It's extremely difficult to pick fast and smoothly at the same time

[Napthol]

For several years now I have been trying to learn some speed picking licks. If you can pick each note like a scalar type of passage and pick it fast you can get a machine gun type sound which I just love.

But I have found it very difficult to pick fast and make the pick go through the string on both the downstroke and the upstroke smoothly. I will often get stuck on the upstroke.

I'm beginning to think that in order to play fast type stuff your hands have to be extremely relaxed. And you have to pick very, very lightly.

How do you guys do it? Or have you run into similar problems?

 

[Cynical]

Pick angle. Angle your pick less flat to the string, and it'll be smoother. Also, strike the string with less pick.

 

[PFDarkside]

Troy Stetina, famous for “Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar” is about to release Speed Mechanics 2, focusing on picking. It should be right up your alley.

 

[Securb]

Practice with a metronome.

 

[Mincer]

Also look at some videos on the Troy Grady website, and he has some great advice for exactly the issue you are having- getting caught between the strings.

 

[GuitarStv]

Small thicker pick made a huge difference for me. Jazz IIIs. Then you want to angle the pick slightly in two ways - first, make sure that it's not flat to the strings (this will catch) and next you want to angle the tip so it's not just picking up and down across the strings but a little away and towards the guitar body. This makes changing strings while picking a lot easier and less likely to get tangled up. Then of course, you do want to use a metronome pretty often.

 

[Archer250]

Do this

 

[El Dunco]

I use stubbies (the kind bassists use), even for leads. I don’t like any flex in the pick and they allow for maximun velocity even with minimal wrist movement.

If you can downpick really fast, practice being able to upstroke fast. Another good tip is to pulse or accent on the first of every 8th downstroke while alternating instead of 4. Two examples of my speed picking.

Open at 2:00 here


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[solspirit]

Low action, small hard picks & practice.

 

[Mincer]

This Masters in Mechanics course is really great info.

 

[Napthol]

Pick angle. Angle your pick less flat to the string, and it'll be smoother. Also, strike the string with less pick.

My pick is definitely angled to the string so I know I'm doing that right. But to strike the string with just let's say just the tip of the pick is extremely difficult. It seems like it's just natural to have more than just the tip of the pick below the string. Kinda like someone telling you to go ice skating but only lightly graze the surface of the ice with your skates. Pretty impossible.

 

[GuitarStv]

My pick is definitely angled to the string so I know I'm doing that right. But to strike the string with just let's say just the tip of the pick is extremely difficult. It seems like it's just natural to have more than just the tip of the pick below the string. Kinda like someone telling you to go ice skating but only lightly graze the surface of the ice with your skates. Pretty impossible.

Smaller picks make it harder to pick too deeply. Try out some Jazz IIIs, Stubbies, or similar little picks.

 

[El Dunco]

Smaller picks make it harder to pick too deeply. Try out some Jazz IIIs, Stubbies, or similar little picks.

I use the big, tri-corner stubbies and lately have been trying out the new “attak” picks. They seem to be pretty much doing the same thing I do the way I modify (sharphen and adding extra grip) to my stubbies.

 

[Archer250]

I just use standard Tortex 0.6mms lol

 

[Cynical]

My pick is definitely angled to the string so I know I'm doing that right. But to strike the string with just let's say just the tip of the pick is extremely difficult. It seems like it's just natural to have more than just the tip of the pick below the string. Kinda like someone telling you to go ice skating but only lightly graze the surface of the ice with your skates. Pretty impossible.

As recommended above, a smaller pick will help with this; Jazz IIIs will work, but the small-size Ernie Ball Prodigy picks are even smaller and better. Also, grip it lower and nearer to the tip.

 

[GuitarStv]

I just use standard Tortex 0.6mms lol

You can play fast with whatever you're used to. Paul Gilbert uses standard sized very thin picks too from what I recall, and he's got to be one of the best fast pickers ever. Usually people who use full sized picks learn to choke up on the tip quite a bit when playing fast passages. The OP was saying he's digging in too hard - putting too much tip into the string. A small pick forces you to fix this problem simply because there is less sticking out.

 

[alex1fly]

I won't say to try a specific pick, but I do find it useful to have a bunch of different pick sizes and materials around. This lets me strengthen my overall picking ability, which in turn helps me with specific techniques like speed picking.

 

[Napthol]

I would imagine Yngwie has a light touch with both his left and right hands.

 

[solspirit]

I would imagine Yngwie has a light touch with both his left and right hands.

Hence the low action.

 

[Archer250]

I would imagine Yngwie has a light touch with both his left and right hands.

You'd be surprised.

Left hand, yes, but Yngwie has a monstrous pick attack, and puts tremendous force into his right hand.

Note however, that he does this while being relaxed and as free of as much tension as he could be while still playing what he wants.

See here:

If you look at players like Paul Gilbert, Rusty Cooley or Russian ex-child-prodigy Anton Oparin, their mechanics are a bit clearer on this. It's basically a balancing act, putting a little bit of extra tension on your picking hand during accented strokes (just the hand, not the wrist, arm or anything else), then backing off.

Your hands need to be relaxed on this, but you don't need to compromise your pick attack or dynamics for that