Top 3 WORST Alternate Picking Mistakes (and 3 exercises to fix them)

00:11:13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqlX7tMYHIQ

Résumé

TLDRThe video presents three common mistakes in alternate picking for guitarists. First, it highlights the necessity to establish speed and coordination on a single string before advancing. Second, it explains the significance of mastering string transitions, emphasizing proper pick angle during transitions. Finally, it recommends incorporating speed bursts into practice routines instead of just gradually increasing speed. The speaker outlines specific exercises to address each mistake, aiming to improve overall playing efficiency and quality.

A retenir

  • 🎸 Focus on one string first for speed and coordination.
  • 🔄 Master each string transition one at a time.
  • ⚡ Implement speed bursts to train fast twitch fibers.
  • 📏 Use a metronome to keep time effectively.
  • 📝 Tailor specific exercises for each mistake.
  • 🔑 Understand pick angles during transitions.
  • 🎶 Practice every day to reinforce skills.
  • 💡 Start slow, then push speed with short bursts.
  • 🔄 Combine mastered transitions for fluidity.
  • ✅ Regularly evaluate your practice techniques.

Chronologie

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The video discusses the top three mistakes in alternate picking and provides specific exercises to correct them. The first mistake is failing to develop speed and coordination on a single string before attempting to play across multiple strings. To address this, the presenter suggests practicing an exercise on a single string using a metronome, focusing on synchronization, relaxation, and cleanliness.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:11:13

    The second mistake involves misunderstandings in string transitioning techniques. It emphasizes the need to master the angles of the pick during transitions between strings to maintain a clean sound. The speaker recommends isolating and practicing each string transition separately before combining them. The final mistake is solely focusing on gradual speed increase. The presenter introduces 'speed bursts' at the end of practice sessions to train fast twitch muscle fibers, improving overall speed and performance.

Carte mentale

Vidéo Q&R

  • What are the top three mistakes in alternate picking?

    1. Not developing speed on a single string; 2. Misunderstanding string transitions; 3. Only practicing slow to fast without speed bursts.

  • How can I improve my alternate picking?

    Focus on specific exercises that target your mistakes in alternate picking.

  • What should I practice if I struggle with string transitions?

    Master one string transition at a time using a three-note per string exercise.

  • What is a speed burst in practice?

    It's a short, intense practice of playing a few notes at high speed to train fast twitch muscle fibers.

  • Is it important to use a metronome for practicing alternate picking?

    Yes, using a metronome helps keep your timing and speed consistent.

  • How can I develop coordination on one string?

    Practice playing cleanly and at speed on a single string with exercises tailored to your goals.

  • Why is string transitioning important in alternate picking?

    Proper string transitioning allows for smoother and cleaner playing when switching between strings.

  • How frequently should I practice these techniques?

    Daily practice with a focus on these exercises can enhance your alternate picking skills.

