picking exercises

mike_l · June 2015

After my play lay-off I need a few more simple picking exercises to get me going again.

Currently I'm using

2-4-5-2-4-5 etc as triplets

2-4-5-4-2-4-5-4 as 1/8 and 1/16 notes

and some simple pentatonic ascending and descending runs

IE

15-12-15*-12-14*-12-14* etc changing strings at the asterix's.

I'm not looking for complex fretting, more just to focus on my picking hand.

Clarky · June 2015

I use scales for picking exercises because they're more musical

ChrisMusic · July 2015

Here are a couple of ideas from my (rather variable) practice routines, I hope they are helpful to anyone reading this.

Sorry @Clarky, they are not all musical, although some of the variations can be.

All these are modifiable to taste, or just for variety, if you want to be creative with them please go ahead.

Pick bits out and work on them, create your own program to suite your own goals, the more techniques you have in your armoury, the more you can call on to serve your creative goals and generate your "signature sound".

Any ideas on variations, simplifications, or just presenting this better or making it easier, would also be appreciated.

I would love to know if they work for you.

Set 1. Just concentrate on your picking hand exercises:

The idea is just to play a percussive "note" to enable you to finesse timing and dynamics by eliminating any need to concentrate on left hand

Play each in at least three places maybe, near the bridge, between bridge and neck, near the neck, and again with picking hand mutes. There are so many tones available along the string, and the string also responds differently depending on where you pick, as does your playing technique. Mix it up a bit too. (It's also worth a bit of a trial picking over the fretboard too.)

Ex 1. One note per string. (this forms the basis of the next few)

• Down pick one "note" per string, across 6th to 1st and back, (rinse and repeat to taste)

• Up pick as above

• Alternate pick as above

• Economy pick (down downwards across the strings, an up upwards across)

• Another option is to 'reverse economy' pick, which is the most awkward variety, but may be useful as a dexterity exercise, and if you are ever in the wrong place with your picking live, maybe consider it a 'get out of jail free' exercise

• Maybe try 'inside picking' the whole thing too. (i.e. - up pick 6th string, down pick 5th string, up 4th, down 3rd etc)

You'll note that by using alternate picking with odd number of "note per string" runs or exercises, that you end up alternating between inside and outside picking anyway.

Ex 2. Two notes per string, just the same as above

Ex 3. Three notes per string (now that's a surprise)

Ex 4. Four NPS

Ex 5 Five NPS

~ Adding variety ~

~ some ideas ~ this is where these exercises come alive IMHO.

~ Group into sets, maybe start with a pair of strings, high, low or in the middle, and then expand to three then four then five then all strings and then reverse back down to just the pair again

~ String skip. (i.e. 6th, 4th 2nd, 1st, 3rd, 5th - or- 6th, 4th, 5th, 3rd, 4th, 2nd, 3rd, 1st -or- 6, 3, 5, 2, 4, 1, etc)

~ Emphasise in doublets, triplets, fours, fives, etc, start off the beat, syncopate, etc too

~ Internalise your rhythm, foot tap, use the metronome, play over other musical styles (as this is just percussive, you don't have to worry about key, or melody etc), variety is the spice of life...

~ Add one note per string arpeggios, melodies, or use your favourite chord shapes.

~ Add in scales and left hand exercises, with Ex 2 onwards.

~ Each exercise should help internalise a different feel and approach.

~ Add hammers, pulls and slides to taste, and bring a little phrasing into the mix.

~ Do your own thing with this and bring it into your playing, have fun...

Each of these exercises should bring it's own challenges and rewards

ChrisMusic · July 2015

Virtual Practice

You can work on your motor skills away from the guitar too.

Running through this in your mind does actually help internalise and improve technique and motor skills, as does miming the motions, which brings your muscles into the equation. A bit of imagination you can find something to act as light resistance to further develop your muscle's strength.

You can form your hand into your usual picking shape, and literally just go through the motions, probably a bit more emphasised.

Pick and move across the virtual strings as you normally would.

A word of warning though, while at work, practicing under the desk, or on the bus or tube, or even in your car at the traffic lights:

this may look like practicing an entirely different set of techniques to the casual onlooker, take care. X_X

mike_l · July 2015

@ChrisMusic yeah, my picking hand is usually on top of the steering wheel, going (hopefully) in time with the picking on the CD that's playing.

