Question on alternate Picking/ 3NPS

Hey everyone, I´m new to this forum and this is my very first post. Maybe my below questions have been answered already somewhere in the forum but when I did a search I couldn´t find the answers I´m looking for. I have a what I think a very specific question about alternate picking.

I´ll try to keep this short, but I´m afraid it might rather get long. My questions concern three note per string patterns.
I´ll use tabulature to illustrate my problems. Here we go, starting with a three note per string-pattern:



u d (u) d u (d) u d (u) d u (d)
E--15-14-12----------------/---15-14-12--------------
B--------------15-14-12----/---------------15-14-12--

So here we have a three note per string pattern which is beeing played repeatedly, starting with an upstroke, all alternate picking. I used paranthesis to exaggerate my problem parts.

My question regarding this lick now is:

When the right hand changes from the high e string to the lower b string with an upstroke, do you ONLY hit the e string and move the pick in a way that it doesn´t hit the b string, or do you hit BOTH the e string AND the b string and mute the be string with the index finger of the left hand, so that it doesn´t ring?

This is the same lick, but this time starting with a downstroke, again I emphasised the problem part:


d u d u d (u) (d) u d u d (u)
E--15-14-12----------------/---15-14-12--------------
B--------------15-14-12----/---------------15-14-12--

This time the question is: After you hit the last note on the b string, do you do some extra move to avoid hitting the b string again when doing the upward movement, or do you hit both the b string and the e string, muting the b string with the index finger of the left hand?

I guess you understand my problem so I won´t post examples considering five note per string patterns cause it´s basically the same.

Sorry that this post got rather long, but I think it covers a very important point regarding alternate picking.

I´m sorry that the right hand explanation above the tabs got messed up! MAybe someone can help me fix it? I can´t seem to get it right.

Originally Posted by: dairwolfI´m sorry that the right hand explanation above the tabs got messed up! MAybe someone can help me fix it? I can´t seem to get it right.

Spaces don't really work in posts. You have to seperate by dashes like you did in the tabs.

Hitting 1 string or both strings

You only hit 1 string. If you hit both, you are going to get unnecessary noise. You have to skip over the string you don't want to hit. If you are SUPPOSED to deaden a string and play both, the tabs will be indicated wth an "x".
E--x <-- dead string
B--15 <--note to be played

Example 1

Break the example apart. Play 15-14-12, then pause and look at where your hand ends up. After you play (12), your hand should be right above the B string ready to come down and hit it. Make sure you are pulling your hand away from the guitar and not just straight through the strings.

Practice "outside picking":

---u-d-u-d-u-d-u-d-u-d (then do it reverse starting on the B string with)
E--0--0--0--0--0--0
B----0--0--0--0--0--0

Example 2

Not sure why you are having trouble with this one. When you come up, your hand should then be in the "normal" position you would be in when doing a regular downstroke. Should be able to just hit the E string again without worrying about string skipping.

I did notice that the problem areas were (u) and (d) right next to each other. That specific problem might have to do with "inside picking" (Google search). That's a common thing to have trouble with. Practice it with this:

---d-u-d-u-d-u-d-u-d-u (then do it reverse starting on the B string with)
E--0--0--0--0--0--0
B----0--0--0--0--0--0

So basically practice your inside and outside picking. Named because you are either picking on the inside or outside of the E and B strings.

When you practice ANYTHING, make sure you are playing it as slow as you need for it to sound perfect. If you can't play it perfectly, you are playing it too fast. Use a metronome too. If you don't have a physical one, you can use Google to find a ton of online ones. Like this one:
http://www.seventhstring.com/metronome/metronome.html

There are also some players who like to use so calles "directional picking". In this case you would go from the frist to the second string directly with 1 single downstroke, so in this case you would really hit two strings with one motion, like sweep picking (so you don't hit them at the same time but after each other, just not with outside picking).

I could go into some further detail about this, if you have problemes maybe first practice the outsite picking, because it is more basic.

David

Originally Posted by: David BereutherThere are also some players who like to use so calles "directional picking". In this case you would go from the frist to the second string directly with 1 single downstroke, so in this case you would really hit two strings with one motion, like sweep picking (so you don't hit them at the same time but after each other, just not with outside picking).

I could go into some further detail about this, if you have problemes maybe first practice the outsite picking, because it is more basic.

David

Yes, also known as economy picking. However, that doesn't really solve his problem because even with economy picking, you end up on an upstroke after the 6th note and have to string skip to hit the E with a downstroke after.