Picking or the great disaster

[Death (Chuck)]

I just searched the forums with the word "picking"... I have found 500 threads in last month....

It seems to me that picking or especially fast picking is the toughest technik.

My progress in last year was quite litle. My picking got better but still am not as good as i want to be.

Three weeks ago i started the most borrrrrring exercises in my entire life. They have nothing to do with music and they really sound afwully.

I saw them in video from the neoclassical picking machine Vinnie Moore. You are doing for at least 30 minutes stuff like
1234 2345 or 4321 5432
1234 2345 or 4321 5432

with 3 fingers... with 4 fingers... back and forth
on 1 string.. on 2 ... on all 6 .. in all variations....
and even more...

I might repeat myself... but its goddam borrrrring.

But somehow i was able to motivate myself and i did them all. And you know what?
It worked! In three weeks my picking improved more than in the last year.
My theorie is that its not that important what u are picking... its way more important that u are picking constantly for a long time.
Before i did these exercises i was picking serveral licks and some of them are quite good... no doubt, but i never picked them for such a long period without any interruptions.

I am thinking of an athelte.. he must go to a fitness center and work with boring machines, otherwise he wont be competitive.

[Padawan]

Let's praise the best picker of them all.

[forgottenking2]

I can talk to you from an athlete's view point as well as a musician's. You can punch and kick the sand bag all you want, you will definitely gain more power but if you come to real fight with a real oponent (say me j/k lol) you will still get your butt kicked. Try just working on speed and precision drills. Great, now you can connect, but don't do any damage and still get hit (so you still get your butt kicked). In a sport, there are always a set of skills involved and even if you work at them individually what makes some people great is how creative they are with what they have.

Music is more of an intellectual thing, a form of art. While the whole athlete-musician thing has some parallels (like the one I mentioned above), music is a completely different ball game. You can focus on all the physical aspects of playing and while that might be all you need to excell in a sport, it's only one of the things you need to watch to be an excellent musician. Eventually you'll hit a wall and realize what you need to do. We all go through that. It's kind of a musical puberty type thing.

Good luck.

-Jorge

[UKRuss]

I can't get on with those chromatic exercises.

I'm not sure I ever understood the value becasue yes you are running through differen combination with different amount of fingers etc.

but why not do that using a musical passage or on a particular scale. that would seem to me to kill two birds with one stone.

[ashc]

I said b*ll*cks to chromatic exercises a while back, firstly because I could see no musical value in them and I'm far too old to do stuff for the sake of it. In fact I was glued into small position shifts with a lot of those exercises and
"box" playing and now I have to work hard on getting bigger position shifts right.

More importantly I found that I get a little bit better just with structured (more musical) practice anyway without measuring progress in BPM's. So, if I go back to these chromatics I'm faster without even playing them. In fact the less I worry about BPM's and stuff and work on accuracy and just playing the faster I get (which is not very)

Nevertheless, I think if you want good technique these exercises are good it's all a matter if you have time for that...

[Death (Chuck)]

@ forgottenking

Well you are right. Music is something else than these exercises... And of course... picking is just a small part of a guitar player. but an important.
I am not sure if its my musical puberty , though i am playing about six years and i just feel its time to solve the basic problems


@ Ukruss
it never worked that good with a scale or a lick for me, as it workes with this chromatic stuff. Maybe its because you always play the same number of notes per string? I am not sure. But i am quite sure that i rarely played anything such constantly.

@ ashc
i dont worry about bpm when i am playing this stuff. I just got faster and more accurate. I think i just gained a lot of control.

[ashc]

Another thing like this was I spent a lot of time on those finger swapping chord exercise things. I got pretty good at those and I'm sure my finger independence improved (at least for these exercises). But did I learn any new chords or actual get better on chord changes ? No... stopped doing them.

[Padawan]

Here is a little exercise that helped me.

NP: Tony Mcalpine - edge of insanity

[joeyd929]

Let's praise the best picker of them all.

Chickin Pickin?

[joeyd929]

There are 24 different combinations of 1234. If you practice all of the the idea is that you have covered every possible finger combination

1234
1243
1324
1342
1423
1432

2341
2314
2413
2431
2134
2143

3412
3421
3124
3142
3214
3241

4123
4132
4231
4213
4321
4312

I think I got them all.. A different one every day for a solid 15 minutes. You can alternate strings too.

[Padawan]

Ok, but what's the main goal with that exercise, finger independancy or speed? Will my left hand get better?
I just want to know if those chromatic exercises are that useful because I'm not sure whether I should practise them or not.

[Death (Chuck)]

@ joeyd929

i am doing other exercises.... i am moving them up... until my first finger hits the 12th frett. As u can imagine i am to lazy for writing them all down

[Death (Chuck)]

maybe i ll write them down.... but not now

just look out for the vinnie moore video

[joeyd929]

I think the goal for any musician in regards to technique is to acquire total finger independence. It can not be rushed or pushed. A little bit every day can make the world of difference.

Once you start focusing on specific exercises it can seem like things are not getting better right away but you have to look at the big picture. 80 percent of the time should be spent working on studies/technique and 20 percent of the time should be spent expirementing, jamming, playing, and enjoying it.

I get more out of jamming with buddies for an hour then I do from lots of practice because it puts me in the mindset to try things and I always come away with something new.

As far as the finger exercises, my objective is to always utilize every finger so I never slack in any one area. Like Classical and hard core jazz players, even country or bluegrass pickers. They never have finger obstacles.

I type 60 words per minute and never think about it, I just do it and that 20 percent aspect should be the same, just play and use your chops. It is also a great way to find your weak spots and then it gives you something new to practice during that 80 percent time block.

[joeyd929]

Ok, but what's the main goal with that exercise, finger independancy or speed? Will my left hand get better?
I just want to know if those chromatic exercises are that useful because I'm not sure whether I should practise them or not.

It is my belief that finger independence can increase speed if that is your goal. Yes, your left hand will get better but it has to be done for months and months to really get anything out of it other than a warm up.