It's more that I need a few simple exercises to focus on my right (picking) hand, as this seems to have lost it's way.

@Clarky ; thanks for the suggestion, I'll be using them more in the future, I'm trying to focus on one hand at a time.

I'll be working with a metronome to keep my picking accurate, and (hopefully) make things a bit (lot) tighter.

Once this is up to speed (no pun intended), then I'll be looking at other techniques (legato, tapping etc).

ChrisMusic · July 2015

Have a go at this chromatic alternate picking exercise. You can cover the whole neck, and it's a good warm up too.

Watch how the picking works with this, and create your own variations if you wish.

i.e. you can do an economy picking thing at the turnarounds and come back across the strings starting on upstrokes for instance.

I hope my shorthand works OK, take your time, the pattern is repetitive so it is easier than it looks, I promise

s = string

≠ = fret number

ƒ = finger

> = next

So the first line starts

6s string - 1st ≠ fret - 1st ƒ finger

Here goes...

6s - 1≠ 1ƒ > 2≠ 2ƒ > 3≠ 3ƒ > 4≠ 4ƒ

5s - 1≠ 1ƒ > 2≠ 2ƒ > 3≠ 3ƒ > 4≠ 4ƒ

4s - 1≠ 1ƒ > 2≠ 2ƒ > 3≠ 3ƒ > 4≠ 4ƒ

3s - 1≠ 1ƒ > 2≠ 2ƒ > 3≠ 3ƒ > 4≠ 4ƒ -> 5≠ 4ƒ > 4≠ 3ƒ > 3≠ 2ƒ > 2≠ 1ƒ -> 3≠ 1ƒ > 4≠ 2ƒ > 5≠ 3ƒ > 6≠ 4ƒ

2s - 3≠ 1ƒ > 4≠ 2ƒ > 5≠ 3ƒ > 6≠ 4ƒ

1s - 3≠ 1ƒ > 4≠ 2ƒ > 5≠ 3ƒ > 6≠ 4ƒ

Turn around and move up a fret (or down one)

1s - 7≠ 4ƒ > 6≠ 3ƒ > 5≠ 2ƒ > 4≠ 1ƒ

2s - 7≠ 4ƒ > 6≠ 3ƒ > 5≠ 2ƒ > 4≠ 1ƒ

3s - 7≠ 4ƒ > 6≠ 3ƒ > 5≠ 2ƒ > 4≠ 1ƒ

4s - 7≠ 4ƒ > 6≠ 3ƒ > 5≠ 2ƒ > 4≠ 1ƒ -> 3≠ 1ƒ > 4≠ 2ƒ > 5≠ 3ƒ > 6≠ 4ƒ -> 5≠ 4ƒ > 4≠ 3ƒ > 3≠ 2ƒ > 2≠ 1ƒ

5s - 5≠ 4ƒ > 4≠ 3ƒ > 3≠ 2ƒ > 2≠ 1ƒ

6s - 5≠ 4ƒ > 4≠ 3ƒ > 3≠ 2ƒ > 2≠ 1ƒ

Move up one fret at each turn around on the 1st and 6th strings until you run out of frets, then do the same except move down a fret at each turnaround till you end up back at the nut, rinse, repeat to taste or as long as you want.

Serving suggestion: maybe do 1 set slowly and accurately, then another at full speed, then another slowly again.

thomasross20 · July 2015

My top tip.
Close your eyes and concentrate on the feel. Specifically on finding any tension when picking (or any technique). Then eliminate it, or it will eliminate your ability to progress.

mike_l · July 2015

Thanks Tigger, I really need to practise regularly, work and health issues have kind of taken over, and I'm trying to get my picking back to speed.

I shall get my picking sorted first, then work on other techniques.

After the surgery I'm not back up to full strength in my shoulder quite. So it's half-hour to 45 mins at the most per day.

thomasross20 · July 2015

That's enough

I planned to try and get an Yngwie song down proper but just been so busy with this album. Maybe afterward.

Stamina. With legato I can whizz round the neck all day. Picking? Limited. Maybe a good idea to pick a scale and cover it all over the fretboard, constantly, no stopping, for at least 5 minutes.

That's another top tip. Practice each technique monotonously (make it musical if you can) for 5 mins straight. If you can't do it, technique needs work on.

Best of luck!

