Help me with my picking technique

Harborne_Blue

roberty said:

I completely changed my picking technique a few years back after nearly 20 years of playing. This video and the Troy Grady technique helped me the most:



Some general advice,

First get the motion right on a single string. Then you can figure out how to take it across strings. It feels weird at first

The riff from Bark at the Moon by Ozzy Osbourne is a good exercise with the palm muted pedaling on the A string. Palm muting should be easy when you have the right grip and movement 

I highly recommend watching the Guthrie video lesson above. There's something for everyone in there - I realised that I've basically been holding my pick wrong. Since forever. Spent a fun weekend undoing that one and my picking has improved noticeably.

fastonebaz

Yeah I've been watching that and getting better slowly. 

stratman3142

I've spent some considerable time trying to play the lick and I'm still pretty crap at it . I've made it part of my daily practice schedule because I like the combination of techniques. Maybe I'll get it at some point in the distant future if I keep working at it.

After trying loads of different approaches, the picking that seems to work best for me is as shown below, which is similar to how the amazing Mr. Potter plays it, except I need to include more hammer-ons and pull-offs. So my approach is sweeping and legato more than alternate picking. It might be worth a try if, like me, you're more of a legato player.

https://i.imgur.com/0tG8oZ5.png

fastonebaz

stratman3142 said:

I've spent some considerable time trying to play the lick and I'm still pretty crap at it . I've made it part of my daily practice schedule because I like the combination of techniques. Maybe I'll get it at some point in the distant future if I keep working at it.

After trying loads of different approaches, the picking that seems to work best for me is as shown below, which is similar to how the amazing Mr. Potter plays it, except I need to include more hammer-ons and pull-offs. So my approach is sweeping and legato more than alternate picking. It might be worth a try if, like me, you're more of a legato player.

https://i.imgur.com/0tG8oZ5.png

Good work.  I gave up after posting this and focused on holding my pick different and playing my own solos more fluently.   I think I've got better.   Not sure I'll ever be a sweeper  proper 

theguitarclinic

This video maybe of some help to you:

stratman3142

theguitarclinic said:

This video maybe of some help to you:

Good stuff. I'm not sure it's the approach for this specific lick, which I'm convinced needs sweep picking to get it up to speed.

But I like your video, approach and teaching style. You have an amazing technique. The only way I can get near your astonishing speed on your lick is by starting with an upstroke, and even then I'm very slow compared to you.

roberty

digitalkettle said:

roberty said:

Your playing is already clean mate and sounds good. You can revert back to your usual technique when you're not doing fast runs. Lots of guitarists switch into different modes when playing fast/slow

Yep...like I have 'fairly disciplined mode' when practicing and 'everything goes to shit mode' when pushing it at a gig

DLM

@roberty I strongly resemble your post!

Just popping back into this thread to say that Alfred Potter's YouTube channel has a whole wealth of technique advice on sweeping and other "shred" techniques broken down into easily digestible chunks and very clearly explained. 

https://pics.me.me/deploying-friend-friend-deployed-everyone-gather-here-tactical-kiwi-37580438.png

I imagine him getting up every morning singing:

"I'd like to teach the world to shred
in Phrygian harmony!"