Alternate Picking Exercises?

[Jay 77]

I've been looking more closely at my alternate picking recently and have come to realize I've been a fraud all this time... I use economy picking nearly all the time without meaning to. Do any of you have a way of correcting this other than doing various patterns across strings (starting slow of course)? I'd like to be able to do either method on the fly if necessary to keep things interesting. Any help would be great here. Thanks guys!

 

[CTN]

Re: Alternate Picking Exercises?

Practice this with a metronome. up/down strokes. make sure you start slow, get every single note picked/fretted perfectly before increasing the speed. I found these exercises serve as a great warmup to establish really good coordination between left and right hands, as it forces you to improve your control of the pick and your fretting hand as well. That control will allow you to switch between alternate and economy picking on the fly and it will add more authority to every note you play as well.

E|--17--15--13--------------------------------------13--15--17--
B|--------------17--15--13--------------13--15--17--------------
G|--------------------------16--14--16--------------------------
D|--------------------------------------------------------------
A|--------------------------------------------------------------
E|--------------------------------------------------------------



E|--15--13--12--------------------------------------12--13--15--
B|--------------15--13--12--------------12--13--15--------------
G|--------------------------14--12--14--------------------------
D|--------------------------------------------------------------
A|--------------------------------------------------------------
E|--------------------------------------------------------------



E|--13--12--10--------------------------------------10--12--13--
B|--------------13--12--10--------------10--12--13--------------
G|--------------------------12--10--12--------------------------
D|--------------------------------------------------------------
A|--------------------------------------------------------------
E|--------------------------------------------------------------



E|--12--10--8-----------------------------------8--10--12--
B|-------------12--10--8-------------8--10--12-------------
G|------------------------10--9--10------------------------
D|---------------------------------------------------------
A|---------------------------------------------------------
E|---------------------------------------------------------



E|--10--8--7-------------------------------7--8--10--8--
B|------------10--8--6-----------6--8--10---------------
G|----------------------9--7--9-------------------------
D|------------------------------------------------------
A|------------------------------------------------------
E|------------------------------------------------------

 

[Jay 77]

Re: Alternate Picking Exercises?

Thanks. I've been doing a bunch of 3-per patterns and they're the ones that were getting me. It's always the ascending, outside picking parts that I have trouble with. descending, inside picking is no problem. Damn me and my bad habits!

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: Alternate Picking Exercises?

See if you can get a copy of the 10 Minute Guitar Workout - a lot of the exercises are based around alternate picking patterns. The idea is that you randomly pick 1 exercise out of each of the 3 section and play them for two minutes each continuously. As you progress in proficiency, you should see the repetition count for each exercise increase.

 

[guitfiddle]

Re: Alternate Picking Exercises?

Practice this pattern with a metronome...

1-2-3-4------------------------------------------
---------1-2-3-4---------------------------------
-----------------1-2-3-4-------------------------
-------------------------1-2-3-4-----------------
---------------------------------1-2-3-4---------
------------------------------------------1-2-3-4

from the first string, to the sixth, and back.


Then go...

2-3-4-5--------------------------------------------
---------2-3-4-5-----------------------------------
------------------2-3-4-5--------------------------
---------------------------2-3-4-5-----------------
------------------------------------2-3-4-5--------
--------------------------------------------2-3-4-5

from the first string, to the sixth and back.

Go until your first finger is on the 12th fret, then go back down the entire fretboard.

Next, do 1-2-3, 2-3-4. etc. all the way up and back down.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Alternate Picking Exercises?

If you want the ultimate book of alternate picking exercises, get this: http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Lore-Dennis-Sandole/dp/1598060872

 

[CTN]

Re: Alternate Picking Exercises?

or learn to play any zakk wylde solo. Be cautious tho, if you get carried away, your fingers might get stuck doing pinch harmonics for the rest of time.

 

[Jay 77]

Re: Alternate Picking Exercises?

or learn to play any zakk wylde solo. Be cautious tho, if you get carried away, your fingers might get stuck doing pinch harmonics for the rest of time.

I can't play anything in drop D without doing them at some point...