Prefered way of plucking strings

Barney

whats your prefered method of plucking the strings

Hybrid

Legato 

Economy

Alternate 

Or other

And reasons why ...i know different ones will give a different feel and work in different applications ....probably be best doing them all ..but reaching a high standard in all of them would be hard i think.. then is the problem of mixing them all up...im sure there are people who do it this way though..

octatonic

I play 80% of the time in a mix between hybrid and legato.
I'm pretty good at it because of this and I can do it without thinking- it is my default.

The rest of the time I sweep/play economy.
I'm decent at it but I need to concentrate and I need to keep working on it.

I can't alternate pick very well at all, but I don't really need it.

You get good at whatever you work on.

Roland

I use all of them. If you ask me which I prefer then I'd say legato because it imparts an evenness to the sound. They all have their place. When I'm learning a specific string of notes I might try several fingerlings and plucking patterns to see which gives the best phrasing. Most of the time it comes automatically, and I don't interfere with the flow by trying to work out what I'm doing.

Barney

octatonic said:

I play 80% of the time in a mix between hybrid and legato.
I'm pretty good at it because of this and I can do it without thinking- it is my default.

The rest of the time I sweep/play economy.
I'm decent at it but I need to concentrate and I need to keep working on it.

I can't alternate pick very well at all, but I don't really need it.

Im same as you with hybrid and legato also alternate as well...i feel more comfortable with the first 2 though ...just out of interest iff you have a chromatic line on one string part way through a run ...how do you approach it..the obvious way is legato but sometimes thats not possible due to timing issues or you simply dont want that sound ...
The way i am approachig this is either alternate for that part or pick and finger...
I think hybrid and legato are great iff you take ideas that that make them styles work as in maybe exercises...but more difficult in lines that were never thought of with them in mind ...hope it makes sense what im trying today

octatonic

Barney said:

octatonic said:

I play 80% of the time in a mix between hybrid and legato.
I'm pretty good at it because of this and I can do it without thinking- it is my default.

The rest of the time I sweep/play economy.
I'm decent at it but I need to concentrate and I need to keep working on it.

I can't alternate pick very well at all, but I don't really need it.

Im same as you with hybrid and legato also alternate as well...i feel more comfortable with the first 2 though ...just out of interest iff you have a chromatic line on one string part way through a run ...how do you approach it..the obvious way is legato but sometimes thats not possible due to timing issues or you simply dont want that sound ...
The way i am approachig this is either alternate for that part or pick and finger...
I think hybrid and legato are great iff you take ideas that that make them styles work as in maybe exercises...but more difficult in lines that were never thought of with them in mind ...hope it makes sense what im trying today

If it is a 4 note chromatic line then I would pick hammer, pick hammer.
I would probably alternate picking.
If it is a 3 note chromatic line then I either pick hammer pick or pick hammer, hammer.

When I say I'm not good at alternate- I'm fine with runs of 5-10 notes- I just don't practice doing it all the time- I couldn't do the Petrucci thing where pretty much everything is picked.

bingefeller

Alternate and legato. 

ElectroDan

I switch between them all.
The last 6 months or so I've really worked on economy picking and I think it's made a big improvement in tone and the fluidity of my picking hand movement.

Barney

A few are saying they use all ...or maybe combination of a few ..i think i probably do when looking at my playing...but to get really good at any of them is really hard work i think iff looking for a high level...not saying we are not in any way..but i feel that to get really good will take a lot of time and probably just concentrating on the same thing for years

As in maybe Holdsworth for Legato
Maybe Mclauglin for alternate picking
Tm Miller for Hybrid
Gambale for economy

These players dont really cross over doing all the syles seamlessy...although they dont need to cos thats what makes there style

The reason i ask is every one of the above ways has certain limitations apart from probably alternate cos you dont have to rely on left hand patterns...just something i have been thinking and iff all styles could be mixed at a high level to intergrate all of the above ..
I think most players do this but in a limited way..

stratman3142

Mainly legato and alternate picking.

A bit of all, apart from economy picking which I don't use with the exception of an occasional  double downstroke when ascending strings.

LeeCassidy

Barney said:

A few are saying they use all ...or maybe combination of a few ..i think i probably do when looking at my playing...but to get really good at any of them is really hard work i think iff looking for a high level...not saying we are not in any way..but i feel that to get really good will take a lot of time and probably just concentrating on the same thing for years

As in maybe Holdsworth for Legato
Maybe Mclauglin for alternate picking
Tm Miller for Hybrid
Gambale for economy

These players dont really cross over doing all the syles seamlessy...although they dont need to cos thats what makes there style

The reason i ask is every one of the above ways has certain limitations apart from probably alternate cos you dont have to rely on left hand patterns...just something i have been thinking and iff all styles could be mixed at a high level to intergrate all of the above ..
I think most players do this but in a limited way..

