an update on my picking technique change

[vinterland]

Not that anyone cares though. A while back I posted about economy vs. alternate picking. I tried economy picking for a while but then went back to alternate. Here in the past month though after kind of hitting a brick wall in my playing I really gave another shot at economy picking. All I can say is that I'm glad I stuck with it. Economy picking has opened up my playing 10 fold of what it used to be. Patterns that I could never quite get before come with ease. At times I still feel retarted trying to economy pick but its definately getting better everyday. My picking hand feels much less tired after long hours of playing mostly because you don't waste any motion this way. You let your hand flow instead of actually having to try. Also economy picking led me to "inside picking". This is great technique to use when going between two strings. That is all!

[y2stevo]

Re: an update on my picking technique change

Cheers for that insight

I agree inside picking is great for playing things on adjacent strings at fast speeds, but man is it a farkin' awkward thing to get down fast

Cheers

[vinterland]

Re: an update on my picking technique change

Cheers for that insight

I agree inside picking is great for playing things on adjacent strings at fast speeds, but man is it a farkin' awkward thing to get down fast

Cheers

Yeah inside picking makes me feel even more uncoordinated than economy picking.

[SCOTT502]

Re: an update on my picking technique change

Hey vinterland,

Funny I should read your post because I just signed on to submit my own post regarding this same subject! My story is a lot like yours only reversed. About 6 months ago I posted (under a different name) about my attempt to transition from economy picking (although I didn't know what to call it at the time) to alternate.

When I started playing guitar and learning scales I just automatically started to pick in the economy style....and that's how I played for about 15 years...

I got to the point where during a straight scale run I could fly...it also transitions well to sweep picking for arpps....the only downside (and the reason for my trying to transition to alternate) comes when I'm playing a pattern quickly and suddenly change directions I lose pick control at the point of the direction change. With alternate picking this problem dissapears but man the extra movement kills me!

My alternate picking technique has improved but i'm nowhere near the speed of my economy picking....

Have you found this to be a problem? I'd be curious to know since we both seem to be in the same position.

[vinterland]

Re: an update on my picking technique change

Have you found this to be a problem? I'd be curious to know since we both seem to be in the same position.

No not at all actually. I found that economy picking actually allows for more control when doing all kinds of direction changes because I don't use so much motion. It really just feels less sluggish. I guess its different strokes for different folks though. I know changing picking techniques will make you pull your hair out so good luck with the alt. pick change.

[SCOTT502]

Re: an update on my picking technique change

Hmmmmm....maybe I should just isolate that particular movement and work hard on that instead of changing picking styles altogether.

[SCOTT502]

Re: an update on my picking technique change

And thanks.....good luck to you as well, trust me it's a lot of fun when it finally clicks and you can blaze. And you're right...it's almost effortless as compared to alternate.