Scales

So when playing the scales , is it possible playing it fast with regular picking or I need the alternate picking in order to successfully play it fast ?

Originally Posted by: darickmendes

So when playing the scales , is it possible playing it fast with regular picking or I need the alternate picking in order to successfully play it fast ?

Beyond a certain speed you will certainly have to use alternate picking because there is simply no time to get back across the string to pick again without using that time & motion more efficiently to do a pick stroke.

So you can pick in only one direction. But not only will it limit your efficiency & speed, it also limits your musical articulation options. Learning alternate picking will give you more ways to play any given series of notes.

I cover practicing scale for beginners in this series of lessons.

https://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=13236&s_id=743

Once you get beyond that level I more plenty of other scale exercises that show how important alternate picking is.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=453

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=887

This assumes you are playing a pattern with at least 2 or 3 notes on the same string. There is a technique called sweeping in which you can use motion in one direction, picking each string just once all in one direction & motion. Even then, you have to reverse direction when you run out of strings!

I cover sweep picking in this set of tutorials.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=985

Hope that helps!