Alt picking advice

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jordanscot

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Ah, I totally knew that and just wasn't thinking straight hahaha. I can do it sometimes, but my finger-picking skills are really weak on guitar.
 

Solodini

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Another good thing to practise ;) Mine were for ages. They're still not great. Most people who play electric have sub-par picking skills. It's definitely good to learn, though. Check out more of Danny Gatton, some Bret Garsed and as many country guitarists as you can to hear amazing fingerpicking without just being slow accompaniments.
 

jordanscot

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I'll look into it. I'm really trying to get as many different styles of picking as I can down. It just changes the difficulty of so many things that I know, love learning a new style haha.
 

jordanscot

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Thanks, like I said earlier, I really want to pursue music. I played drums and bass for a while but guitar is just.. idk. It's my comfort instrument even though I've played it the least amount of time. I love the techniques and the elegance of it, and is one of the few things I have ever genuinely wanted to put all my time into.
 

SirMyghin

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I'll look into it. I'm really trying to get as many different styles of picking as I can down. It just changes the difficulty of so many things that I know, love learning a new style haha.

That is the way to do it, I've been branching into economy picking a bit nowadays, even though I rarely do it for a change of pace. Alternate and hybrid picking are by far my favourites and go very well together however (think Buckethead, brewer in the air for example has a really blistering hybrid picking section, the really fast part).
 

jordanscot

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Yeah, that part of Brewer in the air is insane haha. I don't understand how to play that fast, but hopefully in time ;)
 

SirMyghin

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You can pedal the E on the 3rd string, and hit every not on that string or the E with your index, same goes for the part right after, I play everything on the 6th string with my pick, but the 5th with my finger(s), it is pretty much 3rds on E minor at that point (the whole thing is Em iirc). It has been a while, but there was a point when I could play it.

There is some method in getting to be able to alternate pick well while chicken picking that takes it's own brand of practice though, but it was kind of my goal when I took up country playing. The upstroke can be cumbersome at first.

While a big lacking from the explanation or theory side of things Doug Seven puts out some good mechanical chicken picking videos. You won't really be taught much about what is going on or why though, so if you don't have that kind of basis behind it, that side doesn't help much. There isn't too much out there for learning to chicken pick otherwise, the shear amount of licks it provided I found helpful. Sizzling Guitar Licks Vol.3 the most helpful one by far (1 is a bit scant and mostly just direct examples, you could probably start with 3).

Edit: Playing fast is nothing but the product of too many hours of practice, I wouldn't fret too much over it, just push yourself over time and it will happen.
 
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jordanscot

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Oh yeah, I know that. I mean I could barely play 16th note parts that changed frets every note a month or two ago, and now it seems easy thanks to 4-8 hours of practice almost every day.
 

Solodini

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From what I've seen and used of chicken picking, a lot of it seems to be melodic lines based on each note on a different string, such as C on the G string, D on the B string hammering on to E on the same string, E picked on the E string, back to D et c.
That way, each finger can pick the next note and you can approach those lines with more pedals tones underneath to create more sense of harmony. It is, however, important to notice which notes are continuing as it would become pretty crunchy if the C, D and E in the same register were allowed to continue alongside each other as a cluster, hence the hammer on to the fretted E, making a nice major 3rd between the C and the E.

Writing lines using those sorts of ideas can be good for developing the understanding and ability to chicken pick. It's what I've done and, while not yet amazing, I've certainly made huge leaps in my ability at those things.

SirMyg, were you meaning upstrokes with the pick when hybrid picking? That can, indeed, be a motherbitch.
 

SirMyghin

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SirMyg, were you meaning upstrokes with the pick when hybrid picking? That can, indeed, be a motherbitch.

Those are the ones, some folks like to do all their upstrokes with finger, but if I am playing the note on the same string, I tend to upstroke with the pick. I also often use the pick to do rolls, picking say the bottom 2 with the pick and the others with my fingers. I believe I picked that one up from Danny Gattons playing, I find it quicker, at least on a descending roll.
 
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