Picking Technique

Justin Zuilekom van · Jul 13, 2018

So I’ve been trying to improve my picking techniquethe past few days, because I’m a circle-picker, which restricts me eventually. So I’ve followed the lesson on how to hold a pick, and I can’t seem to get it right. My fingers always slide over the strings, which doesn’t feel very pleasant. At this point I’m clearly doing something wrong, but I can’t exactly find what, as I’m rapidly improving with the technique and I was wondering if you guys had any feedback? Thanks for taking the time!

idssdi · Jul 13, 2018

I tend to do all the picking from my wrist. Usually i use economy picking so you maybe try those things. If I really need to give proper feedback I kinda need a video of you playing

Justin Zuilekom van · Jul 13, 2018

I’ll record something tomorrow,as I have to leave in a bit. I do pick from the wrist, I just don’t think I’m holding the pick right. Economy picking is far out of my range, as I have enough troubles with solo’s like Tears Don’t Fall. The most difficult solos that I can manage are So Far Away By A7X and More than a feeling by boston. lol
I’ll get back to you though! Thanks!

idssdi · Jul 13, 2018

Honestly, economy picking has nothing to do with what kind of solos you are able to play. The principle of economy picking is basically if you have an odd number of notes on a string you would go for example for down-up-down and then down-up-down again on the next string. That’s just very basic economy picking you don’t have to do solos like Hail to the king or paradigm straight away. If you start doing the economy picking stuff now you may benefit from it later. If you want to you can check out the economy picking lessons that are here in the school. I’m sure you can do it!

Justin Zuilekom van · Jul 13, 2018

I was trying to refer to sweep picking, but like Jacky Vincent has shown sweeping isn’t always for solos, so you’re right. Because as far as I understand, economy picking is using sweep picking to string-skip, and I can’t sweep for shit. I’ve tried Seize the day on like 20% speed and still can’t do it.

idssdi · Jul 13, 2018

Economy picking is a mix between sweep picking and alternate picking. Let’s say you have a c major scale. If you would economy pick that you would play
e
B—————————–10 12 13
G———————-9 10 12
D—————9 10 12
A——–8 10 12
E.8 10 12
And after that 10 12 13 on the High e string. The picking pattern would be down-up-down on every string which means there is a mini sweep in between every string but not like major sweep picking or anything. You can try to begin doing this very slowly. But this is very basic not so advanced like you need major sweeps for it.

Justin Zuilekom van · Jul 13, 2018

I have no idea how to read that, to me it looks like chords… I’ll just talk to my teacher about it after summer break, and see if he help on that. Thanks though!

idssdi · Jul 13, 2018

Yeah the layout was fucked up and is very hard to get right. I could try to get ithe into soundslice or something if you want.

Justin Zuilekom van · Jul 13, 2018

I have no idea what soundslice is, but I’ll be fine. At this moment I should focus on the basics, and that’s what I’m doing, relearning my picking technique to give myself more headroom in the future. As for practicing I’m not doing too great at all. I hated the book I was practicing with with my teacher, so I ended up just doing my own thing, like playing stuff from all different kinds of bands. To do all that crazy stuff is just getting ahead of myself. I’ll figure it out one day, once I get a good foundation to my technique. Thanks for the effort anyways!

Sayonil Mitra · Jul 14, 2018

can you post a short video of picking right hand while you are playing and show us the problems you are facing?

Justin Zuilekom van · Jul 14, 2018

If you read back you’d see I was already asjed to do that.
I’ll take it today.
Thanks for willing to take the time to help!

Justin Zuilekom van · Jul 14, 2018

Here’s the video: https://youtu.be/VIhEB8PNp0s
Don’t mind how sloppy it is, it’s about the picking, not the song itself. Hope it helps.

Guest · Jul 14, 2018

Alright Justin,
Just watched your video and have a few bits of advice.
1)(a)Your pick is really biting into those strings, this could be due to
(b) a really tensed up arm and/or wrist
The tense playing is fine over the power chords and the octaves, but might be a bit too much over the arpeggios.
2)You are showing off alot of pick, maybe use smaller picks or use less of the pick you currently have
3)PG has an excellent video on how to hold a pick which I believe will help a lot!
4) Economy picking is very useful and may be suitable when playing those arpeggios! Again loads of videos on this site and all over the web on how to economy pick.
5) Bit of a weird one but sometimes practicing in the mirror when adjusting technique really helps.
Hope these points help!

idssdi · Jul 14, 2018

I would say try to really just go slow and make your motion just up and down no circles or anything like that. Also try to tilt your pick a little. Also try to do as little movements as you can you don’t want to hit any other string you don’t want to hit.
As for the fingers sliding over the strings. Try to use a floating wrist so you don’t rest your hands on the bridge unless you’re palm muting

Justin Zuilekom van · Jul 14, 2018

Thanks, guys! I already have a few jazz sized picks the thickness I like, so I’ll definitely use them. Overall my wrist is really tense, yes. As of picking floating that’s something that seems to make my picking even more all over the place, so if that’s a bad thing I’d prefer to refrain from doing that. I’ve definitely seen the video from Papa Gates, and I’m trying to use that. Picking in very small strokes actually makes a lot of sense, the less distance I have to travel the faster I can tremolo pick. And as of economy picking I’ll definitely look into it, and if I can’t figure it out I’ll ask my teacher or something. Thanks so much!

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