# Thoughts on using a shredneck to develop picking technique



## Mordacain (Aug 29, 2010)

Anyone use a shredneck for practice while at work or while commuting? I've been toying with the idea of getting one so I can practice working up my alt picking speed and accuracy. That's really all I'd use it for while I am trapped at my desk for 10 hours a day in an office where making sound is not an option and I get weird looks just having an axe in a gigbag here if I'm going to jam somewhere after work.

I found these threads:
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/general-music-discussion/92133-shredneck-does-it-work.html & 
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/standard-guitars/34762-shredneck-practice-and-warm-up-device.html 

Which are basically the same question but they are older and neither addressed just using one to develop what I feel is my weakest area: picking technique. Thanks for opinions.


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## Stealthdjentstic (Aug 29, 2010)

for another 30 dollars you could buy a POS guitar and use that instead..


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## Mordacain (Aug 29, 2010)

Stealthtastic said:


> for another 30 dollars you could buy a POS guitar and use that instead..



I can't play a guitar in the office, its not an option. I'm only considering the shredneck as I can quickly stash it in a desk drawer and its noiseless.

75% of my time at work is spent on calls that don't require much interaction from me, so I have lots of idle time. I've been using a finger exerciser here extensively but I've pretty much reached a plateau where its not going to help me much more. This also doesn't address what I'm chiefly interested in, which is developing alt picking technique and upping speed.


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## MaxOfMetal (Aug 29, 2010)

Stealthtastic said:


> for another 30 dollars you could buy a POS guitar and use that instead..





There are POS headless/travel guitars on eBay that'll store and travel almost as easy as one of those Shrednecks. 

As far as picking practice goes, the Shredneck mimics a guitar's strung fretboard. Go and try and pick around the 5th fret of your guitar. Do you really think you're going to get some serious pick practice done on one still? 

Though, have you considered making a "Pick Neck"? Basically, get a small block of wood from a hardware store like Home Depot's "junk bin", it only needs to be about six inches long and three or four inches wide. Get 12 wood screws as well. Now screw those screws into the wood so that the heads sit roughly an inch off the wood and aren't going all the way through. Now take a set of used guitar strings and tie them around the heads of the screws, basically making a Shredneck that better copies the picking area of the guitar and not the fretting area.


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## Mordacain (Aug 29, 2010)

MaxOfMetal said:


> Though, have you considered making a "Pick Neck"? Basically, get a small block of wood from a hardware store like Home Depot's "junk bin", it only needs to be about six inches long and three or four inches wide. Get 12 wood screws as well. Now screw those screws into the wood so that the heads sit roughly an inch off the wood and aren't going all the way through. Now take a set of used guitar strings and tie them around the heads of the screws, basically making a Shredneck that better copies the picking area of the guitar and not the fretting area.



This is more useful. I thought about this but was not sure I could get the strings to proper tension to simulate properly. I do have some garbage tuning machines I could use. I will try this instead, thanks for the idea.


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## Mordacain (Aug 29, 2010)

Running with that idea, what would you suggest as a dampener to keep the strings from vibrating at all? A thicker foam block that meets the strings on either side of the picking area?


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## MaxOfMetal (Aug 29, 2010)

Mordacain said:


> Running with that idea, what would you suggest as a dampener to keep the strings from vibrating at all? A thicker foam block that meets the strings on either side of the picking area?



That would work, though it would be much easier to just wind some foam around the strings on one end similar to using a hair tie to silence the strings on a real guitar.


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## Mordacain (Aug 29, 2010)

Actually, I have a crapload of hair ties from before I cut my hair off, will try those first. Thanks for the idea.


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## Trespass (Aug 29, 2010)

Devils Advocate: Won't using a "picking neck" only train the right hand? And isn't alternate picking more than just right hand stamina, but accuracy and synchronization between each finger and the right hand? I don't see how a picking neck can train anything besides strength and endurance.

(If I misunderstand the concept, feel free to let me know)


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## Mordacain (Aug 30, 2010)

Trespass said:


> Devils Advocate: Won't using a "picking neck" only train the right hand? And isn't alternate picking more than just right hand stamina, but accuracy and synchronization between each finger and the right hand? I don't see how a picking neck can train anything besides strength and endurance.
> 
> (If I misunderstand the concept, feel free to let me know)



That is a good point, but literally I only started using a pick a little over a year ago. My speed and accuracy with a pick is still not very good and while I do need to concern myself with synchronization at the present my fretting hand is ridiculously faster than my picking hand as I grew up playing finger-style (a clawhammer variation that I adopted from too much Mark Knopfler I think). What 

What I've realized through metronome practice is that my alternate picking is what is really holding me back and its purely speed atm. Once I get fast enough, I'm sure I'll find synchronization issues that I need to iron but that can really only happen with concentration. What I'm planning on is just running metronome drills when I'm not actively engaged at work, so really I just need enough strings to work on alternate picking speed and string-skipping accuracy.


