Faster Alternate Picking In 2024? jonbjork.teachable.com/p/my-d... 🎼 Get access to the tabs here: cutt.ly/jonbjorkguitar #alternatepicking #speedpicking #guitartechnique
How important is it to keep the fretting hand pinky finger curled in? Does the pinky finger being loose and flying out there have any impact on how fast we can fret notes or is it just a cosmetic thing?
I discovered this on my own in the mid 1990's. It's the only way to fix things. You are deconstructing things and then rebuilding them better. You are deconstructing the riff vs. your mechanics and building a better nervous system response to when it's time to fire the riff.....hopefully shooting for muscle memory (one day) and at that point you think very little about executing the riff and just think of "here comes that riff" and it just happens. This is the kind of self diagnostic you need to go thru to work around your problems. Another one that goes hand in hand with this (as it's almost the same thing) it putting a premuim on note quality.....and I mean each and every note.....nothing slurred or cheated. Don't worry about speed, keep playing things with quality (typically 1/2 speed, or even less) and the ability for speed will be added in relative short order, I promise. Bravo on teaching the mechanics of shredding!
@Jon Bjork just one question (that nobody really shows) where to you rest your picking hand? Is it lightly on the strings or do you rest it between your wrist and elbow (so you picking hand sits slightly above the strings at all times). Maybe a good subject for a video as practising with your right hand in the wrong place means you are wasting your time and will need to re learn at some point..... many thanks.
That's because it's depending on your overall technique. Paul Gilbert rests his picking hand on the bridge as do most wrist pickers who doesn't plant any fingers on the body of the guitar, Michael Angelo Batio on the other hand doesn't rest his hand on the strings at all, instead he anchors his three fingers on the body of the guitar. Both sound great but do it completely differently.
Glad to see this technique excerpted from Alternate Picking Mastery.. it's a really powerful lesson because that "glimpse into the future" provides much needed motivation that you CAN increase your speed. It's like being allowed to blip the throttle of the Lamborghini 🙂
I have said it a million times now, I wish there was youtube like 30 years ago when I was a teenager so I could of got all this help. I never would of quit
You can still learn now, we only start slowing down a bit after 80, and that's just slowing down not being unable to learn new things. So get after it if you still want to:)
This is so helpful! I’m just like you were. I’m changing from Jeff Loomis style to Brandon Ellis to Andy James to Teemu from Wintersun and back. I cycle through these. And what I notice is that I seem to pick more like Jeff when I get faster BUT here’s the issue: I can’t cross strings with his technique. If I do the speed bursts I seem to want to pick away from the body. But that’s an issue for even note patterns started on a downstroke. Just try picking away from the body and do a simple pentatonic run started on a downstroke. You’ll notice you’ll get stuck quick. In order to fix that you have to change the angle of the pick and pick into the body (upward escape stroke). But that slows me down because I lose stability in my wrist. And I also have extra string noise from my knuckles dragging along the string (because every down pick goes toward the body and thus brings my knuckles closer to the strings which forces me to fan my band to avoid that which slows me down).
I'd suggest getting the general technique using the speed bursts and then work on a lot of short repeating patterns to get used to small detailed changes you''ll need to do depending on the phrase. It's so easy to overthink this stuff and none of the players Troy analyzed got their technique down by thinking of every detail. Just a crazy amount of repetitions at a speed where everything is working. I've had a lot of students that have come from the Cracking The Code school and really gotten into their own heads about every single motion.
Great playing mate! A lot of people can play fast, but not everyone has great feel, sense of dynamics, and vibrato like you do! Cheers from cloudy old England!
@@JonBjork Very nice, congratulations! I hope you're not coming over too soon - as the weather has reverted back to our stereotypical overcast skies haha... from mid-June we should have nice 20-30 degrees, cloudless blue skies.
Thankyou for this video. I've been playing for 20 years and have a pretty reliable picking hand but speed has always been an issue for me and those scale/metronome exercises always end up with me hitting a wall at 130 bpm..these short burst drills are already working after just a few sessions🔥
Great video! I love your speed burst practice technique.❤ But...I would reconsider using captions in the video because they are quite distracting. Awsome stuff! Keep up the good work!
I definitely could have used your skills and knowledge about 3 years ago when I was trying to re - learn my Instrument 🎸 . I took a fall at Work and woke up 3 weeks later in the ICU Unit of the Local Hospital . To this day I remember nothing of what happened . But I know I can barely play after the Brain Damage because of the location of the injuries . I've been playing Guitar since I was 11 years old . I'm now 58 . Everyone has that one thing that they're good at and they love to do . For me it was playing Guitar . Until this Covid BS took over I was working for Princess Cruise Lines as a Professional Musician . After that back home to New York to a Factory job . Anyway , I'll be going through all of your Videos to pick any and all exercises that you've offered . Your Picking Skills are no less than AMAZING !! And thank you for sharing this Lesson . I hope you're doing well and staying safe .
