After pestering my tutor he finally gave in and we've been looking at improving my picking technique.
He gave me a couple of exercises to do - a couple of repeating patterns over a couple of strings and a major scale pattern that covers 5 strings, all 16th note based - which I've been practising regularly since he gave them to me a few weeks ago. At first I was noticing a slight improvement and could do 5 repetitions of the major scale exercise cleanly at 116bpm and 2 or 3 repetitions at 120bpm before things get messy (the two string exercises were slightly faster).
However the last couple of practise sessions I've put in I can barely get through 5 repetitions at 104bpm. I've not been practising through pain and I haven't (to the best of my knowledge at least) changed my playing position. Everything just seems to fall apart when I push the metronome any faster.
I dare say that my picking below this speed is cleaner than it was but I'm finding the decrease in the top speed a bit disheartening.
My tutor is on holiday at the moment so I'm deferring to you lot for encouragement and (hopefully) and explanation of what's happening
Comments
Try raising the tempo but keep it quarter notes (1 per beat). When you feel confident then add in a second pick so its 2.
Changing the subdivision doesn't seem to help any. As soon as I get past 16th notes @ 100bpm (or 8th notes @ 200bpm) it's as though my picking hand just can't move fast enough anymore and I'm getting the plectrum caught up in the strings.
I was happy that I had made some progress building up to the 116bpm mark and thought that if I kept at it I could add maybe a few bpm a week/fortnight/month and make steady progress with it then I could actually see me sticking to the practice regime this time. The fact I'm now struggling to get past 104bpm is baffling and quite demotivating.
Speed is a byproduct of accuracy.
Once you hit your performance limit you can look at adding about 5 bpm per week if you are diligent in your practice and don't rush too much.
That is about as good as it gets.
Most people aren't well organised or diligent enough and it ends up being 5 bpm a fortnight or a month.
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Football is rubbish.
This is the only picture I've got to hand of me playing
http://imgur.com/Wcv4H44
Edit - found a pick on my desk, this is how I hold it
http://i.imgur.com/9vB0cMm.jpg
Would help to see the exercises in detail...see if there are any obvious hurdles.
I'm not a shred-monkey but I have been conscious about pick-slanting for a while now...it's helped me improve some awkward runs.
I wasted a lot of time under the idea that the pick needs to hit the strings squarely, which resulted in an awkward approach to picking for me.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
It sounds almost like you're practising these exercises too much. Try 5-10 repetitions of each and move on to something else. Having a piece which is a direct replacement for the exercises works really well. So if you're working on alternate picking, find a piece which is just alternate picked. There is plenty to choose from, and spend time working on the performance piece as well as the exercises.
Ringleader of the Cambridge cartel, pedal champ and king of the dirt boxes (down to 21)