Interesting thoughts, dude. I think, broadly, you're right. Many players do tend to focus on a particular technique or two and really nail those. But there are lots of (essentially all more recent) players who do mix things up a lot, and maintain a very high level at everything, and of course there are scary young shredders all over YouTube. Here's just a few famous ones off the top of my head: Guthrie Govan Marco Sfogli Per Nilsson Andre Nieri Rick Graham Tom Quayle

Sambostar

I had a big Malmsteen inspired drive a year or so back and straight practiced all combination of numbers of notes up the strings and on each string, apart from single sweep picking which I still don't get.  To be honest learning strict alternate picking, albeit with some economy picking only takes a few weeks or months practice and to bring up to speed on any combination of improvised notes.  It's kind of like getting fit only takes a few weeks of good running practice.  It especially helps out with the acoustic too, when I bring my finger in and use the thumb pick as a pick and does make you learn to relax your picking style.

I'd love to be able to play proper legato with all hammer on's, where you don't need a pick at all, mainly because again, it's useful on an acoustic. It seems to me that it's much more a kind of playing the piano technique.  I've been practicing it a bit and I can see the muscle memory start to change, but it's all a bit boring to be honest and I'm not sure I can be bothered to learn it as much as like to as it takes a long time to change.  Also it's hard to be inspired by, as I've always favoured bluesy stuff as opposed to exacting note volume and dynamics in passages where as proper legato is about exacting volume and dynamics, more so than alternate picking where you have much more control over it, but it is the mark of a capable player and believe everyone should be able to do it, although only a rare few of us will be arsed.

Naturally for fast electric stuff it's pull offs and hammer ons and some picking, sometimes they just sound better and more dynamic and out of phase than straight picking alone, although sometimes vice versa, although these days I sometimes find myself picking everything if it's made up fast stuff, especially of I'm drunk on a strat.  I wouldn't say the tone is necessarily any better although it's good I suppose that I can do it subconsciously vaguely, but even on acoustic, on long runs, sometimes the softer pull off notes do sound better.

What I'm really trying to work on is finger picking and independence from thumb and fingers which I haven't practiced since doing classical as a kiddie and even then I never ever got it down as far as improvisation went and only did it on rehearsed pieces for grades which I practiced slow to figure out where the bassline was and then brought up to speed.  For me, this is where the guitar comes into it's own.  Must be middle age.

DLM

Sambostar said:

To be honest learning strict alternate picking, albeit with some economy picking only takes a few weeks or months practice and to bring up to speed on any combination of improvised notes. 

I obviously need to start drinking Stella! Just goes to show, though. Some things come more easily to each individual than others. I use all methods of attacking the strings for different sounds, but understand that this thread is more about what we use for fast runs. I'll shoehorn a few quick lines in using alternate picking, HOPO legato and a bit of tapping for effect, but generally play quite slowly over the fast tempos laid down by my thrash band. This is mostly because I can't play the fast alternate picking style I idolise. Bernd Steidl FTW!

bingefeller

Malmsteen uses a lot more legato than people think, watch Troy Grady's analysis of his picking style and you will see.  Yngwie's style is mostly downward sweeps, economy picking when ascending and using strategically placed pull offs on certain descending licks so the last stroke will be an upstroke or an upstroke followed by a pull off so he has time to get over the string. 

TheBlueWolf

Alternate picking is my default, with a little hybrid thrown in.

Which reminds me, I should really work on some legato and economy picking as I quite like the fluid sound it gives.

pintspiller

Nobody has said "down" or "up", so I'm assuming I'm less musical or barking up the wrong tree. 

If I'm on the same wavelength, I generally like to alternate between down and up where possible, but sometimes find its just down-strokes.

I use plectrum almost exclusively.

Danny1969

Is hybrid picking using pick and fingers ? I use pick and fingers for just about all lead playing  these days. So rather than jump the pick over a string I'll use my finger then pick then finger then pick etc . It's not a mega fast style but it sounds different and I like that 

ElectroDan

pintspiller said:

Nobody has said "down" or "up", so I'm assuming I'm less musical or barking up the wrong tree. 

If I'm on the same wavelength, I generally like to alternate between down and up where possible, but sometimes find its just down-strokes.

I use plectrum almost exclusively.

If you are using a pick and picking up, down, up, down, up etc it's known as 'alternate picking'.
Hybrid is using a pick and one or more fingers.
Legato is using hammer-ons and pull offs (with or without some picked notes).
Economy is using consecutive down or up strokes when crossing to the next string. so for a 3 note per string scale going from low to high the pick would go down, up, down, down, up, down, down etc.