Alternate Picking Part I - this article is included on online guitar lessons web site.

Introduction

There are three different approaches to picking: alternate picking, sweep picking and economy picking. It’s good for all guitar players to learn alternate picking first, because it’s the hardest guitar technique to master, although it looks simple – it’s based on consistent alternation between downstrokes and upstrokes. I’m sure that all professional guitar players think that alternate picking is the most important guitar technique. Some people prefer economy picking which requires memorizing of certain picking patterns. In alternate picking you do not have to memorize patterns, the only thing you should know is up and down. So, once you’ve learned this technique you will not have to think about complicated things like picking patterns and you’ll be able to concentrate on things like note choices, while you’re improvising. The alternate picking also helps us to develop our rhythmic abilities and unlike other guitar techniques, it sounds clear and more articulate.

Now, let’s discuss some rules which are very important for mastering the alternate picking. If you want to play fast, movements of your pick must be small and precise, just up and down, without any extra movements, and you should pick strings with the edge of the pick, which gives more aggressive and articulate sound. Small and precise movements are developed by doing alternate picking exercises only on one string. Picking with the flat of the pick gives warm and smooth sound and it’s more suitable for slow playing. Use wrist movements for the best results and, sometimes, combination of wrist and elbow movements works well.

In the first article dedicated to alternate picking, I’ll show you some exercises for beginners, that will help you to learn how to pick with small movements. Before you start, find the best picking hand position. I know that all guitar players prefer different positions and it’s hard to say which one is the best. If you have a problem to find which one is the best for you, you should check some videos of guitar players that you like and try to copy their picking hand position and picking motions.

Now, let’s move on to the exercises.

Exercise 1

The first exercise is very simple. It sounds like old school heavy metal lick from 80's. I suggest you to practice this exercise with metronome and you should start at 80 bpm. If you haven’t played such exercises before, start at 60 bpm, or even less. You should try to achieve 150 bpm. After that, you’ll be able to play more complicated and faster runs on the guitar.

Exercise 2

Exercise number two is almost the same as the first exercise. There is only one difference – it’s played by using sixteenth note triplets.

Exercise 3

This is exercise is a bit tricky. It is combination of previous two exercises. It’s played by using sixteenth tones and sixteenth tone triplets.

Exercise 4

The fourth exercise is inspired by “Flight Of The Bumblebee”, written by Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov. It’s good for your fretting hand technique, too. Be careful, you mustn’t move your fretting hand fingers away from the fretboard if you want to play this exercise fast.