Once you get the exercise down you slowly speed up. Some of the exercises I have been able to work up to about 130 BPM, that's after about 2 years. I don't use the book everyday, but I try to pick out a single exercise each week and work on it. The more difficult exercises I spend more time on. But you can't help but develop a more controlled picking style with these exercises.

Let us know how you like it when you get it. :D