Picking Technique

For a while now, I've been practicing my 3 note per string modes to get them up to a decent speed so I feel comfortable using them to improvise. I've managed to get them to a certain level, but I noticed I was hitting a barrier of some kind. After a very eye opening technique lesson from Phi, I found out what this barrier was.

Almost every guitarist is taught to Alternative Pick. This is when you keep your pick going in a constant up/down/up/down motion. It's probably one of the most important things you learn, because it unlocks being able to play note denominations easier. For example, if you were to use nothing but down picks to play 16th notes at a high BPM, you would struggle. Although, punk guitarists are known for only playing down picks, but I'm guessing it took a lot of practice to get down picks that fast. Being able to alternative pick will save stress on your hand and wrist, because it seems to flow better.

During my technique lesson, I was asked to play an A Ionian in sextuplets, slide up to the high E and descend the B Dorian in 16ths. I had no trouble descending, but the fast major runs were throwing me. I struggled keeping up, because of the aforementioned 'barrier'. Phi told me to slow down and really think about my picking, which is when we discovered I wasn't alternative picking, I was Economy Picking.

Economy picking is a weird technique. If you were to play an A Ionian in 3 note per string form, the normal way to pick it would be:




A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G#-A

V ^  V   ^  V  ^     V   ^

What I was doing is this:

 A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G#-A
 V ^   V  V  ^  V  V    ^

(V= Down, ^= Up) 

This means that when I was changing string, I would start the picking system again. This gave me trouble to keep in time, as with alternative picking you can tell that a down pick would be a beat, and an up pick would be the 'And'. Economy picking doesn't follow this system, making it difficult.

I'm currently working on rewiring my brain to make alternative picking my standard technique. It's weird, because I'm so used to my way that it seems alien. It's going to take a lot of focus.