Beginner Alternate Picking

Beginner Grade 1 Module 6: 6:8 Time, Fast Changes & Alternate Picki
1

Learn how to alternate between up picks and down picks.


View the full lesson at Beginner Alternate Picking | JustinGuitar

2

This is a good speed exercise I just added to some grade 2 practice. Iā€™ve been struggling with eye of the tiger (the one guitar just hitting the c note on 5th string) and I do ok with alternative picking, but if I want to be faster, this is the proper technique. Thanks a bunch for clarifying proper technique for alternate picking on single string to increase speed and it helps with accuracy as well.

2 Likes
3

This one has me a little bit confused.

Iā€™ve watched the video a couple of times and luckily my pick action was always a bit angled so thatā€™s cool. Iā€™m literally just combining this with a sort of Chord Perfect exercise - angled alternate up and down picking on each played string on each chord weā€™ve learned so far for a few minutes. Is thatā€¦it?

Iā€™m not questioning the process as Iā€™ve already seen how much itā€™s working in other areas. Just checking my interpretation isnā€™t off.

4

First I thought I was ā€œflatā€ picking with no slant, then I tried it with too much slant and I got a weird scraping sound as the pick edge interacted with the wound strings, and then I went back to what I was doing and realized it had a slight slant to it anyway! Lol. I guess the moral of the story is donā€™t overdo the slant.

1 Like
5

@kimballisms

Flat in this sense describes the flat face of the plectrum.

Thumb picks tend to have a slight curvature to them.
Pleactrums are flat.

In use, you do not want to be striking the strings ā€˜flatā€™ - i.e. at a perpendicular.

Cheers :smiley:
| Richard_close2u | Community Moderator, Official Guide, JustinGuitar Approved Teacher

6

@Richard_close2u

I have two questions:

  1. I understand that there are many ways to alternate pick depending on the person and whatā€™s comfortable for them. Justin mentions Downward Pickslanting (DWPS) in the video but is he using that here? From Justinā€™s video, I interpreted ā€œanglingā€ as slightly angling the pick towards the fretboard from a parallel position. Lets call this the horizontal angle of the pick. However I see that the vertical angle (the pick angle towards the floor or towards the roof) remains neutral. From what I understand about DWPS shouldā€™t there be some sort of a downward angle vertically as well as the slight rotation (horizontal angle)?

  2. When I tried picking with a horizontally angled pick, I noticed the pick glides between the strings a lot smoother when going up/down and Iā€™m able to pick faster.

    However I also did noticed that when angled, opposed to flat, ā€œthe sound of the pick hitting the stringā€ is significantly louder and more noticeable (a rubbing sound) on the 5th and 6th string. Is this common?

    Demo 1: alternate picking (flat pick)
    Demo 2: alternate picking (angled pick)

    I think the sound comes from the sides of the pick (edge of the pick) that normally doesnā€™t hit the strings gliding against the guitar. I tried playing around with different picks, and I noticed the jazz master III was the only pick that didnā€™t produce this rubbing sound when angling the pick.

Thank you!