Alternate Picking

Alternate picking is a right-hand picking technique that is especially useful in bluegrass music, where 16th notes (or 8th notes in double 4 time) are the common currency among flat pickers. Picking up and down alternately keeps time, while the left hand works to fret in time with the right.

Tips to help with alternate picking:

• Hold your pick firmly. Two fingers and a thumb are often favored by the world-class pickers.
• Start Slowly, focusing on accuracy first, and speed later.
• Practice your up-stroke twice as much as the down stroke, since the up pick is generally weaker for most players.
• When you can play accurately at a slower speed, turn up the metronome a notch and practice at the new higher speed.
• Think of your picking hand as the piston in an engine, and your fretting hand is connected by a timing chain to your picking hand. Work at this mental image until you feel your two hands working together at any speed.

Exercises

These riffs are inspired by the great alternate picker in rock 'n roll... Steve Morse. The way to learn alternate picking fast, is to hold your pick firmly, then start slow, forgetting about speed in the beginning. Instead, think precision. When you can do these licks flawlessly at a certain speed, then turn up the speed on your metronome and work up gradually until you are picking along at the speed of Steve. Remember, that sloppy speed doesn't count!

The "^" character in the tabs is a downstroke, because it opens downward. Conversely the character opening upward represents the upstroke.

Cruise Missle

This first lick is from Cruise Missile, and is a great right-hand workout, since the left hand should be comfortable doing almost nothing but chromatic quadruplets. Notice at the end of the even measures there is a quarter note. Your right hand gets a rest for a two counts.

Click on the tab to hear the midi file play. (Windows Media Player works best).

Click on the tab to hear the midi file play. (Windows Media Player works best).

Click on the tab to hear the midi file play. (Windows Media Player works best).

Give us your thoughts on this lick in our Licks Loops and Riffs forum.