Al Di Meola - alternate picking master
I thought I would take some time today to talk about some of the different ways guitar players pick when playing. It seems to me that many beginners may not have a complete understanding of these techniques and how to use them. Since I think it’s of the utmost importance for us “seasoned” players to help bring up the younger, less experienced players, I figured a primer on picking was in order.
In my mind there are three primary types of picking styles: alternate, economy, and sweeping. Let’s break down each one and get an understanding of what makes them unique and why you really need to know how to be able to do all three to become a truly versatile guitarist.
Alternate Picking
First up is the picking method that all new students will learn – alternate picking. The idea behind alternate picking is that each pick stroke is the exact opposite of the one before it. You can start with either a downstroke (you pick the note down, towards the floor) or an upstroke (you pick the note up, towards your head), and every next note you play is the opposite of the one it proceeds. I realize that’s a very academic explanation, so let’s rock ‘n roll it up a bit:
down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up
Better?
Alternate picking creates a very distinct sound and, if done correctly, really highlights the passage being played. John Petrucci, Al Di Meola, and Guthrie Govan are great alternate pickers. Having control over your alternate picking is of the utmost importance here, because you need to be able to play every note with the same dynamic as well as have the control to make certain notes pop out in a phrase when you want to.
The hard part for alternate picking – and one of the reasons why I suck at it – is when you have to move to another string. This is especially troublesome when moving from a low string to a high string. My recommendation? Come to love your metronome! Start slow, take your time, and be patient. It’s going to take some of you a while before you’re comfortable with it.
Economy Picking
Jimmy Bruno is an excellent economy picker
This is my personal bread and butter. I don’t remember how I latched onto it, but I’m most comfortable when doing economy picking. The concept here is that, when faced with moving from one string to the next, you continue your pickstroke to the next string without alternating. In other words, if the last stroke you made on one string was a downstroke, you continue the downstroke and play the next note on the next string with a downstroke. This allows you to smoothly maneuver across the strings and creates a somewhat smoother sounding line than with alternate picking.
A word of caution here; many players tend to replace the word “economy” with “lazy.” Just because you’re not picking every single note alternately doesn’t mean you should let your picking hand wander all over the place. With economy picking you need to be even more careful about the precision of your picking hand. Keep it consistent; don’t angle the pick awkwardly or dig into the string more to try and compensate.
Sweep Picking
Yngwie and Frank Gambale basically put sweep picking on the map. You would be hard-pressed to find a younger guitar player nowadays that likes heavy rock/metal and can’t play amazing sweeps. They are certainly impressive as hell to hear (and see).
Frank Gambale - sweep monster from Down Under
In sweep picking, you generally play an arpeggio with one note per string. You literally sweep your pick across the strings in the same direction. When playing from low to high you sweep the pick downward, and when playing from high to low you sweep upwards. The last string played in the sweep will generally have a turnaround of sorts (usually two or three extra notes) that allows the player to sweep in the opposite direction.
As with economy picking, when sweeping you really need to be aware (and careful) of the placement of the pick. You want to keep your wrist straight and the pick perpendicular to the strings. Bending the wrist or allowing your pick to slide around is going to sound bad and also present problems for you when trying to exit out of the sweep to another phrase.
What About Legato Playing?
Allan Holdsworth - legato phrasemaster
I know this question is going to come up, so I’ll quickly address it here. Legato playing is not a picking technique, it’s a fretting-hand technique. Yes, Holdsworth is impressive beyond belief, and I would absolutely give someone else’s left testicle to be able to play like him. But, it’s just not a picking technique, sorry.
I will certainly cover legato playing and Holdsworth in particular in other blog posts, fret not. In the meantime, you’re just going to have to practice the three picking techniques I mentioned.
Why Are All Three Important?
In a nutshell, because all three offer unique benefits, sounds, dynamics, and concepts. You can certainly specialize in one (that’s your “style” after all) but if you can’t at least do a little bit of all three then you are severely limiting yourself. Now, if you’re a blues player you are probably thinking that sweep picking is dumb. Remember, however, that sweep picking (as an example) doesn’t have to be a three-octave daedecaphonic hexatonic arpeggio; a simple three-string minor triad can also be pulled off with sweep picking.
