Eric V.. Help! on picking..

[Shredated]

hi~
I watched one of my friend shred the smoke out of PG's Frenzy today.. and i noticed he was holding his pick almost perpendicular to the string when picking..

i try to cop that kinda picking recently because i believe it increases the effeciency of picking... however, i dont play as clean anymore (my upstroke sounds sloppier and weaker than downstroke)and i am really not used to it (my picking is orginally more like between 45 and 60 degree adjecent to the string)..

what's ur opinion?

thx.~

[EricV]

Hi there,

look at the pics below.
In pic 1, I am holding the pick pretty much parallel to the string, rather "straight" ( I added a white line... it shows what position the pick is in, it´s not angled ). I think this is what your friend was doing ( am I right ? )
Some people prefer this way of holding the pick... it gives a different sound and usually adds some volume and bite to the tone.
Most players prefer the other way, the angled pick, as seen in pics 2 and 3... that´s the way I hold the pick when I do fast picking.
It has certain advantages... your pick doesn´t get caught easily by teh string, and since it´s angled, it is kinda closer to the strings ( hope this makes sense... it touches the string earlier, since the edges of the pick are close to them due to the angle ).

I hope this clears it up. I´d go for the angled pick, and guys like Paul Gilbert and T. Koehne hold their pick that way...
Hope this helps
Eric

[Shredated]

Thx Eric!
those pics really clarify my problem!

btw, wut do u think of Chris Impletteri?
my friend who's only 17, however can play Technical Difficuties and Scarified flawlessly, claims that Impletteri's solos are much more difficult than PG's solos.. Obviously Impletteri is all about speed..

[EricV]

Well, I am not too familiar with Chris´style. I know this song "17th Century Chicken Picking", which I think has some cool licks, and it kinda cracks me up.
I occasionally use the string skipping lick from that when I practise... it indeed is a tough lick.
Can´t say whether his licks are harder than PG´s licks. Years ago, Chris claimed he wanted to be the fastest player ever, and I heard he´s pretty fast, but what I like about Paul and Yngwie is a display of taste and tone, in COMBINATION with killer-chops.
As I said, haven´t heard enough of Chris´s playing to comment on his abilities.
I attached a TAB of the lick I mentioned...
Eric

[Shredated]

i see..
i have some of his cds.. and yea, i've heard 17th century chicken picking..

well, i dont know if you dl music off kazza or no.. but if you dont mind, listen to this song "Stand In Line".. the solo is absolutely nut.. absolutely fast and furious.. and lots lots of distortion..

btw, do you know if any shredder overdub their guitar solos? i know randy does.. but who else?