Plectrum's edge

57Deluxe

Funny this should come up as only yesterday I had a session with my new Tele and my Pignose G40V amp. The ultra twangy Tele just begged to be dug-in good and hard with the pick at a good 45 degrees on the long hard edge and the resulting blistering brown tone was superb! No pedals either. Lots of pinched harmonics was the reward here.

I have been YT/ online demoing all these different exotic amps over time and little flashes like this bring home how good a tone you can orchestrate just by applying yourself!

I do say though that The Tele and the Pignose are great to start with - it was this particular application that was the revelation.

What didn't set my soul alight, was the dialed down low-ish sound of the Tele into my Super Reverb... so is never a given that everything works with each other regardless.

thomasross20

It's amazing how many "pro-pickers" use forearm rather than wrist movement. 

thomasross20

After checking out more of Troy's stuff, I've come to realise I'm an upward pick slanter like MeolaMclaughlin/Moore etc (as viz hinted at) - maybe not so strange after all! Turns out a lot of people play this way! 

Downslanters are Yngwie/Friedman etc. 

Paul Gilbert doesn't seem to have a preference (neutral pick slant).

Have to say this is a real revelation for me. Never quite realised I was doing it before but I definitely upslant my pick!! I'm in good company with those players mentioned (wish I had their skills!). Now I'm going to try and be a whole lot more confident about it...

thomasross20

This is amazing!! 

My wrist is in the position for a downward pickslanting player... but my pick is definitely upslanting!

For years when playing an upstroke I would try to pull away from the strings, but when I play with conviction and pluck toward the body of the guitar for an upstroke (since I have an upward pick slant) my picking feels so much more confident and transformed! The index finger pushing the pick is probably to balance out the fact that my wrist is in the downward pick slant position... so it sort of compensates in order to bring my picking back to upward pick slanting. 

So for years I've had the natural tendency to want to upward pick slant and when doing an upstroke push the plectrum toward the guitar... but I've been doing the opposite (of course not all the time!) and tried to bring it away from the guitar as I thought that was the "done thing". This is really transforming my picking, almost immediately! 

Weird how I'm an upward pick slanter. Downward slanting just doesn't feel natural to me

Unfortunately (?) I also do the "swiping" thing like Batio/Meola etc does (up-pick on high E then downpick on B, but hit the open B as I pass over to economise speed-wise) but unlike them, I don't always manage to mute the string properly so now I'm very aware of that - argh!

thomasross20

Argh, I seem to be getting nowhere. 

There is something seriously wrong when I can't even tremolo pick a string fast for an extended period of time without tension arising. 

viz

Is tremolo picking the same as EVH's hummingbird picking technique? If so it takes years to be able to do it for more that 10 or even 5 seconds. Try using a nylon string guitar, muting the strings with your left hand, fairly high up, close to where you're picking, and only letting the minutest sliver of plectrum protrude beyond the fingers.

thomasross20

Yep, I do that with only a little of the plectrum showing. 

The killer to all technique IMO is tension and I have it when picking. I wonder if it's because of the way I'm holding it, I don't know. In order to reduce tension I'm currently, slowly, performing up and down strokes with big strokes, if that makes sense - as playing with small strokes might be increasing the tension. My technique is good in general but this one thing has haunted me for years, and it's time to nail it - ridiculous that after 15 years I can't pick quickly (I can, but it's hit and miss and there's tension so it's not good enough).

ElectroDan

I noticed on the Troy Grady vids, he calls it the "Batio arc". Where the player forms more of an arc (unsurprisingly enough) with the hand and wrist, and the picking motion comes more from the forearm muscles. Van Halen seems to use this technique when tremolo picking too.

I noticed on the Guthrie vid earlier that he doesn't do it, and he can certainly push the pace too. So clearly there is no ONE way of doing it.

I can tremolo pick pretty fast and don't stress or cramp up. I have not really analysed what I'm doing before, but it appears that I'm using the rotational forearm muscles, more than the muscles that rock your hand side to side. I'm ok for trem picking like this, but use the arc if I want extra motion and therefore a more pronounced pick attack.

Be careful if your getting tension though. It won't be doing you any good.

thomasross20

Yes, there appears to be three  - elbow... arch and side to side as Guthrie appears to do...

thomasross20

This greatly annoys me. 

I also agree that endless practice isn't the best thing. There's a RIGHT way to do things.....so just playing to a metronome wont always get you anywhere!

viz

I don't believe this is one of those techniques that works best if you build up speed with a 'nome. It's something that only works at all at speed, I think. So the best way to get it perfected by just doing it as much as possible. I often do that motion without a guitar, and with or without a plectrum - sometimes with a plectrum onto my left thumbnail when i'm on the train or whatever. I can now do the hummingbird for about 20 seconds but it always jams up in the end, usually when my brain gets in the way or my wrist starts to get tired.

ElectroDan

Unless your taking up the mandolin though, 20 seconds of trem picking should cover nearly everything you'd want to do, surely.

thomasross20

When you do an upstroke, does any force actually come from your forefinger, or is it from the wrist? 

The technique for fast picking is totally different to slow picking IMO - do you do the wrist arch or move side to side like Guthrie?

viz

I do this basically:

thomasross20

You do that for normal alternate picking / skipping strings etc?

viz

No just for effect, just for runs up and down a single string (like that bit in Eruption). For normal picking I rest the heel of the hand on the bridge, still having the swivel point as the wrist though. I hold the plectrum very loosely as you can see, and in normal picking i can continue for I don't know, minutes probably.

thomasross20

Hmm so no real force comes from the forefinger when performing an upstroke, ok...

musteatbrain

Tensing up after doing a tremolo pick is unavoidable at some stage. You get a rest when you change string which removes some of the tension, so I find it's less of an issue when playing most music. Have you tried tremolo picking whilst cycling 3 notes downward pick slanting and 3 upwards pick slanting? Being able to make that transition at speed seems more useful to me than practicing tremolo picking in isolation.

ElectroDan

The fore finger and thumb don't do anything. It all comes from the forearm. If anything I'd say the side to side muscles with me, move to select a string, more than to contribute to the picking motion.

viz

Mine is not from the forearm at all - it's all from the wrist. The elbow angle doesn't change.