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  • 00:00:11
    these are the top three worst alternate
  • 00:00:14
    picking mistakes and how to fix them but
  • 00:00:16
    here's the thing I'm not going to give
  • 00:00:18
    you some boring
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    [Music]
  • 00:00:21
    exercises because look you can find that
  • 00:00:24
    anywhere on the internet and that's not
  • 00:00:25
    what you need what you need are
  • 00:00:27
    exercises that specifically solve
  • 00:00:30
    mistakes that you're making in your
  • 00:00:32
    alternate picking and look if you still
  • 00:00:34
    aren't able to play as fast or clean as
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    you want with alternate picking I
  • 00:00:38
    guarantee you're making at least one of
  • 00:00:40
    these three mistakes mistake number one
  • 00:00:43
    how can I expect to alternate pick fast
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    and clean across all six strings if I
  • 00:00:48
    can't even do it on one single string
  • 00:00:50
    with a metronome I figured this out a
  • 00:00:52
    few years ago when I was trying to learn
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    this Paul Gilbert Style
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    run and for the life of me I couldn't
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    play it to speed so I started to break
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    it down and I said okay this is triplets
  • 00:01:06
    and it lasts for five clicks five beats
  • 00:01:08
    of the metronome 1 2 3 4 5 but can I
  • 00:01:14
    even play triplets fast and clean on one
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    single string across five beats 1 2 3 4
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    5 I realized that the first mistake that
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    I was making is I hadn't developed
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    coordination on one single string so I
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    developed the exercise that I'm going to
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    give you right now and it's and you can
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    do this with any exercise essentially
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    what you do is you take the exercise
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    that you're working on in this case for
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    me it was the Paul Gilbert exercise and
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    you want to take the same amount of
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    Beats that you're going to be covering
  • 00:01:43
    in the actual exercise and just do that
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    with you know a few notes on one single
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    string and I can pick any notes but I
  • 00:01:50
    just basically need to work on my
  • 00:01:52
    synchronization my speed my cleanliness
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    staying relaxed all of these details are
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    super important to focus on on one
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    single string first mistake number two I
  • 00:02:03
    took a lesson from this
  • 00:02:05
    [Music]
  • 00:02:08
    guy I also interviewed John petruci and
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    Andy Wood and I obsessively studied Troy
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    Grady's material and the data is Crystal
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    Clear guys if you suck at alternate
  • 00:02:19
    picking this is the mistake you're
  • 00:02:20
    making you do not understand the art of
  • 00:02:24
    string transitioning string
  • 00:02:25
    transitioning is where I'm alternate
  • 00:02:27
    picking on one string and then my pick
  • 00:02:29
    makes its way to another string and I
  • 00:02:31
    continue alternate picking and I might
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    go back to this string if I'm in a
  • 00:02:34
    string transition scenario where I'm
  • 00:02:36
    going from the a string to the D string
  • 00:02:39
    there are only two ways that my pick can
  • 00:02:41
    make that transition either I'll be
  • 00:02:44
    doing a downstroke on the A and then an
  • 00:02:46
    upstroke on the D or I'll be doing an
  • 00:02:48
    upstroke on the A and A downstroke on
  • 00:02:50
    the D and let me tell you why this is
  • 00:02:52
    important because the way that I angle
  • 00:02:55
    my pick on the first scenario going down
  • 00:02:58
    and then up is completely different than
  • 00:03:01
    the way that I would angle my pick going
  • 00:03:03
    up and then down so if I'm doing an
  • 00:03:06
    alternate picking sequence and my last
  • 00:03:07
    pick stroke on the a is a downstroke and
  • 00:03:10
    then I have to do an upstroke on the D
  • 00:03:11
    here's what needs to happen my pick
  • 00:03:14
    needs to be angled slightly upward this
  • 00:03:16
    way I'm going to exaggerate it for you
  • 00:03:18
    but it needs to be slightly angled
  • 00:03:19
    upward this way so that after I do my
  • 00:03:22
