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]

  Over the years I've helped a lot of my students improve their alternate picking. And one of the most common frustrations that I help them with is related to picking speed. Some students complain that they have hit a brick wall with their speed. They feel that they've hit the limit of their alternate picking ability. And the truth is, they HAVE reached the limit of their picking ability. But I need to stress now that it always a temporary limit that can be overcome with diligent practice and repetition. In every case, they have managed to improve their alternate picking speed over time. There are a lot of different practice strategies that I teach to my students, but let's take a look at just a couple now. I feel that if you seriously implement them, you'll notice a large improve... [Read More]

  If you're new to alternate picking and have been searching online, you probably realize there is a heck of a lot of information out there (both free and paid). And that's a good thing to some extent. You'll always be able to find things related to alternate picking to practice and learn. But this vast amount of information presents a few problems such as... How do you tell good advice from bad advice? How do know if the information is relevant to your own specific goals? How do you know if you're ready for a specific exercise, or whether it is too advanced for your current level? How do you formulate an effective practice plan based on the information you have collected in your online searching? You get the idea. Perhaps the biggest challenge of learning ... [Read More]

  If you've been searching online for alternate picking exercises, then you probably have noticed something. There are a heck of a lot of them! In fact, there are so many it can be totally overwhelming! And this feeling of overwhelm can cause you to ask yourself questions such are... --What specific alternate picking exercises should I practice to get the greatest results? --How do I find out what the best ones are for me? --What alternate picking exercises are useful for me, and which ones are a total waste of my time? I feel that these questions are very valid. All of us have a limited time for alternate picking practice. And I'm pretty sure you don't want to waste your practice time on exercises that don't work! How To Choose The Right Alternate Picking Exercises For You I... [Read More]

  If you're new to alternate picking you may be feeling a little bit overwhelmed. There are countless picking exercises out there. But you also probably know that if your alternate picking practice is not effective, then you'll get minimal benefit from those exercises. So what does it mean to practice alternate picking effectively? Well, the answer isn't simple and clear-cut. There are MANY factors that can either improve or degrade the quality and effectiveness of your picking practice. With that said, here is a principle that has really helped my progress over the years... Focus On Consistency I've noticed over the years that some of my students have the tendency to "binge practice". What I mean is that they go absolutely nuts with alternate picking practice for a short period... [Read More]

If you're new to alternate picking then you might be asking yourself what's the best pick to use to alternate pick fast. Well, it's definitely not an easy question to answer. It's a bit like asking what car is best for driving fast. (There are plenty that would get the job done!). With that said, let's take a look at the type of pick that I use. I've been using this type for a long time. And it's the one that I recommend to my students all the time. (Especially if one of their goals is to pick at blazingly fast speeds). So what pick am I talking about? It's my trusty black-colored Jim Dunlop Jazz III pick! If you don't own any of these very cool picks, you're truly missing out. OK, maybe that's a bit melodramatic! All I'm saying is this...buy some, and give them a go. :-) So what's... [Read More]

Let's face it. Most of us are busy. Really busy. And this lack of available practice time may cause you to worry about how long getting good at alternate picking will take. Maybe you feel that you don't even have enough free time to gain a mastery of alternate picking? Or maybe you even feel that you don't "have what it takes" to master it! If that's the case, then I can say confidently that you're not alone... When I was fairly new to alternate picking I watched an instructional video by Paul Gilbert. I must admit, I was blown away by it. I couldn't believe how fast he could pick! I also felt a little inadequate because he looked pretty young on the video. And I couldn't believe how good he was compared to me. (It was a bit depressing I gotta admit). So after I watched the video a few t... [Read More]

  OK...I'm a little bit embarrassed to admit this. I'm definitely not proud of it. And I'm not sure if I should share this with you. But, here it goes anyway... When I first started to learn to alternate pick I was after looking for a quick fix. I was looking for some special, powerful and almost magical alternate picking exercise that would fix all my problems. I wanted to discover an exercise that would transform me into an alternate picking beast! I wanted to uncover some kind of secret exercise that would help me pick as fast as a machine gun. :-) So what happened? Well...over a period of time I bought virtually every instructional video that I could find that talked about alternate picking. I had videos by awesome pickers such as Paul Gilbert, Yngwie Malmsteen, Shawn Lan... [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]