CAn Someone Give me a good picking tip

[metallica89]

I cant find a good way to pick or play faster styles of music i just wanted to know if anyone knows any good tips that could help me out. Thanks









:mad: Ride The Lightning :mad:

[x0o_BurnOut_o0x]

Kirk Hammet uses alternate picking for fast playing.
:excluding Master Of Puppets:

A good tip for alternate picking I have found to be extremely helpful is to grip the pick close to the tip, and to hit the string lightly. Also, another thing, im not sure if its just me or what, but it seems easier when you use a more flexible pick. I can easily do it with my more flexible pick, while I cant seem to do it using my 2.0 mm picks.

[Jolly McJollyson]

Kirk Hammet uses alternate picking for fast playing.
:excluding Master Of Puppets:

A good tip for alternate picking I have found to be extremely helpful is to grip the pick close to the tip, and to hit the string lightly. Also, another thing, im not sure if its just me or what, but it seems easier when you use a more flexible pick. I can easily do it with my more flexible pick, while I cant seem to do it using my 2.0 mm picks.
He alternate picks most of Master of Puppets. Even the beginning arps are only on two strings, and the bottom three notes are alt. picked.

[CW14]

I find it easier to play fast with a thick pick, but holding it very lightly. Hold the pick close to the tip so only a bit pokes out.

To build speed you should use a metronome. Set it to a low tempo, and master what you're playing at that speed, then increase it by a small increment and master it at the new tempo. Keep doing this till you reach the speed that you're aiming for.

[scarface84]

Practice, practice, practice.
But apart from that obvious advice, try to use both alternate picking as well as sweeping, even 2 string-sweeping can help improve your speed in some songs.
And just like cw14 said: use a metronome.

[Kevin Taylor]

Just something I learned after years of switching pics.... don't be afraid to hae a whole selection at your disposal and don't be afraid to switch them mid stream even in the middle of a song.
When I'm playing live I usually have about 20 pics of various different guages stuck to my mic stand with double sided tape. If I'm playing a lead, I'll grab a small hard pick cause it's easier to use and holds it's shape while I'm picking fast. If I have to switch to strumming, I'll grab one of the larger, thinner ones that suites the song more.
The decent part about switching picks all the time is having custom picks made with your logo or even your web page right on the pick itself.
Rather than make a huge deal about changin picks mid song, just toss it out into the audience and grab the next pick that fits.
If you have dedicated fans, you have a whole bunch of people grabbing your picks after you've tossed em away.
If you're basically still a nobody, just go walk around the auditorium afterwards and all your favorite picks will be still sitting there on the floor.

The kewl thing is, if there's some asshole in the audience, you can whip your pick right at their face. If there's a kute girl, you can toss it to here with yoru web address on it....

And the more famous you become, the less picks you find lying on the floor after the show.

[Akira]

If there's a kute girl, you can toss it to here with yoru web address on it....

You could try aiming the pick at her chest, see if she notices after 3 or 4 tries. :p

[Cryptic Excretions]

You could try aiming the pick at her chest, see if she notices after 3 or 4 tries. :p
Or you can see how much force you can put into a flying pick and see if you can pop one of them.

[eventhorizon]

Most people who buy pick's use them as is but with most pick's excluding jazz picks have a broad round face which in turn causes more friction between the pick and the string hampering speed, grabbing very close the tip with just a point of the pick sticking out is the proper postion, looking at your thumb while holding the pick it should protrude from where your thumb nail begins to curve around the tip of the finger, as for the pick I like to use heavy stiff picks because they produce the best natural and un-natural harmonics and also allow the full tone of the strings while playing clean, Dunlop's are great pick's, and I like to take mine to a grinder or sharpening stone and bring the pick tip to a sharp point with a knife edge, it allows for clean attack and pull off of the pick and extremely bright harmonics when attacked at the proper angle, my advice buy a bunch of pick's and try different setups on each one and see what suit's you best. Hope that helps and good luck and PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

[ren]

Just in a 'other picks are available' type way, I recently changed from Dunlop picks to d'addario planet waves...

Didn't change my picking speed, still working on that but I found that Dunlop picks were pretty much good for nothing after a couple of pick slides, whereas the d'addario ones seem to be a harder compound. I can slide all day and still use the pick after... They also have a logo etc moulded on each side, which makes them less prone to slipping than I found Dunlops.

Might just be me... If I ground my pick tips to a point, I'm pretty sure my string bill would go through the roof....

[Kevin Taylor]

Dunlop picks are fun sometimes. If you do a pick slide it puts two grooves into the side of the pick, then when you go back to playing, the groove gets caught in the string and the pick goes flying across the room like a slingshot.
You've gotta learn to treat picks as disposable & not worry about them.
Like, keep a bunch of different sizes available where you can get to them quickly. If you want to change picks, just toss the one you're using at somebody in the audience and grab another one.
Trying to aim them down girls tops or into peoples drinks is always fun.
The only drag is when some bozo decides to do you a favour and give you back the pick while you're playing. You stand there shouting for them to throw it away and they don't understand so you have to take the pick from them, smile and say thank you, then wait for em to turn away so you can toss it away again.

You can kinda guage how popular you are too. If at the end of the night, the dance floor is covered in your picks, then you know you're not famous enough yet for anybody to bother keeping one as a souvenier.

[danmurrelljr]

What's a pick slide? (excuse the noob question please :D )

[Kevin Taylor]

When you take the pick and slide it down the strings.
Like the beginning of this tune:

http://s93744050.onlinehome.us/mp3/MoogBoog.mp3

Usually you take the edge of the pick and scrape it on the 6th & 5th strings all the way from the bridge and down the neck.
If you want to expand on it, you can slide down with the pick and then continue the slide down with your left hand while your right hand returns back to picking position at the bridge.

