Get In Synch
The secret (ha! like there’s only one…) to good picking is getting your right and left hands in synch with each other. If one of your hands decides to go on auto-pilot and just ignore what the other is doing, you end up with something like this: (This is what NOT to do)
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But, with a little effort, you can smooth things up:
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On the first clip, the picking hand isn’t getting to the notes at the same time the fretting hand is, which makes it sound all squirrely and un-musical. That is what we want to work on.
Example 1
To start, lets take a pretty unassuming little sequence and focus on getting the pickstrokes nice and tightly synched with the fretted notes. Trickier than it seems when the tempo increases. Give it a try.
Note that the pattern changes slightly the second time through…
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Just make SURE the notes sound even and your left and right hands ‘feel’ in time with each other.
Easy enough? Ok…let’s take it a step farther
Example 2
This time I’m using swing 8ths and alternating between half and double speed. Make sure you alternate pick everything, starting on a downstroke and alternating the rest. Concentrate on relaxing your hands and arms, don’t let ANY tension creep into them. Tension is the enemy to smooth picking. Your natural tendency is probably going to be to tense up on the double speed part, but resist the urge! Just keep it nice and relaxed.
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And a bit faster…
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Example 3
This example is all on one string, all alternate picked, and all silly sounding. No, really…it sounds like a bad irish fiddle tune, but it’s going to make you jump around a bit, (like a crazy Leprechaun) which is what I’m after.
Play this at each of the tempos I have here and work your way up to the quick one (250 bpm). Just make sure you don’t miss any notes or have weak articulation. Strict alternate picking on this too.
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Can you see the Leprechaun yet?
Example 4
This is one of my favorite little repeating licks. You can use it on any set of two strings, all over the neck. I’m in the key of C here, but once you get the pattern you can move it anywhere.
Alternate picking is very important here, and once you get your hands in synch this lick has a really cool perpetual motion feel to it. It’s good for moving up or down the neck and even across pairs of strings. Here’s a short snippet:
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If you don’t have good sychronization between hands on this one it just feels all wrong, so really work on getting it dialed in and you’ll see what I mean about how this one feels.
Example 5
Didn’t think I was going to let you go without a little bluegrass picking, did you? This one is a generic snippet from any number of fiddle tunes. It uses open strings and strict alternate picking, with a swing 8th note feel. It really seems simple but getting it to swing and stay synched up at faster tempos is tough. Stay very focused on accurate picking here, and getting the swing feel.
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A really good example of this feel is Mark O’Connor’s ‘Picking in the Wind’, off of the guitar record he did when he was 16. Smokin!
I hope these exercises help you get in synch – I wanted to give some examples that really focus on a certain picking challenge, instead of just playing scales. Be your own worst critic – listen very objectively to recordings of yourself (you do record yourself sometimes, right?) That’s the only real way to hear clearly what you are playing – sometimes while you are playing you can get lost in the fun and forget to LISTEN to what’s coming out.
Until next time!
November 17th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Do you start all these Exercises with a downstroke and what fingering do you recommend for Exercise 4 when it goes to the 10th fret position 1/2/3 or 1/3/4? Thanks
November 17th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
JDA, The best rule to remember is to always play downstrokes on the downbeats and upstrokes on the up beats. It really is that simple. Every once in a while you will run into a weird phrase that is easier to play starting on an upstroke instead of a down (on the downbeat) but for most situations the rule applies. It just keeps you in synch with the rhythm much better. If you start mixing ups and downs you lose the strong/weak feel of the rhythm and things get loose.
Hope that helps!
November 17th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
John,
Fingering I tend to use 1/3/4 on the 10th fret section, but was curious to what you prefer. Thanks, JD…
That is what I normally do, but figured I’d double check my thinking on it.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
On that 10th fret position I use 1-3-4 as well…every once in a while up on the higher frets I’ll use 1-2-3 on that stretch but it’s not a good habit I guess :/
November 17th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
John,
I’m going to work on these exercises and try to get it up to speed. However, I’ll need to bust my speed barrier to get them as clean and fast as your playing them. Btw, what type picks do you use? Thanks!
November 18th, 2008 at 8:52 am
I’ve been using the purple dunlop tortex picks (std shape) for a while…I’ve flip-flopped between those and jazz III’s for years.
November 29th, 2008 at 8:27 am
Some great exercises I can tell my playing gets tighter after running through them.
Thanks John!!
December 1st, 2008 at 9:07 am
Thanks kiwi-caster – glad to hear you dug it! More torture to come soon!
August 10th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Hey, Thanks for all the exercises and eveything!