Picking Technique

It wasn't me!

My picking technique seems to be very much lacking. I can't pick nearly as fast as I would like, and nothing I do to improve it seems to work. Also, my hand hurts after a while of solid picking. I keep it as loose as possible, yet after a while it's still sore, with the pain concentrated on the thumb, both the back of it and the pad where it joins the palm. Anyone got any advice. The speed I can pick at, as well as my accuracy, are key faults I would like to eradicate in my playing. I'm aiming for Slayer-type speeds, but just not able to at the moment. Any advice or resources would be welcome. Thanks.

Karl Hungus

Buy John Petrucci's Rock Discipline DVD. Honestly, it will do wonders for you. My picking used to be in a dreadfull state, but just using his right hand warm-up technique has really improved my picking in a very big way.

Voodu Child

1 - Metronome. Simplest way to improve your speed. Start off very very slowly, and always play everything PERFECTLY. Never play anything wrong, if you fluff a note, start again. Take a scale and play it up and down, 4 notes to the beat. Slowly increase the speed of the metronome. When you can play 10-13 notes per second, smile, and move on to another exercise.

2 - Stiff pick. At least 1-1.5mm, pref with a pointed tip. Show very very little of the pick to the string.

3 - Playing fast isnt about moving your hands faster, its about moving them less. Minimise any movements you can.

4 - Alternate pick. This means always play up, down, up, down, regardless if your moving up or down strings. Its less efficient, but easier to keep a constant rhythm. Economy picking can be faster, but leave it till youre good at strict alternate picking.

Theres tonnes of patterns you could practice - chromatic, scale sequencing etc, and even just making up a random exercise and playing it is useful.

Alternatively, get the tab for something like Paganini's fifth caprice, or Eugenes trick bag. A month or two of trying to play one of them will improve your picking hugely, whether you nail them or not.

Johnny Storm

It wasn't me! wrote:

....it's still sore, with the pain concentrated on the thumb, both the back of it and the pad where it joins the palm. ....

I've had similar problems. It sounds like tendonitis to me (not an expert). You should cut back a lot on whatever is causing you pain (or stop). Don't try to "work through it". It's not like the muscle pain you get after overdoing it at the gym. If you damage your tendons it may take a very long time to get them back to normal. Don't worry, if you dont damage your tendons you can get back to whatever level of practicing you're doing now in a few weeks. Just let the tendons have some time to recover. Maybe you should also focus your practicing rather than hours of aimless noodling (which is what I used to do).
If you have to, see a physiotherapist (costs about €40 per session), bring the guitar with you and show them exactly what you are doing that's causing the pain.

pbsuxok1znja4r

OP - are you talking about fast picking for lead-work or moreso for very fast rhythm playing? For me I'd use a slightly different technique for each.

A couple of tips for the rhythm stuff:
You actually needn't use a particularly thick pick (unless it's for lead stuff). To begin with, hold it so that very little of the pick protrudes from under the thumb.
A couple of years ago I spent about two solid weeks trying to overcome my inability to play those ultra-quick triplet 'chugs' you find in some metal and hardcore punk. Needless to say, I've it well nailed at this stage, but it took me a bit of pratice and feeling around to find the perfect technique. So experiment slightly all the time with the way you hold the pick; the angle you hold it. Experiment with whether you 'swing' the pick into the strings (a habit you'd tend to develop from good alternate picking), or whether you just move at the wrist.
These are the joints you can use to make the pick strike the string: fingers, wrist, elbow. Ideally you'll find the balance between the three that best suits you, but I'll say this: avoid using the elbow at all. Try to avoid using the fingers too much, also. I find the most economical and efficient joint to use is the wrist. To loosen your wrist more, practice the picking you're after, but widen the sweeps a good deal, i.e. instead of hitting one string hit two.
If you have problems with the pick 'catching' (i.e. when you dig too deep into the string and it doesn't come out the other side), then try using your fingers to 'lean' the pick in the appropriate way as you come into the string and as you come back up from it, also.

TBH, it's nearly impossible to explain the technique through words, all I can say is just practise it and experiment as you go.