One of the cool things about working on your guitar technique really hard is that you start to gain new insights. And these insights, although they may appear insignificant at times can actually make a huge difference to your playing. In fact, they often can make such a massive difference that you'll kick yourself that you didn't notice them sooner! One insight in the realm of alternate picking is this... The speed that the pick moves will not always be the same as the speed of the notes being played. At first glance the previous sentence might seem completely wrong. I mean...shouldn't the pick move at the same speed as the notes? Many of my less advanced students think that it should...at least initially. The Two Functions Of A Pick Motion When you are alternate picking, eve... [Read More]

  Have you ever noticed how guitarists who can alternate pick fast often make it look really easy? For Example: I remember watching a video of Tiago Della Vega setting the Guinness World Record for World's Fastest Guitarist. It was incredible to watch his picking hand as he played Flight Of The Bumblebee at a frightening 320bpm. Considering that song makes large use of sixteenth note rhythms, I think the tempo he played that song was otherworldly. (And it certainly inspired me enough to do lots of alternate picking practice for the rest of the day!). The thing I really noticed about Tiago's picking hand was just how small his pick motions were. He obviously is a guitarist who understands the value of  economy of motion. And there is absolutely no way he could have played at su... [Read More]

  If you've been learning lead guitar for a while you may have come across the technique "alternate picking". And like many guitar techniques, it can be a bit confusing if you haven't done it before. So what is it? Simply put, alternate picking is when you play something using alternating downstrokes and upstrokes of your pick. For example: If you wanted to play a four-note lead guitar lick using this technique you would do the following... Play the first note with a downstroke. Play the second note with an upstroke. Play the third note with a downstroke.  Play the fourth note with an upstroke. Get the idea? With alternate picking you never have two of the same pick motion in a row. You will always be picking down-up-down-up with alternating motion... [Read More]