Hi there - I hope this is not a repeat question that's already been answered ( I looked around and couldn't find one, so hopefully not) - I have recently acquired my first electric, and have been pleased with its ease over my acoustic. In particular, when practicing scales/licks, I've noticed it's much easier to hammer-on than my acoustic was.
Here's my problem/question: as I get faster with my fingering hand on the scales, my picking hand is falling way behind. In fact the lack of speed in picking is impeding how fast I actually go, as I can finger the scales much faster than I can pick them.
Am I supposed to pick them? When playing fast, are you supposed to be picking, or is it one long series of hammer-ons?
I am very confused as to what a "regular" playing technique should be, even for moderately fast pieces. The electric makes the hammer-ons much easier, so should I be "tapping" with one hand as a matter of regular playing style?
Thanks for any info.
There is nothing wrong with using hammer-ons and pull-offs to play fast runs. But you want to develop your picking as well. The best way to develop fast picking is with a metronome. Play a run at a comfortable speed, say 60-70 beats per minute. Once you have the run down, speed up the tempo maybe 4 BPM. Practice in this manner until you cannot keep up. Then slow down the metronome maybe 10 BPM and work your way back up again. You will be amazed how much speed you will develop in a few weeks.
When speed picking, try to use as little motion as possible with your pick. Remember distance=time.
And you might not hear this often, but I think it is important to practice playing very slow. This will develop your inner timing. You will be surprised how difficult it is to play at a very slow tempo. So practice that too.
So in the end you want to be able to hammer-on, pull-off and speed pick depending on the sound you want.
Practice is the secret.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
Are you alternate picking?
Id work on picking very fast on just one string, like in D!ck Dales intro to pulpfiction, or in Eruption, the part on high E, that goes like "12, 14, 16, 10, 17" or so...and then, once you can pick fast on one string, try to do it on another, and then try switching from string to string.**
there is nothing wrong with playing hammer on/pull off fast licks, its very common in blues players, but it is good to get your picking down as well..
*IM me on 'nyyankees1855' or msn '[email protected]' and I can send you sound files on exactly what I meant in the above paragraph**
