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There is much to be learned there.
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From: DrFretBoard <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Floating hand/circular/benson picking
Can someone tell me what is the most effective fast picking technique.
Is it the hardest to learn?
I had a big breakthrough
in alternate picking after studying and
observing it closely for quite
some time.
Search for clips of John
McLaughlin, like here :
http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/jm3/
Observe how he holds his
pick and watch the positioning of his elbow
and his arm.
His elbow rests on the
body of the guitar at all times. Same goes for
Al DiMeola. This results in
a free forearm, which simplifies picking
arm/hand motion. If you are
taller, you will lean on the side of the guitarbody
with your forearm, which
results in hindered motion if you're not careful.
Check out John
Petrucci's instructional video. He's a rock player, but
very bright as far as picking
technique goes. He demonstrates alternate
picking in a very useful manner.
Look at Frank Gambale,
how he holds his pick and how he uses
sweeppicking. And the motion of his
arm when he changes strings.
Check out Eric Johnson,
how he alternate picks; he seems to move his
pick AWAY from the string
after a pickstroke.
Check out "Strunz and
Farah". They have fantastic picking technique.
The idea is that the
picking motion comes from the wrist, the arm moves
the hand from string to
string.
The exact motion that
comes from MY wrist, is a combination of
"doorknob" movement (the arm
rotates some aswell) and side-to-side movement from
the wrist only.
The best way to practise
this is to practise in slowmotion, observing
your every move. Analyze it.
Analyze your way of
holding the pick.
It turned out that I was
most comfortable and flexible holding the pick
similar to the way Frank
Gambale holds his pick; making a fist, gently
resting the little
finger on the body of the guitar BUT WITHOUT ANY
TENSION.
Note that it SHOULD NOT
MATTER what pick you use as far as technique
goes; what you want is all the
flexibility you can get. You select a pick
based on a SOUND judgement. My
favorite brand: http://www.wegenpicks.com/
.
These picks are BRILLIANT.
When I pick, the pick is
slanted a little bit downwards but not much. I
don't pick with the
precise tip of the plectrum, rather slightly to the
side of the pick's tip; the
side closest to the string. This enables me to
move from string to string
more swiftly.
Here's the exercise I
used to get to a breakthrough in alternate
picking:
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
---------5-7-5---------------
---5-7-9-------9-7-5---------
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
It's a very simple
pattern using part of a G-scale.
This pattern involves a
pick movement AROUND the G string, after a
downstroke on the D
string.
I was stuck around 160
for a long time, until I figured out proper
arm-position and motion.
There's a little arm
motion involved when changing strings, the rest of
it is all wrist action.
At a certain point, I
broke through the barrier and was able to take it
upto around 192bpm. I didn't
yet bother to take it further but I am
confident that 208bpm is a real
possibility.
After this you can try a
major scale up and down the neck using three
notes per string.
At speeds of 16th notes
from 160bpm and higher, you will have to train
your body; your muscles will
need some training to be able to perform the
proper motions at the desired
speeds. It becomes higher level athletics. It's
not very hard, but it
requires time and endurance.