I hope you guys found this helpful! You can find other FREE lessons like this one over at my Guitar School 👉www.patreon.com/bradleyhallguitar Edit: sorry for the audio blip at 6:16!
This was like watching the person who took a shit in the bathroom sink at the party last night give a serious presentation at work the next day. Class act!
Nice work! The slanted appearance of the pick is "pickslanting", and the diagonal path of the motion to get over the strings is what we now call "escape motion". They're both important, but they're separate things, and they don't always correlate the way you might expect. For example, for alternate picking and upstroke string changes, some downward pickslanting is typically necessary to ensmoothen the attack, and you will almost always see some in the techniques of good USX players. However... this is not equally true for the most popular DSX techniques. By comparison, the wrist motion used by John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, Jeff Loomis, and Andy Wood on guitar, Chris Squire on bass, and even Mike Marshall on mandolin is one of the most common picking motions in the world. It's a DSX wrist motion, so it moves along a diagonal where downstrokes go up in the air. But it is typically performed with a zero-degree or vertical pickslant, not upward pickslanting. It was in fact when we filmed Andy that we first noticed this. Anyone copying his form will achieve the same setup, even with their forearm tilted slightly toward the floor. You might expect this arm position to produce DWPS but when this technique is done correctly, it does not. In fact, if you tilt your arm even *more* toward the floor, and use a middle-finger pick grip, you can *still* have a zero-degree pickslant, the same as Hetfield and EVH. This is also correct. So the arm tilt != pickslanting. In fact, the motion you make at :08 *is* the McLaughlin motion, and you have essentially no upward pickslant there either. But you're doing it correctly! I'm sure for upstroke sweeping you'll pronate to UWPS. But that's because UWPS is necessary in that case. For pure alternate lines, with a McLaughlin style motion specifically, no UWPS is necessary nor recommended if you'd like to also do more complicated arpeggio picking with double escape motion. And don't get me started on trailing edge grip, where all bets are off. Welcome to the rabbit hole!
Bro despite your goofy personality in your other channel, you are a really good teacher and I am so glad you made this channel so that people like me can improve their playing, you are really a gem to the guitar community
I don't think I ever did any such thing. I just hold the pick angled to the strings (not slanted but rather rotated a bit so the string will slide off the side of the pick rather than of the flat side). I think this is the most common way to play. You can then still make the decision to either angle clockwise or counter clockwise. Paul Gilbert has a video up somewhere telling he started out playing with the pick rotated counter clockwise, but he didn't get enough bite that way so he switched to angling clockwise early in his development. Anyway, you seem to be doing quite well with your method.
That is edge picking and can be come alongside pickslanting. Pickslanting is not done to facilitate smoother picking motion, but rather more efficient string changes. Say you are playing 3 note per strinfg through the low E to the D. Because you are playing an odd nu ber of notes on each string, your pick becomes trapped from the A string to the D string due to this being an upstroke, unable to move. However, if you employ two-way pickslanting, the final upstroke on the A string is played with the pick facing downwards, which mean the general direction of your pick goes slightly up and above the strings. This way it is a lot easier to now play the D string on a downstroke. Of course, you can also just use economy picking instead, but for most people it would be easier to maintain a consistent attack and rhythm by alternate picking.
Pickslanting follows your escape motion. If you can alternate pick anything without trouble at high speed, congratulations, you don’t use a pick slant and are using a double escape motion. Otherwise? You simply don’t understand the concept and are deluding yourself. Paul Gilbert who you mentioned uses a primarily downward escape motion that creates an upwards pickslant, but he also uses other motions to facilitate his playing style. The other motions change the pickslant.
Dud, you just completely changed my picking approach!!! This eliminates the roadblock I have had with alternate picking for many years. Finally a video clearly showing how to correctly slant the pick. Time for me to get back to the woodshed! Thank you so much Beanley. 😎
What a great video. I think this is something I was doing instinctually. It just kind of happened intuitively when I tried some alternate picking exercises for the first time. But now that you've called attention to it and explained it, I can be more aware of it and get even better at it. I never would've noticed this on my own without someone pointing it out. So now I can focus on it and get even faster.
You know none of the shredders we love and respect ever thought about their playing like this. They just do it and everything falls into place. IMO, the more you worry about pick slant and all the technical difficulties (ha see what I did there 😂) the worse your technique becomes. At least in my case that’s what happened. You need to play and focus on the music. Let go and enjoy and your body will do what’s necessary.