    downstroke on the a the tip of my pick
  • 00:03:25
    can fly over and just barely go over and
  • 00:03:29
    almost graze the D string before I do an
  • 00:03:31
    upstroke on that D string so it should
  • 00:03:33
    look like this down and then up if I had
  • 00:03:36
    my pick just straight and I didn't angle
  • 00:03:38
    it any particular way obviously my pick
  • 00:03:40
    would just go straight into the D string
  • 00:03:43
    I would do a downstroke here and it
  • 00:03:44
    would just run into that D string now
  • 00:03:46
    how am I going to be angling my pick if
  • 00:03:48
    I did an upstroke on the A and then a
  • 00:03:50
    downstroke on the D so if I'm alternate
  • 00:03:52
    picking here on the A and then my last
  • 00:03:54
    pick stroke in the sequence is an
  • 00:03:56
    upstroke what I then have to do is I
  • 00:03:58
    have to slightly angle my pick downward
  • 00:04:02
    okay I'm exaggerating it for you I
  • 00:04:03
    wouldn't do it this much but I have to
  • 00:04:05
    slightly angle it downward so that my
  • 00:04:08
    pick will miss the a string as it goes
  • 00:04:10
    to the D string so if I'm going down up
  • 00:04:13
    down up I have to slightly angle it
  • 00:04:16
    downward so that my pick misses that a
  • 00:04:18
    string as it goes to the D and the
  • 00:04:20
    opposite is true if I'm going from
  • 00:04:22
    instead of the a to the D if I'm going
  • 00:04:24
    from the D string to the a string after
  • 00:04:26
    a downstroke then what I'm going to have
  • 00:04:28
    to do is I'm going to have to angle my
  • 00:04:31
    pick a little bit upwards so that after
  • 00:04:33
    I do this downstroke my pick will miss
  • 00:04:36
    the D string on its way to the a string
  • 00:04:39
    so it would look like this downstroke
  • 00:04:41
    slightly angle it up misses up into the
  • 00:04:45
    a now if I was doing an upstroke and
  • 00:04:47
    then going down on the a string what it
  • 00:04:49
    would look like is this I would have to
  • 00:04:51
    do an upstroke and I would have to angle
  • 00:04:53
    my pick slightly downward so that my
  • 00:04:56
    pick would miss the a string before it
  • 00:04:58
    does downstroke on the a string again if
  • 00:05:01
    I kept my pick just flat I would go up
  • 00:05:04
    and then I would run into that a string
  • 00:05:06
    now it doesn't matter what type of
  • 00:05:08
    alternate picking sequence you're doing
  • 00:05:09
    you have to pay attention to what's
  • 00:05:11
    happening with your pick at each string
  • 00:05:14
    transition point so if I'm doing a
  • 00:05:16
    simple three note per string like
  • 00:05:22
    this I have to pay attention to the
  • 00:05:24
    first string transition first and I have
  • 00:05:26
    to master that so what's happening here
  • 00:05:29
    well well I'm going three pick Strokes
  • 00:05:31
    down up down so after this last
  • 00:05:34
    downstroke here I have to make sure my
  • 00:05:36
    pick is angled slightly upward so that
  • 00:05:39
    it misses the D string before I go up
  • 00:05:42
    into the D string so it looks like this
  • 00:05:45
    down up down pick flies over the D
  • 00:05:47
    string up into the D string if my pick
  • 00:05:50
    was at a downward angle or even a
  • 00:05:51
    neutral angle it would run into the D
  • 00:05:54
    string and that's what's causing you to
  • 00:05:55
    sound sloppy it would be like
  • 00:05:57
    this so I would sit there and I I would
  • 00:05:59
    work on mastering that string transition
  • 00:06:02
    for as long as I need to like
  • 00:06:07
    [Music]
  • 00:06:08
    this I don't need to work on anything
  • 00:06:10
    else until I master
  • 00:06:14
    that and I'm doing this with the
  • 00:06:16
    metronome that's crucial now the next
  • 00:06:18
    string transition I have to pick up
  • 00:06:20
    where I left off this is extremely
  • 00:06:21
    important the last pick stroke that I
  • 00:06:23
    left off on was an upstroke so if I'm
  • 00:06:26
    doing three note per string I'm going to
  • 00:06:28
    go up down up and then I transition to
  • 00:06:31
    the G string now the last stroke of this
  • 00:06:33
    D string is an upstroke so what I have
  • 00:06:35
    to do is I have to make sure my pick is
  • 00:06:37
    angled slightly downward so it misses
  • 00:06:39
    the D string on the way to the G string
  • 00:06:42
    like this up down up like that if I had
  • 00:06:46
    my pick at an upward angle still or if I
  • 00:06:48
    had my pick at a neutral angle I would
  • 00:06:50
    hit the D string on the way to the G
  • 00:06:52
    string like
  • 00:06:54
    this right and that's what's causing you
  • 00:06:57
    to sound sloppy so in isolation I need
  • 00:06:59
    to work work on that I need to go up
  • 00:07:01
    down up and then make sure my pick goes
  • 00:07:03
    slightly like this before I go to the G
  • 00:07:06
    string up down up
  • 00:07:09
    [Music]
  • 00:07:12
    down and then once I mastered that
  • 00:07:15
    string transition then I do both string
  • 00:07:17
    transitions
  • 00:07:19
    together and I'm going to exaggerate the
  • 00:07:21
    pick angles here but it's going to look
  • 00:07:22
    like
  • 00:07:23
    this and
  • 00:07:26
    then you're not going to do the pick
  • 00:07:28
    angles that that huge but in fact you
  • 00:07:31
    want to do them as small as possible but