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## MUFASA (Aug 30, 2010)

go try the shredneck,

i tried it out and it felt a little wierd.


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## Jtizzle (Aug 31, 2010)

Those practice things are the most useless things ever IMO. The point of practicing picking is getting a nice clean sound. If you can't hear yourself, then how do you know if what you're playing is gonna sound good?


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## Mordacain (Aug 31, 2010)

Hey guys, thanks for the advice. 

The point of what I was suggesting was to develop motor control & muscle memory. The musical application does not really matter at this point as my muscles aren't capable of doing what I tell them, hence the need for training. 

What I will be putting together is just a way for me to take care of the monotonous motor control development aspect while stuck at my job. That way when I get home to do some real practice, I can work on synchronicity and playing cleanly, not worry about how I can't control the pick well enough or fast enough.

I'm not a kid anymore and don't have 6 hours a day I can devote to training. I have a family to support and often work 12+ hours a day. I still want to push my playing abilities, learn more, do better and this is a way to facilitate that when I can't play guitar. Please keep that in mind before responding that the idea has no merit. Of course, positive criticism is still welcome.

Again, thanks to those who have provided positive insight. I remembered I had a spare Floyd locking nut so my practice design just got a lot simpler. I'll post with pics when I have time to build the sucker.


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## Daggorath (Aug 31, 2010)

As said above, picking is all about synchronizing your hands. I'm sure it'll strengthen your fingers, but then again, so will tapping or twirling a pen or what not. It's worth a go if you can make one for fuckall. I'd say it might be more useful for economy picking than alt, and getting used to the odd patterns you have to do.


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## Mordacain (Aug 31, 2010)

Daggorath said:


> As said above, picking is all about synchronizing your hands. I'm sure it'll strengthen your fingers, but then again, so will tapping or twirling a pen or what not. It's worth a go if you can make one for fuckall. I'd say it might be more useful for economy picking than alt, and getting used to the odd patterns you have to do.



Thanks, actually I wound up working more on economy picking when I was developing drills. I'm still toying with giving myself a small fingerboard area where I can depress the strings so I can include timing. I'm pretty sure all I need are a few scraps of wood and a little time to sand some comfort areas to grip. I have a leftover hardtail bridge and a floyd rose locking nut that will anchor the strings (and also allow me to change them periodically). After a time, I'm hoping that I can just use this to keep my speed up so I can go home and jump right into learning complicated parts.


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## Daggorath (Aug 31, 2010)

Or just buy a cheap Ukelele and jam some foam under the end of the fretboard...


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## Konfyouzd (Aug 31, 2010)

Daggorath said:


> As said above, picking is all about synchronizing your hands. I'm sure it'll strengthen your fingers, but then again, so will tapping or twirling a pen or what not. It's worth a go if you can make one for fuckall. I'd say it might be more useful for economy picking than alt, and getting used to the odd patterns you have to do.


 
+1 to this...

I started doing legato a lot more and now my fingering hand is faster than my picking hand... 

If you want to improve your alternate picking you'd probably want something that will encourage hand synchronization as opposed to simply building finger speed.

EDIT: I was going on the above comments when I wrote my post. Now that I've looked at the shred necks I think they look like gimmicky pieces of shit. There are definitely better options. I highly doubt the pros they use to sell that thing really use it keep their chops up.


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## Mordacain (Aug 31, 2010)

Konfyouzd said:


> +1 to this...
> 
> I started doing legato a lot more and now my fingering hand is faster than my picking hand...
> 
> If you want to improve your alternate picking you'd probably want something that will encourage hand synchronization as opposed to simply building finger speed.



Yea, this is really my problem. My fretting hand finger speed is plenty fast as I grew up playing with my fingers (ala Mark Knopfler) so I really only ever used legato; for 14 some odd years that was the only way I played. Once I started learning to use a pick I'm having to adapt to new hand positions as well as break my old fingerstyle habits of where I would place my fingers. The one habit I've kept is using my pinky as a stand / fulcrum-point. If its ok with Petrucci then its ok for me I figure...


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