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Anthony Peña

Syn's Etudes - Alternate Picking I

This is the fastest I've ever played (with little to no tension). I started out about 2 hours ago at 60 bpm, focusing on every subtle motion, and playing as efficiently and clean as possible. I slowly moved it up to now (without stopping), at 140 bpm. I tried 150 and 160, but I'm not quite ready for that yet.


My wrist does feel kind of tired, but it didn't hurt while playing. I might be overthinking, but Papa Gates said that you should be able to play at high speeds for a long time without feeling tired. So am I playing wrong, or is it natural to feel fatigue after 2 hours of playing? 😅😂

If there is anything wrong with my technique, please let me know. I really don't want any bad habits. Thank you so much for watching!
J
Well there are some ways to look at this. People who play and bands like iron maiden and testament are used to playing at extreme speeds for an entire set list. But you also have to remember that these players are seasoned players that worked up to that. Nobody can run a marathon right out of the gate. Let yourself build-up to that. Super proud of you!
 
Well there are some ways to look at this. People who play and bands like iron maiden and testament are used to playing at extreme speeds for an entire set list. But you also have to remember that these players are seasoned players that worked up to that. Nobody can run a marathon right out of the gate. Let yourself build-up to that. Super proud of you!
That's a very solid point. I didn't really think about that. Thank you so so much, Jak! It's nice feeling and seeing my progress.
 
Good job! I struggle with this too. But your motion looked super smooth so you are on the right track, just keep practicing! One thing though, those are actually sixteenth notes I believe (sorry, still new to note counting and using a metronome) so the original speed to this is around 130 bpm actually. :)
 
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Good job! I struggle with this too. But your motion looked super smooth so you are on the right track, just keep practicing! One thing though, those are actually sixteenth notes I believe (sorry, still new to note counting and using a metronome) so the original speed to this is around 130 bpm actually. :)
Thanks man!! I feel much more confident with my left hand (my pinky used to look SO terrible, but I think it's much better now), but I feel like my right hand could be a bit more smooth. Perhaps an even smaller motion.

Also, I could be wrong, but I believe I'm playing triplets. If you listen carefully, you should hear three notes per click. For sixteenth notes, you would hear 4 notes per click, and I wish I could play that at this tempo lol. Hope this helps with your counting and metronome use!
 
Thanks man!! I feel much more confident with my left hand (my pinky used to look SO terrible, but I think it's much better now), but I feel like my right hand could be a bit more smooth. Perhaps an even smaller motion.

Also, I could be wrong, but I believe I'm playing triplets. If you listen carefully, you should hear three notes per click. For sixteenth notes, you would hear 4 notes per click, and I wish I could play that at this tempo lol. Hope this helps with your counting and metronome use!
Your picking is definetly good! And I am pretty sure it's 6 notes per click 🤔
I think @Ids Schiere pointed that out to me once
 
Your picking is definetly good! And I am pretty sure it's 6 notes per click 🤔
I think @Ids Schiere pointed that out to me once
16th notes is 4 notes per click. This one is in 16th note sixtuplets(or whatever you call there, in the notation it says 6). Which means six notes per click so effectively you can look at it as groups of 6 notes(that's how I do it anyway)

I talked about note duration a little bit here too. https://syngates.com/threads/alternate-picking-exercises-1-2-lesson-40.41/
 
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You're very well in your way! Your picking sounds fine to me! The way I look at playing fast for a long time is it pretty much depends on what you're into. You want to play Exist or Partitia in Dm, yes you need to be able to do it. You want to play like B B. King you don't have too. Most solos I like usually don't have very long really fast passages there is always a little 'rest' moment in there.
 

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