Cross Picking

[OmegaSlayer]

It's almost a year and a half that I'm working on it and I don't seem to get any gain.
Usually it happens when there's something wrong about technique, so I guess I'm doing something wrong.
At the moment in good days I can play the intro of Glasgow Kiss using cross picking, in bad days it's a bit sloppy, but sometimes I'm way sloppier even on easier patterns along the six strings.

Trying Steve Morse's Tumeni Notes cross picking section is 170 bpm with one bar bursts, 140 bpm with intense fatigue if I try to play all the section.
The strain is another factor that makes me understand that I'm doing it wrong.

Do you use your pick flat or have a leading edge?
How do you avoid the string hopping?

(Yes, I've seen Troy Grady's vid but didn't help much)

 

[gnoll]

I think this type of picking is fun. I've done some of it before but on a pretty low level so I don't really have any advice. But this thread made me pick up my guitar and go at it again.

Have you listened to bluegrass flatpickers like Tony Rice, Doc Watson, David Grier etc.? Those are the kind of players that got me into this stuff. I like flatpicking fiddle tunes, lots of fun.

 

[OmegaSlayer]

I think this type of picking is fun. I've done some of it before but on a pretty low level so I don't really have any advice. But this thread made me pick up my guitar and go at it again.

Have you listened to bluegrass flatpickers like Tony Rice, Doc Watson, David Grier etc.? Those are the kind of players that got me into this stuff. I like flatpicking fiddle tunes, lots of fun.

I'm not a bluegrass expert, as bluegrass is a genre that barely reaches Europe, but I surely love it, and actually prefer it rathen than country, which I like anyways.
Thanks for giving me some names to check.

By the way, everytime I read flatpickers I imagine that they don't use pick leading edge...maybe that's where I approach the technique wrong.

 

[soul_lip_mike]

My teacher just gave me a good cross picking exercise last week. Try this out, see if you can play it straight for 5 minutes uninterrupted.

 

[jaxadam]

I don’t even know what cross picking is…

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Look up George Shuffler, he's one of the main guys that bluegrass crosspicking is derived from. Molly Tuttle has a lot of stuff on it as well.

Lessons with Marcel has a really good history/overview on crosspicking and defining it semantically.

 

[OmegaSlayer]

My teacher just gave me a good cross picking exercise last week. Try this out, see if you can play it straight for 5 minutes uninterrupted. View attachment 124992

Thanks, will try
Any idea on an acceptable target tempo?

I don’t even know what cross picking is…

It's alternate picking with one note per string

 

[jaxadam]

Thanks, will try
Any idea on an acceptable target tempo?

It's alternate picking with one note per string

You don't need cross picking for that!

 

[OmegaSlayer]

You don't need cross picking for that!

In regards to how I see the studies of techniques and the delivery of notes, the optimal would be to be able to perform it in both ways (none of which I'm currently able with) and let your body/mood choose based on the dynamics you want to offer

 

[Lorcan Ward]

I'm not a fan of cross picking. I prefer to start a beat with a downpick to accent the note and will use more down strokes in a phrase like the one tabbed to make sure I come back on a downstroke. That's approaching it from a metal and classical guitar perspective so I do understand the need for it in bluegrass and similar styles that are more fluid.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

I'm not a fan of cross picking. I prefer to start a beat with a downpick to accent the note and will use more down strokes in a phrase like the one tabbed to make sure I come back on a downstroke. That's approaching it from a metal and classical guitar perspective so I do understand the need for it in bluegrass and similar styles that are more fluid.

The bluegrass way generally starts with downstrokes as well.

 

[jaxadam]

I'm not a fan of cross picking. I prefer to start a beat with a downpick to accent the note and will use more down strokes in a phrase like the one tabbed to make sure I come back on a downstroke. That's approaching it from a metal and classical guitar perspective so I do understand the need for it in bluegrass and similar styles that are more fluid.

I'm kind of with you on this one. I'm so accustomed to economy picking I just can't get out of that box and I would play that tab posted up top very differently.

 

[gnoll]

I don't like economy picking because it makes rhythm and accenting more difficult.

On the other hand the problem with alt picking is this 1nps stuff is very hard because it requires really precise movements.

I can only wonder how much time it would take to get to Steve Morse levels. For me with difficult lines I just go synth and program midi instead, or play it on the keyboard. I wrote a part that I spent a year or so trying to play on guitar but gave up.

 

[ExMachina]

Hmm, I started basically doing only strict alternate picking about a year ago. I definitely wouldn't play it the way he does here because I don't like finger rolling.

 

[OmegaSlayer]

I'm not a fan of cross picking. I prefer to start a beat with a downpick to accent the note and will use more down strokes in a phrase like the one tabbed to make sure I come back on a downstroke. That's approaching it from a metal and classical guitar perspective so I do understand the need for it in bluegrass and similar styles that are more fluid.

I'm in the opinion that getting acquainted at a decent level with a technique makes all your other techniques better.
We're not compartmentalized.
As you said accenting is way different, but when I'm proficient my body will dictate how to approach a phrase and it's accent according to the flow of music I have in mind rather than thinking about it.
If you're very very even with pickstrokes, alternate and economy may sound 99% identical, especially if you play sextuplets