Sorry to hear that man! The brain is very adaptable though so you might be able to in the future. I’ve read a lot of accounts from various books on learning how people have recovered from quite severe injuries. It takes time though. Best of luck!
Great video. I have the same exact experience with banging my head against the wall with straight 16th note workouts. Speed bursts make so much more sense and it's obvious why. You can draw endless comparisons from sports. Let's say you practice tennis and you know that backhand is your weak point, the bottleneck, so to speak. What do you do? Just play more tennis? No. You grind the damn backhander until it's no longer your weakness. Learning to shred with the traditional straight-16th-notes approach is like trying to increase your bench press by doing more push-ups. It works but only to a certain point, which probably isn't very high.
With strict alternate picking I have learned the hand, finger, wrist and elbow mechanics change as the velocity increases So for me I will use a metronome up to a challenging speed, but once I hit that “wall” that you mentioned Then i try playing a fast and cleanly as possible but using very simple even one string 2 or 3 note licks You will find once you control that 180-220 bpm for some maybe 160-180 or much slower depending on one’s practice habits and motivation but at that point you can build more complex licks and runs you would never be able to build up to with a metronome and eventually for many including myself economy picking and legato will blend in to a uniform attack where you won’t hear anything but burn arpeggios still sound like arpeggios unless string skipping though, my own experience Then fiiiiiiiinally you can feel confident enough to forget about speed as a pursuit that tenses muscle and brains, learn to relax at any speed and use all your tools with speed being only one of. Lastly, I have also found that interjecting a pretty fast cleanly played line against a slower overall performance can sound faster that a balls to the wall Frenzied-Blitzkrieger
Thanks Jon Yeah, I've tried to just keep increasing the metronome and hit the wall. The speed bursts seem obvious now. Why didn't I think of that? I'm definitely going to incorporate this in. Also I like the captions. I usually put them on anyways, but the CC on RU-vid usually has wrong words or puts them in the way. So I appreciate the extra work on your part.
Would you recommend doing the reverse engineering of speed bursts to legato as well? Or the does the left hand motion not really change from slow to fast tempos?
amazing video thank u. we also have to not forget these guys practice way more than people do pettruchi talked about 8 hours a dya paul gilbert too steve vai 10 jason becker too. It's also very important to stay slow, but our biggets mistakes and weakness is to fats it up too much sometimes. so yeah, maybe some are real virtuoso, but ohterwhise they put alot of hours into this. and only this. i mena i could learn tons of songs but i prefer only play and practice this, so i guess i'll learn songs later i dont see this as an excuse but tone is also so important, a amazing tone like u helps to me more motivated and helps ourselves our playing better but for beginging, even mid level playing i guess a room amp 200 euros 300 is enough for now. also idk if it s normal but i I grit my teeth when i fast picking it s really hard to not do it idk why
Good video, I found my way through doing rest-strokes and 2-way pickslanting. I used to pick "at" the strings, rather than the push-through/twist motion of a rest-stroke. No matter how hard I tried, and I spent 3-4hrs a day for YEARS, maybe even 6 years with my old method, and I just never got there. Turns out I was doing a slight "lift-off", almost hovering over the string plane, diving-in, and jumping-out, this is INCORRECT. It's a push through, like a rest-stroke, it's straight-lines basically, no arcing in and out slivers of a millimeter above the string plane. There should be NO lift-off, NO hop, only straight-line movements, which absolutely requires pickslanting. I never found synchronization the hard part, it's the picking mechanic itself that seems to trip up most people. I hope this helps, don't lose years like I did, Get the mechanic down right, from that point, you shouldn't need insane amounts of hours per week, just consistent practice, maybe an hour a day.
There's something about the way Paul Gilbert and Yngwie where when they play really fast they both maintain this level of excitement that a lot of the other players don't have for me? Something in the way they attack they strings catches my full attention!🤘
Thanks Jon. I would love to see a lesson on your picking style for sweeping. I have been trying to mimick your technique but can never get as consistent and solid as you.Just a thought...many thanks
I appreciate you adding the subtitles; for some reason, it made it easier. Probably because I (like every other guitar player 😂) noodles while someone else is talking….lol
Cool! 1st saw it in Troy Stetina's book with the Flight of the bumblebee as an example😊 it's the most effective invention of our civilization! It's the seventh miracle in our galaxy😅
It's one of the first Poplar Solar Guitars, I don't think this exact colour ever made it into full production mode. Ola gave it to me so that's how I got ahold of it.