[ren]

I slide up the top 3 strings, and then down the bottom 2 as Mr schmange says in a kind of circular motion - well an oval.... anyway..... all in one motion.

gives a different sound, and looks good live - more impressive than it is difficult.... :p

[x0o_BurnOut_o0x]

He alternate picks most of Master of Puppets. Even the beginning arps are only on two strings, and the bottom three notes are alt. picked.


Oh really? I had gotten a tab of it and it said to downpick it all. Maybe that is what it was doing wrong...

[bunmiadefisayo]

I hope this thread hasnt become redundant however i wanted to know how exactly to hold the pick. A guy told me that the pick should be held at an angle and not flat on the strings. I tried doing thAt and i did get a bit faster but its really awkward. is this the best way to hold it and which direction should i hold it, should the slant be at an angle facing the floor or facing upwards at me?

[ren]

Holding the pick is an idividual thing..... probably everyone will give you a slightly different answer.

For fast alternate picking, I leave a bit more than 1mm of the pick sticking out past the end of my index/thumb. I angle it slightly, so the edge of the pick nearest the neck is slightly lower than the bridge side.... not too much though.

Works for me - but some players use a different finger/thumb combo, and many vary the amount on angle on the pick...

[shredheadwayne]

Hey,I think I may be able to help you get some speed in your lead. This works for me. Play with a metronome for all this stuff.

First, start out by picking on one string without fretting anything for a long time (3 minutes). Make sure to use the smallest strokes possible without muting the string with the pick. Play slowly at first. Do this 3 times (3minutes picking, 1 minute resting X 3). Speed the metronome up 5 beats per minute. Repeat the whole thing for an hour.
Then after that start practicing a personal favorite scale (I love melodic minor, diminshed or augmented myself) with this technique just like you did it before for another hour.
I guarantee this will help you acheive better picking ability. I have a lot more on this, too. If this doesn't work e-mail me and I will give you something else to do.

[ccb]

well, I was going to say something about Dava control picks, how they're basically a heavy pick with a thinner bit in the middle, so you get the sound of a heavy gauge with the flexibility of a lighter gauge, and how you can hold it a little closer to the tip to cut down on flex for leads if you wish, and how they're as durable as anything I've played... in fact I don't think I've ever worn one out with pickslides and such....

BUT

all this talk about hucking picks into the crowd sounds like waaaaay too much fun :D

Maybe I'll just pretend to need a new pick and throw a handful of old ones I never use from now on....

[gibson24]

I've found that having a pivit point for your wrist can change everything (for the better) think ergonomics, by that I mean practice slowly and keep in mind to try and pick the bare minimum distance down and then the bare minimum distance up to ring out a string. what ever you call it galloping, idleing what ever start slow to develop perfect technique and try to stay calm and loose. progressivly earn your speed. Good luck.

[h sapien]

Try learning Travis picking. It looks complicated. .but broken down into steps it's just a simple pattern and will take you where you want to go... h.








:mad: Ride The Lightning :mad:

[J.Hammett]

Oh really? I had gotten a tab of it and it said to downpick it all. Maybe that is what it was doing wrong...


Hetfield's the only one that downstrokes everything. Kirk doesn't. When you downstroke you get a precise tone compared to when you upstroke. Believe it or not but he also downstrokes all those horse galloping triplets and so forth like on Battery. Anyway I have a tip for you. It's probably the same as everybody elses but start slow and practice. For me I use heavier gauge picks because they flex and it makes it easier for me. Oh, and if you want to practice doing those downstrokes, start out slow and then build up the speed. Keep your picking arm relaxed because if you're not used to picking all downstrokes you'll cramp up and that's not good. You'll just become a slower picker and you won't be able to play the riffs anyway.

[The Ace]

Regarding picking styles, there are primarily 3 different types of picking. The most popular and widely used form is alternate picking, which is, of course, as it sounds: every note is picked up/downup/down. But another way to pick that increases facility and speed is economy picking. When using economy picking, things are simplified - when switching strings the stroke need not be the opposite of the last stroke, but it can be the same. This is hard for me to explain. Use the search function in the toolbar and search for picking or economy vs. alternate, etc...

I've always been a proud user of economy picking because it makes more sense to me. However, the decision on what picking style to use comes down to you. I cannot tell you that this style is better than anything else, but it does work for me. Experiment, and see what you like the best. I know plenty of shredders who use econ., and plenty that use alternate.

Most of what you learn about this stuff comes from experience. Play around with all this stuff as much as you can, and the answers will become clear to you.

[Kevin Taylor]

Another thing you can do is alternate which direction you begin picking a scale. For instance, most guys will start a scale with a downstroke and then alternate pick the rest of it.
Instead of doing that, start the scale with an upstroke and pick every note the opposite of what you'd normally do.
If you spend half of your time practicing in reverse like this until it becomes natural, you'll find yourself not even noticing anymore which direction you're picking in. That way you aren't always limiting yourself to starting leads on a downstroke for instance, or worrying about getting lost in the middle of a lead and having to suddenly reverse direction.
(hard to explain in words.. hope that makes sense)

[Ironbird85]

low Estring:
1 2 3 4
v ^ v ^
repeat in every position possible and on every string
v=down stroke
^=upstroke
start slow with a metronome and slowly increase speed
use heavy heavy picks and use your wrist, not your arm
variate it to your usage invert the picking pattern or switch the fingering get innovative

[teleblues]

try circle picking....you gotta hold the pick at an angle to the string instead of parallel to it. Then you make a small circular motion with the pick, but your wrist shouldnt move, only your fingers holding the pick. It takes a while to get but it can be twice as fast as alternate picking when done right.