Don’t limit yourself. Get a metronome and practice all three techniques. You’ll eventually gravitate towards one more so than the other two, and that’s perfectly fine. Just have enough tricks in your bag to pull them out when you need them.
Enjoy!
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What about fingerpicking and hybrid picking?
Hi Josh was pointed here by a fellow blogger, nice website. I can see you go to some effort in presentation; your content is also interesting and well written from the several entries I’ve read thus far, well done.
On subject, I’m not a flat picker (never learnt how to hold the little buggers properly) but interestingly when I occasionally did flatpick I used all of those techniques. Although it’s not always necessary, I wonder if it’s worth saving to the punters to downstroke onbeat, and upstroke offbeat; particularly when alternate picking. There’s no such thing as a hard rule, but it sounds like a good general habit; and your mention of metronome reinforces my belief that staying on beat and on tempo needs to be really rammed home to the n00bs
Too many times you hear the beginners with reasonably good left and right hand, but dropping or adding beats all over the place – I wonder if trying to drill them with a downstroke onbeat upstroke offbeat would help?
JAW
Hey JAW, thanks for your comment. The only issue I, personally, can see with the default “rule” of downstroking onbeat is that you’ll pretty much set yourself up to always phrase things the same way. All of your lines will be limited to the fact that you have to play your first note as a downstroke. I played around with this a little bit and found that I actually tend to start phrases with an upstroke. Not all the time, of course, but more often than I would have guessed.
The metronome is, in my opinion, pretty much the most important music accessory there is to purchase. I should probably write an “homage to the metronome” post sometime.
You are absolutely right, Tony. Those two methods completely slipped my mind. I guess I had the three I wrote about so firmly ingrained in my head because I was thinking “actual plectrum,” but then either way I have overlooked hybrid picking.
I’ll definitely have to make up for it with future posts. Thanks for pointing it out to me!
No problem Josh. I am also a fellow JBGI member. I’m really impressed by your level of talent. You have some really nice videos posted! I’ve been playing rock guitar for awhile, but i decided to learn jazz guitar to spice up my playing. I just wanted to try and get some different influences…
You have a nice website going on here. Keep up the good work! See you on JBGI.
Tony from Pittsburgh, PA
Aww, thanks, Tony. Much appreciated. I’m glad you like the site and videos. I have to get some more videos up; they take a while to do.
See ya!
Ah…the Right Hand Dilemma. In the 80′s (giving my age away here) the guitar universe was shaken–the Rock and Fusion galaxies, at least–by the Shredspearian Question: To pick or not to pick?
I am very happy to say the answer to the right hand dilemma has been amply provided for in the digital age; that answer being: learn all the right hand (or bridge hand) techniques.
Your post touches on this sensitive yet mammoth topic in a very direct way; in a couple of paragraphs you’ve communicated a clear idea of most of these techniques.
However, I’d include legato technique in the bunch as a minimal picking technique. With the exception of extreme legato players such as Stanley Jordan and TJ Helmerich, legato requires use of the pick. And it matters significantly where–during legato lines–pick strokes are placed. The difference between Allan Holdsworth and Brett Garsed, for example, is due largely to pick stroke placement in a legato context.
Finally, I don’t think legato tech should be seen as separate since it, like alt picking, is simply another method of bringing out notes. The current generation of guitar virtuosos often demonstrate mastery of all or most of the techniques mentioned in your post and its comments section.
Looking forward to more, Josh!
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Great post, Daniel. Thanks! There were a few that I forgot about; oh well.
Hi,
First of all – greagt blog!
i agree with the poster above who mentioned the inclusion of legato here. i use a fair bit of legato, but then suddenly and for no good reason i throw in a few picking strokes (based on nothing more than instantaneous mood). like you have described yourself, i incline to ‘economy picking’ rather than alternate picking. another couple of things that strike me are i guess string skipping – and how it impacts on alternate picking/economy picking and its use with legato and 2 handed playing. would 2 hande playing be considered a picking technique? – i dunno! but then there is also the hybrid picking side of things that guthrie govan are doing incredible things with at the moment – this is something i am currently aspiring to!
I guess we have to be a little careful or else we might find that we are unable to seperate different aspects of technique and could find them all in a picking topic lol.
All the best
Dave B
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