I also saw a Rick Graham video on this... awseome practice technique. I didn't really try it when I saw Ricks video but after spending some time I'm quickly feeling results😁
Its up to the individual on this subject of what type of pick you use and what exactly for strumming is thin best as qhen using thin you get no dig aound as if soloing with a thick. Years agp when thrash started out back in the late 80s there was and still issuing these plectrums called sharkfin known to used by the beatles. They ate in diffemt dilours representing thickness red is normal yellow thick and other colours but the light blue ones are the best for playing thtash fast The other thin plectrum is a dunlop nylon 38 , I recromend that every serious guatarist to have light blue sharkfin in there toolbag 100% If you use it at its thin end you can presise pick but beware it can cut through to hole in plectrum so make sure itsnot your last ! Speed comes down to competitive playing a pieceover seasons over time its all do with being comfortable thats the trick or aim point
People might argue over this due to the dig of a fatter plectrum and if this is the case the answer is simple crank up the amp so it does I'm not into arguments on this the answer is there to try out you will be amazed when using tube screamer harmonics says it all about thick and thin. But Mr Malmstreen insisted on using bass picks and the term comes from there whereas sharkfin was Anthrax which was noted in metal hammer magazine in interview which I recall many moons ago
Hi..Great lessons...one ?? say take a C major scale ..3 notes per..kind of Paul G..AND START ON AN UP STROKE..SO that on any pair of strings you end on a downstroke..IYO IS THAT A Worthwhile goal??? or not...I seem to feel more fluid but less in control..as Ive only beeen doing it bout 2 wks..btw I mean with strick alt. picking..Thanks for the lessons...and if u have any time to answer Thanks Dave
Hey Dave! For alternate picking I also go by the advice of Steve Morse, John Petrucci and Al DiMeola. They all have said at various times that you're best off practicing every alternate picked phrase in two ways. Starting with a downstroke and starting with an upstroke. I've done that from pretty much the beginning and it has served me really well over time. I hope that helps!
@@JonBjork Hi Jon...Thanks a lot...i have never tried it b4..wonder why i seem faster as you hit the 2nd string with a down...which should b harder...Thanks for answer and keep the lessons coming...Dave
Thanks for the video! The text is astonishingly annoying. I'm trying to watch your hands but basically get constant interruptions. Again, very good info, thank you!
Great vid. I AM working on my speed. It drives me crazy these videos where they show the slow part and then they go to 100 MPH the next time. Like, wait... how?
Hey bro just came across your channel. One of the best and effortless pickers I've seen on RU-vid is Cesario Filho. His playing is Yngwie style. Check him out.
It's never too late to change though. Paul Gilbert used to hold the pick in a completely different way, he used two fingers and the thumb and angled it the opposite way. He did it this way on the first Racer X album. He then realized it wasn't the best way to do it since it hurt his thumb and he had a really hard time with sweep picking. He then changed it to the way he does it now WHILE being in Racer X, not ideal in any way but within around 6 months he said he was even better with the new grip. He can still do it the old way which also shows that when we change a habit we're actually building a new one and not "overwriting" the old. So even if you've done it one way for 20 years it doesn't mean that it'll take you as long to change.
So I see some do what I call cheating by using a hybrid pic/finger technique when soloing. I’ve always wanted to use my pic and not do the hybrid pic thing that some players do.
@@JonBjork valid point and taken. I mean I guess if it makes it easier or adds by expanding then you’re right. I kinda boxed myself in by thinking I had to pick the notes with my pic and not use hybrid picking but I mean Marty Friedman and others use their fingers and pic in solos. I just have difficulty with it and didn’t focus on it as much. 😞
@@jasonb7693I get it man. It’s a very easy and reliable technique once you get the hang of it though so give it a try. I have several videos on my YT channel where you can get the basics down and build from there.
Fast twitch type 2 b fibers must be worked out, adding the proviso that "playing slow aids synchronization" as this great teacher said pays off. It's Pat Hicks' (Rip ) Theory as well Shawn Lane said he played above his ability every day for hours and for decades. You cant break a 10 second Hundred Meters by jogging. And speed bursts are the go.
Not true at all. You can improve your technique in a massive way with proper practice and 90-120 minutes per day for a 3-6 months. Most people don’t just like most people can’t stick to a workout or a diet. I’m with you on practicing slowly though😁 (and the marriage thing unless you’ve found a keeper like I have).
Killer playing but whats the deal with grown men wearing super short shorts? I cant be the only one who finds it strange. Maybe its a European thing like Speedos.
