People say pick from the wrist so you start picking ( waving/translating ) with the wrist like you would strum a chord. But thats not REAL fast and its vertical movement - towards the floor/ceiling. So to alternate string change you have to quickly throw in a little horizontal movement. Thats hard to do fast. And if you pick vertically with the elbow you get more speed but the same problem with alternate string changes. You can sweep/economy pick bloody good with strictly vertical movement but you probably wont enjoy alternate picking much. So then I started scooping upstrokes somewhat left or diagonally instead of the half circle thing - it moves more diagonally up and down the strings too. Not a half circle. And I noticed it is rotation. And I remembered someone said they taught him in music college to pick with rotation like turning a key in a lock. It feels almost or as fast as the elbow and alot easier to alternate pick a scale cuz you have vertical AND horizontal movement in every pick stroke. So when you change strings your making the same movement you do on every string instead of all of a sudden you have to quickly add a little horizontal movement. Get it?
Reply With Quote