Alt picking advice

[jordanscot]

I've been playing for just shy of a year and I have gone from learning things like Brand New and Weezer to now playing Born of Osiris, Veil of Maya, August Burns Red, etc.
However, I still cannot alt pick for the life of me. I have to do it by pure down-stroke, and I know it looks bad and feels clumsy.
This is stopping me from polishing the last touches on so many songs and just makes me feel very incompetent for not having learned this before I got my speed to where it's at.
I feel like this is the last basic picking technique I need to really work on before I push into learning soloing and theory a lot more than just practicing other people's songs.

If you guys could give me some tips, videos, etc. it would be much appreciated, thanks!

 

[Dannyboi]

Just do EVERYTHING alternate picking... annoying as hell at first. But you'll get better at it. Also don't do it faster than you are able to.

 

[Dead Undead]

^That, and use a metronome. Always.

 

[jordanscot]

Yeah, I alt pick almost everything it's just part that are .. hmm, idk terms so let me sound dumb for a second: A part that has stuff on say low e palm muted then switches between the rest of the strings usually not palm muted is hard and I am having trouble getting any faster with it.

 

[HipsterZach]

If you listened to Weezer, just practice the intro to "My Name is Jonas" over and over again! That is a good one for alternate picking. Keep your motions as short as possible. Speed = Distance over time. Remember that.

 

[Solodini]

Whatever you practise alt picked, practise it as many times starting with an up pick as you do a down pick. That way, you can strengthen the movement in both directions and if you accidentally mispick then it won't be an issue to keep playing.

 

[Overtone]

Get into how the rhythm works. Cheesy campfire acoustic guitar seems like it's weak sauce but that style can teach a lot about rhythm because you learn to make movements even for the rests. So say you have a patter of strum strum strum rest that is repeating. You want to stumble down, strum up, strum down, then bring your hand up without picking the notes, that way when the pattern repeats you start with a downstroke like the first time. It let's you keep moving your hand continuously instead of stopping and starting, which is awkward. You can apply the same to metal picking. Take the maiden gallop. Dun rest dun dun dun rest dun dun dun rest etc. Pick that down rest down up down rat down up down rat down up down, etc. You don't have to worry about making an upstroke movement on the rests, but keep track of the pattern so you are always starting the gallop on a downstroke. And sometimes downstrokes back to back are what you want. Figuring ouT the rhythm aspect will enable you to work out when you want straight downstrokes.

 

[Overtone]

Lol autocorrect

 

[jordanscot]

@Overtone, Yeah I have been trying that lately and it's definitely helping. I mean, I alt pick nearly everything I play including the few solos I now but I am just really bad at alt picking over strings or doing different amounts of plucks on a string then going back to another and such.
I guess it's mostly things that would pluck a lower string in odd numbers.
Like pm 0 on a low e followed by 7 on d over and over is a pain to alt pick to me, I think it's "inside picking" or something similar that gives me problems.

For instance, this has been a pain in the ass for me lately. The part right after the pick slide that goes on doing alt picking for quite a while.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzi6LyHkgpc

 

[SirMyghin]

If you were inside picking , that means you are playing the E on the up stroke and A on the down stroke. If you are starting with a downstroke, then an upstroke for the A you are outside picking, as you are moving from outside what you need to pick. It is all about the pick path, not picking 'inner' strings.

 

[jordanscot]

I know, I wasn't saying those particular notes make it inside picking. I was saying I try and play those with inside picking and it gives me trouble.

 

[Overtone]

I couldn't view the YouTube vid (dunno why) but for a part like that I personally would pick down up, or in other words outside.

 

[Solodini]

As with everything you try to learn, I'd say just to write stuff using that technique so you're not frustrated by trying to find something which uses it and then frustrated by comparing yourself to John Petrucci or whomever. Also, once it's good with the technique you wrote it for, try playing it with the complete opposite technique and then try the other techniques in the middle. It's good to have a few different approaches to most things you play and learning something the complete opposite way to how it was meant to be played will be a real challenge and in a good way, I think.

 

[SirMyghin]

I know, I wasn't saying those particular notes make it inside picking. I was saying I try and play those with inside picking and it gives me trouble.

Inside picking just takes practice, there is a small etude for it in Petruccis rock discipline. I personally have never had much trouble with it, but it is still good to practice. More good practice is alternate pickign 1 note per string arpeggios, you are constantly going between inside and outside picking then. Generally speaking, I rarely sweep, typically using it more as a rake technique when jamming for the sonic qualities.

 

[jordanscot]

Yeah, practice makes perfect. I am working on it right now.
Now that i'm getting to different picking techniques the guitar is just seeming like a completely different instrument with each one haha.

 

[Solodini]

Definitely, man. There's still little things which I'm discovering a decade in which are tiny but make a huge difference and make me rethink most of what I play after that. I've been learning to play chicken pickin'/loosely country type licks, both playing and notes-wise, and it has given my writing a very different feel while still sounding like me. Take everything into account which you can and you'll constantly progress. There's no end to what you can learn in a human lifetime.

 

[SirMyghin]

^^ Hybrid picking is great for techniques like octave displacement, or anything where you don't want to constantly be skipped 3+ strings every note. Useful when 'pedalling' under a lead line (or over)

 

[jordanscot]

^^ Hybrid picking is great for techniques like octave displacement, or anything where you don't want to constantly be skipped 3+ strings every note. Useful when 'pedalling' under a lead line (or over)

What is hybrid picking?

 

[oompa]

A great mindset to have when practicing technique in any aspect is to use your own perception as your guide:

Be very observant of your play, and whenever you run into -anything- that you do not completely master to your own level of content, you pick that part out, isolate it, break it down to pieces, practice it slowly with perfection, and work it up to speed. The goal is to turn your weaknesses into your strengths.

example: You do a solo but notice that during that particular sweep arpeggio, you sound a tad sloppy. You play only the arpeggio a few times and realize that what makes you sound sloppy there is the repositioning of the left hand wrist when you slide from the 12th note to the 17th note on the e-string.

you isolate that part (add a note or two before it and after it) and start practicing that slide+ part alone, slow but with perfection. Repeat it many times until it starts to feel comfortable. You even try it on different places around the neck, and even try bigger slides and shorter slides, try it on different strings, and work them all up to speed and comfort.

Then you go back and play the solo again and notice how that previously sloppy part is suddenly the easiest part and it is now the part of the solo you feel the most confident playing.

I use this approach a lot. Sometimes I run into really heavy problems that take months to fix sometimes it's just a mental thing, like, I have to mentally prepare for that part of a riff or solo, to position this and that right, or to pick this and that way during that particular passage etc. Often it's just a small thing I need to practice a few minutes to really punch it into my head.

It's good to be self-analytic on details, find your own weaknesses and practice them (by isolating and repeating) until you handle them comfortably

 

[jordanscot]

Yeah, that's pretty much exactly how i've learned most of the frustrating things I have gotten down. Just slowed it down, played the hardest parts constantly, and keep using a metronome even though it still is weird to play too haha (2 months in on it).