Originally Posted by: capitalalchemyHammer ons and pull offs are not cheating, and in fact they help take the stress off of the picking hand, can help you play faster, and smoother.

But its really all about the sound that you want. First of all, the melodic exercise that you developed for yourself sounds really nice, so congrats on the creative skills. Second, if I were playing something like this I would definitely go ahead and pick everything out, but make sure that you play it slow enough to see if there are any improvements that can be made in your picking.

True. Remember that you don't have to alternate pick everything, and there are many situations where that won't sound the best musically speaking. Unless you are playing just a ton of metal, or simply love to play fast; being a crazy alternate picker shouldn't be your top priority in my opinion. Hammer ons, pulls offs, legato playing; all of those things work great in soloing. More importantly, you really want to work on your phrasing and "what you say" in your soloing; no just how fast you can play. You can play scales and modes at 300 bpm all day long, but your goal should be to make meaningful music and to be very expressive with your instrument. This is not to discourage anyone from practicing this stuff, but don't get too bogged down by it.

Make your alternate picking practice a part of your routine, but also prioritize many other aspects of your playing.

Question; who are some of your favorite guitarists?