Ghost strumming/picking

[anon]

I've started getting in to funk playing recently, and I have managed to get to grips with ghost strumming. By ghost strumming I mean keeping the picking hand moving constantly to maintain the rhythm(effectively turning it in to a metronome).

I was reading a guitar magazine yesterday and it had a transcription of 'Suck My Kiss' by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and talked about the technique. As well as using it for strumming they suggested using it for picking single notes like on the tab below:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/Legend3000/16ths.gif

I want to get to grips with using this technique for picking, but I don't want my picking to get sloppy as a result. Do you guys have any tips or suggestions for practicing the technique?

[Dommy]

Well, keep your right hand movements economical.

Pay attention to any tension you feel might be building up. Secondly, work with a metronome. Slowly at first.

If you really want to be a completist work on isolating single 16th notes within the bar while keeping your "ghost" hand going. You can take this to a whole other level if you choose. But make sure that if you're playing single notes, then make sure you're muting with your left hand correctly. I never really paid attention to HOW my left hand mutes, it just sorta came naturally to me. Good luck tho.