I never thought about my picking really until recently. I believe a lot of my problems stem from the ways I learned. I taught myself what I know for the most part. I was a 14 year old kid with a guitar and didn't care about technical stuff. Now it's coming back to bite me. I may sound like a noob in this post.
I've had a problem with alternate picking at slow speeds, and with string skipping. And now I'm really trying to tackle all of my problems. The first problem I noticed is with when I was trying to learn sweep picking. Coming upwards, my upstroke, is terrible. It's off time and and not near as fluid as my downstrokes. And to be completely honest, I'm not sure if I've alternate picking multiple strings right. To play fast parts that alternate between multiple strings I usually start with a down, let my pick flow over the string I want next, and come up with an up stroke.
I've also noticed that I have a problem with just regular alternate picking for higher speeds, my timing for the first few notes is off. I noticed I let my fingers do a lot of the work with picking at higher speeds. I kind of push my thumb down for the downstroke and move my index finger in combo with thumb for the upstroke. This is in combination of small wrist movements, but I remember hearing that picking is mostly about the wrist.
I think it's because I developed a bad habit. I like to lock my pinky on the bottom of the pickup, and end up using my fingers like I said. I guess I figured that would make more accurate.
One last little tidbit, I notice guitarists like Jason Richardson change style when they are picking extremely fast. He kind of balls up his hand to pick extreme speed sections. I've never learned this, but if it's an actual technique, I'd like to know it.
I understand some people may believe I'm trying to get too indepth with things, but I'm willing to go back to the very basics. I want to really improve as a guitarist. I've never practiced, I've always just played and made music. I'll be a total noob again if means becoming a robot in the endgame.
Sorry for the long post, but I've been practicing and I want to know what I should actually work on.
I've had a problem with alternate picking at slow speeds, and with string skipping. And now I'm really trying to tackle all of my problems. The first problem I noticed is with when I was trying to learn sweep picking. Coming upwards, my upstroke, is terrible. It's off time and and not near as fluid as my downstrokes. And to be completely honest, I'm not sure if I've alternate picking multiple strings right. To play fast parts that alternate between multiple strings I usually start with a down, let my pick flow over the string I want next, and come up with an up stroke.
I've also noticed that I have a problem with just regular alternate picking for higher speeds, my timing for the first few notes is off. I noticed I let my fingers do a lot of the work with picking at higher speeds. I kind of push my thumb down for the downstroke and move my index finger in combo with thumb for the upstroke. This is in combination of small wrist movements, but I remember hearing that picking is mostly about the wrist.
I think it's because I developed a bad habit. I like to lock my pinky on the bottom of the pickup, and end up using my fingers like I said. I guess I figured that would make more accurate.
One last little tidbit, I notice guitarists like Jason Richardson change style when they are picking extremely fast. He kind of balls up his hand to pick extreme speed sections. I've never learned this, but if it's an actual technique, I'd like to know it.
I understand some people may believe I'm trying to get too indepth with things, but I'm willing to go back to the very basics. I want to really improve as a guitarist. I've never practiced, I've always just played and made music. I'll be a total noob again if means becoming a robot in the endgame.
Sorry for the long post, but I've been practicing and I want to know what I should actually work on.