Alternate Picking PT 1

                What is Alternate Picking? Alternate Picking is a guitar technique that is made of upwards and downwards motion with the pick. Basically, alternating between a down pick and an up pick. This technique is one of the first learned by amateur guitarists.

                How often is this technique used? This is one of, if not, the most popular guitar technique to be used by any guitar player. It is used by virtuoso and amateur guitar players alike. It is seen in Jazz, Fusion, Rock, Metal, Country, Bluegrass, Funk, and etc...

                How hard is it to master? This technique is easy to get a grasp of and is always improved on and learned about. There are ways to get good at this technique quickly with some common hurdles that guitarists often stumble across.

                As with most techniques, some common hurdles are:

Accuracy

Tension

Fatigue

Economy of Motion

Speed

                In the future, there will be dedicated videos and articles to tackling these hurdles. These hurdles become super apparent at about 80-100 BPM. Most guitarists absolute max speed is 120 BPM at sixteenth notes (8 NPS). There are thousands of ways to overcome and beat these hurdles, but I have made 4 different exercises that tackle and aid certain struggles of the learning of the technique.

How to read tab with alternate picking: Strict Alt. Picking is up and down every note. Down strokes on every downbeat and an upbeat on every upbeat. ( | = downstroke ^ = upstroke )

| ^ | ^

1 e & a

| ^

1 &

 No exceptions when the line "Strict Alt. Picking" is present.

All exercises in A minor 5th position CAGED shape (Chromatic nuances in exercises)

1. This exercise follows a simple pattern with speed bursts, great for building speed.

   

2. This exercise is a tongue twister (Finger Twister). Following a continuous sixteenth note pattern that will trip up if you move up in tempos too quickly. Start slow and build speed.

   

3. 3 follows the same concept of speed bursts: This exercise has short speed bursts in syncopated spots. Make sure to get the rhythms correct and in time before moving up in tempo.

   

4. Now combine all 3 exercises into one. Combining all of them has a really cool effect because, now you have Advanced Alt. Picking, String Skipping, and a complex rhythm sequence. Start slow and make sure the time going into the 4th measure is correct.