  • 00:07:33
    the point is is the angle of the pick is
  • 00:07:35
    going to be changing for each of those
  • 00:07:37
    string transitions so I have to master
  • 00:07:39
    them one at a time and then I have to
  • 00:07:41
    put them together so again mistake
  • 00:07:43
    number two is that you don't understand
  • 00:07:45
    string transitioning and even more
  • 00:07:47
    specifically you're not mastering one
  • 00:07:49
    string transition at a time so your
  • 00:07:52
    exercise is simply this it's one of the
  • 00:07:54
    best exercises to work on mastering one
  • 00:07:56
    string transition at a time is to take
  • 00:07:59
    this three note per string
  • 00:08:03
    sequence and you master one string
  • 00:08:05
    transition at a time like I showed you
  • 00:08:06
    in the closeup and then you put them all
  • 00:08:08
    together mistake number three you hear
  • 00:08:11
    it all the time and it's that you have
  • 00:08:13
    to start slow and gradually increase the
  • 00:08:15
    speed and do not get me wrong that's a
  • 00:08:17
    huge part of it but that is definitely
  • 00:08:19
    not the whole picture there's no way a
  • 00:08:21
    worldclass sprinter could become a
  • 00:08:23
    worldclass sprinter if they don't train
  • 00:08:25
    their fast twitch muscle fibers and
  • 00:08:27
    that's the mistake you're making you're
  • 00:08:29
    only going from slow gradually to fast
  • 00:08:32
    you have to start implementing something
  • 00:08:33
    called speed bursts and I got this from
  • 00:08:35
    John Puchi he told me that he does this
  • 00:08:37
    at the end of his practice every day now
  • 00:08:39
    the idea with speed bursts is their
  • 00:08:41
    bursts they short bursts so we're not
  • 00:08:43
    doing the whole exercise we're really
  • 00:08:45
    pushing our limit with speed and we are
  • 00:08:48
    taking just a few notes so if I was
  • 00:08:50
    doing this three note per string thing
  • 00:08:52
    that I showed
  • 00:08:54
    you and I'm really wanting to push the
  • 00:08:56
    speed what I'll do is I'll start with
  • 00:08:58
    six or seven notes
  • 00:09:01
    first and you know what sometimes I'll
  • 00:09:03
    even start on just one single string
  • 00:09:05
    like going back to the first mistake to
  • 00:09:07
    train speed I'll say okay can I do this
  • 00:09:09
    on one single string first just maybe
  • 00:09:11
    six or seven
  • 00:09:14
    [Music]
  • 00:09:16
    notes and then from there I'll add in a
  • 00:09:19
    string transition now adding in a string
  • 00:09:21
    transition won't work unless you've done
  • 00:09:23
    your proper heavy lifting you know at a
  • 00:09:26
    very slow speed first where you've
  • 00:09:28
    really understood what happening with
  • 00:09:29
    your pick at a particular string
  • 00:09:31
    transition at a slower speed first but
  • 00:09:34
    at the end of my practice every day I'm
  • 00:09:36
    doing this I'm taking something I'm
  • 00:09:37
    working on and I'm really pushing the
  • 00:09:42
    speed and again the whole point of this
  • 00:09:45
    is to train my fast twitch muscle fibers
  • 00:09:47
    so here's your exercise to combat this
  • 00:09:49
    mistake it's to take this three note per
  • 00:09:51
    string thing and it's to start with a
  • 00:09:53
    very few amount of notes maybe just on
  • 00:09:55
    one single string
  • 00:09:57
    first turn on a Metro
  • 00:10:00
    turn it up gradually until you really
  • 00:10:02
    feel like you're pushing the speed and
  • 00:10:04
    see if you can just do a few notes at a
  • 00:10:07
    time if you start feeling comfortable
  • 00:10:10
    then you can add just literally one
  • 00:10:11
    single note on the first uh on the next
  • 00:10:15
    string and then as you feel more
  • 00:10:16
    comfortable you can slowly add one or
  • 00:10:18
    two notes at a time you do this every
  • 00:10:20
    day at the end of your practice so just
  • 00:10:22
    a recap the three mistakes are number
  • 00:10:24
    one you're not developing proper speed
  • 00:10:26
    and coordination on one single string
  • 00:10:28
    first and to practice every day you put
  • 00:10:30
    on your metronome and you simply
  • 00:10:32
    practice things like synchronization
  • 00:10:34
    relaxation playing in time on one single
  • 00:10:37
    string first mistake number two you
  • 00:10:40
    don't understand string transitioning
  • 00:10:41
    and more importantly you're not
  • 00:10:43
    practicing one string transition at a
  • 00:10:44
    time so the exercise is to take this
  • 00:10:46
    three note per string exercise and to
  • 00:10:49
    practice one string transition at a Time
  • 00:10:51
    Master One String transition at a time
  • 00:10:53
    and then combine it together mistake
  • 00:10:55
    number three you're only practicing slow
  • 00:10:58
    gradually to fast you need to take this
  • 00:11:00
    three note pering exercise and you need
  • 00:11:02
    to do speed burst at the end of your
  • 00:11:04
    practice every single day and look if
  • 00:11:06
    you want a deeper dive on how to
  • 00:11:08
    effectively practice this sort of thing
  • 00:11:10
    click this video right here
Tags
  • alternate picking
  • guitar technique
  • speed training
  • string transitions
  • practice exercises
  • coordination
  • metronome
  • speed bursts
  • guitar mistakes
  • practice routine