Clarky · July 2015

my personal lil' take on this is... I've never been a fan of those chromatic picking exercises for a few reasons.. one being that they leave me a feeling a bit cold.. another being that I very rarely play 4 notes per string, so they don't help with the string transitions and the feel for the placement of the strong beats in the count when playing 1/8 or 1/16notes, 3 notes per string.. they also don't help with the transitions between scale patterns..

this is why I practice G major [3nps] and Gmaj pentatonic [2nps], in all positions, from the 3rd fret, up to the octave and back down.. I'll practice these two fingering templates alternate picked, non-alternate picked and legato, in simple time and triplets to a click..

the benefits are: you get to hear the tonality so it's good for aural perception, you're picking a lot of notes a lot of different ways so it's a nice picking exercise, it's great for nailing the fingerings within each pattern and for working on the transitions between them [in both directions - from above and below].. and most of all, these are patterns that I use in real playing, so they have real application that will fit with a majority of my playing..

mike_l · July 2015

@Clarky I'm in agreement, though I do use chromatics as a finger loosener/warm up, at a very slow tempo.

Ie

frets 5-6 from string 6-1 then back. Using finger 1 & 2

Frets 6-7 from string 6-1 then back etc Using fingers 2&3 etc.

so each finger gets an equal amount of playing. This is done at 50 or 60 BPM, only changing on the click (that slow).

Clarky · July 2015

@mike_l ok.. I see where you're going with that… just 'getting the blood flowing' so to speak..

when I'm having a technical workout, another thing I enjoy doing to to do it around a lick..

I'll goof a little and create a lick.. nothing special at first.. but then I'll start adding to it.. altering it..

gradually making it bigger and more demanding..

gradually I'll start building in the speed until I'm redlining my technique

then I'll back off the metro a little to where I'm back under control again, and start building up the tempo again and again..

the intention is to try to pass the previous limit and start getting ragged at a slightly higher tempo..

I can do that with a single lick for hours..

making it bigger / more difficult.. increasing speed.. then altering it.. adding difficulty.. and so on..

for some licks [not all are fit for this cos they're too bulky] I'll start throwing them around like I'm playing them over different chords..

makes you think on your feet.. trying to maintain the basic melodic / thematic contours whilst moving them around in a tonal sense..

so what's the benefit of this method?

- flexing creative muscle whilst having a technical workout

- incorporating 'fingerboard navigation in a musical way

- mixing note values, so you're not rigidly fixed to 1/16ths or triplets for example. this includes long notes, short notes and rests..

- phrasing does not have to be fixed such that things change on the 1st beat of the bar, or only on 'strong beats'.. so you can build in things like an anacrusis [because in an applied situation, this is normal and common, but you still have to feel for the first beat of the bar]..

- not routed in a specific picking type or technique for that matter… so you can work on technique transitions.. for example, a lick starts with alternate picking, sweeps upwards, then the lick descends non-alternate picked, a long note bent with vibrato, then the bend is release and the remainder of the lick is tapped with a big soaring bend or whammy trick to finish off.. the difficulty here is that each technique in isolation may not be overpowering, but hook them all up and you can find that making some of the transitions seamlessly is where the problem areas are..

- not being nailed to a specific pattern, series of patterns.. so it can contain combinations of 3NPS patterns, pentatonic patterns, arpeggios, chromatics..

- not being fixed to a specific neck location, or sequentially moving from 1st position, to 2nd position, to 3rd etc. so you can [and should be able to work through fragments of patterns from one end of the neck to the other.. or make leaps from one end to the other.. or switch through a big list of keys confined to a fret range.. for example, you plan to remain within the 7th to 12th fret area, but the lick works through 4 or 5 keys, so you have to visualise different scale / chord etc pattern within the same general area..

- most of all… you are listening.. creating.. making music with it.. and all the while, developing technique, tidiness and speed..

Clarky · July 2015

I love this sort of thing because you're always growing musically, technically and artistically

and of course you have an end product…

some of the results of this sort of thing [or fragments of them] have found their way into my stock 'trick bag'..

this sort if thing can be pretty cool.. and immensely satisfying..

I always start it with a general idea / theme.. some technical 'bone to pick' with myself..

like specific technique transitions, key changes within a fret range, wide interval moments, big stretch moments, a specific tonality / time sig etc etc

this theme, whatever it is, becomes the focal point..

and then I set about picking my own technical scabs…

and totally having a ball whilst I'm at it

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

picking exercises

Comments