Alternate picking problem!!!!

[eisenhorn]

Hi,
When alternate picking certain patterns I find my right hand sometimes trips over itself, as if it cannot make up its mind whether to use an upstroke or a downstroke. I then end up using two up strokes or two downstrokes in succession. I am finding this very hard to eliminate even though I am practicing slowly with a metronome.

Does anyone else have this problem?

Most of the time I manage strictly up,down,up etc but sometimes stumble!!!!

[theox]

Most of the time I manage strictly up,down,up etc but sometimes stumble!!!! Hi there! Didn't you have a similar problem before you learned to walk? I believe you can walk today, and you didn't settle for less than walking with a straight back. Not many of us crawl around, we didn't give up just because it was hard. You got to have the same attitude you had when you were a baby. Just do it. Learn to run smoothly around the fretboard. No matter what it takes.

It's so simple, yet so hard, but you gotta do it. You don't wanna crawl and stumble around the fretboard in five years, so learn to walk the walk when you're 'young'. :cool:

Every little discipline is good, but you won't notice until you fulfill them and the practice becomes second nature. Then, when you look back, you'll thank yourself for not giving up.

Peace.

[eisenhorn]

Hi there, thanks for the reply and I like the analogy even though I have been playing for over fifteen years!!!!!

I have returned to playing after a break of 7 years and have decided to correct my weaknesses and bad habits and I will just have to take things slowly, as it seems to take a long time to forget bad habits before the correct technique sinks in. :)

[Malcolm]

...other than scale work for a couple of weeks, and after only that short time I noticed my alternate picking suffered.

My instructor did say to me one time --- as I was doing as you stated --- OK you got the idea just keep working at it.

It's that old P word.....

[Wizbit81]

Don't worry about it just keep plugging away. I once taught a guy who couldn't alternate pick properly and he'd been playing 35 years. Theox is right just keep doing it slow with various exercises. Check out Paul Gilbert vids for some good exercises to do. It depends on how much u practice as well, if you do 10mins a day its going to be a long haul, when I was doing this I spent about 2.5 hours a day during the week and about 6 hours a day on the weekend doing it while watching tv. You soon forget it and it becomes automatic. Good luck.

[MusicM@n]

And make sure you read EricV`s article-trilogy "Art of Picking".