I've been playing guitar for over 20 years and this is the first time I've heard such emphasis being put on the pick angle. Thanks for the great video Beanley!
@@Lorenzo-cr1cw Not really sure where this comment came from. But you realize that roughly 70-80% of people who play guitar can only play open chords, along with a few bar chords and a pop song or two. . And apparently Fender ran a poll that resulted in about 10% of the population having some access to and claiming they can play guitar. . That leaves us with roughly 2-3% of the population that would even have an interest in technical mastery of this level. And that's not taking into account that not all of these guitarists use alternate picking in the music they play. Many trained guitarists use finger style, or perhaps don't learn music that requires high speed alternate picking with string switches that require pick slanting. . So please explain how not being familiar with information that 2-3% of the population would even have a remote use for equals not living on earth... . Good for you that you are part of that 2-3%, but it's pretty ignorant to assume that everyone should possess the exact knowledge you possess.
@@anthonyfaiell3263 Look, if we talk about ignorance, the only ignorant ones are you. These things were covered more than 10 years ago by Troy Grady with videos that have hundreds of thousands of views. If you, in 20 years of guitar playing, only know how to play open chords and never got into the more technical aspect of the guitar, that's your problem.
Nah. Just angle the pick to use the curve to ride over easier plus use a 1mm or 1.5mm pick to add all the attack at the tip. Then adjust to be more refined around any string like rubbing them and remove all that irratic over movement which is why you use Medium Picks. Less work is more efficient.
Unfortunately Mr Grady also created a bit of misinformation. Pickslanting is not the technique you need to focus on, it’s escape motions. Pickslanting follows the escape motions, not the other way around. Even Mr Grady admits to this if you check in on his forum-he discourages people from using “Pickslanting” and promotes “escape motions.”
Thank you so much, Bradley! I already knew about pick slanting, but you made me ACTUALLY realize how to utilize it. I thought that I just had to always slant my pick downwards when ascending through a scale/lick, and upwards when descending. In fact, I got frustrated at times and wondered what I had done incorrectly. Well, you just opened my eyes, lmao. Turns out that I ACTUALLY HAVE TO ADJUST the slant according to the overall "trajectory" of a lick, and I can even combine the angles. How didn't I notice that earlier? Thanks, lol.
@@beanleyhallsworthI was just watching your sweep video and it looks like the pick is slanted up on upstrokes and down on downstrokes, why is it the other way around for alternate picking?
first time i heard about this was in Dean's Lamb video from Archspire and i was wtf...now i have to re educate myself? yes why not still there trying !!
How you dont ring-out everytime you release the finger? Ive been playing guitar for years and still dont manage to play solos just because of that tiny annoying sound that rings out when i stop touching strings that are no longer needed
I haven't played for years (more than ten after an injury) and am trying to get back into it. I know after watching things like this and Troy's series that I had a very flat picking technique but I did used to economy pick so with that last exercise I'd be down up down down up down down but I could still never do full neck runs quickly despite blazing two string speed. I have a feeling it was something with my left hand slowing me down but I'm going to practice pick slanting while I get back into playing as it does seem to make the most sense.
Great vid! I know about the change of angles,but it doesn't really work for me when i'm trying to use it in my actual playing.My pick always stucks in between the strings. I've changed angles/picks/hand positions but it all had no sense so far.Seems i'm the guy who just can't shred.
Respect to you it's easy for a man to judge another one. You have nice hands not cracked and callused like mine or other hard working men I know. They are quite feminine to me. You said you didn't like the Gerber strongarm yet that knife is one of only a couple that Joe X could not break. He does not talk much he punishes knives like no other so maybe watch a man who tests them like a man on camera. A knife that's you need a sledge hammer and a vice to break is a great survival knife as you won't find those things in the woods.
Great video! It is insane how difficult it is to play a simple 3 notes per string lick from low E to high E, considering how simple and easy it is on the piano haha.
When I want to play a 3nps scale line (like Lydian or something), it feels kind of awkward to use strict alternate picking. It’s so much easier I think to economy pick the whole thing. Or if I play two notes on one string, then two on the one above it, then two notes back on the first string, back to two notes on the second string… Economy picking just feels more fluid than strict alternate picking. I don’t see why my articulation or timing has to suffer when I’m economy picking vs alternate picking, so is there really any benefit towards alternate picking?
In my opinion, your best bet would be to always use a combination of techniques to achieve your goals. There's no sense in limiting yourself to just a single technique.
@@snackdaddystudios that makes sense when you think about it at first, but… Wouldn’t it be easier to just practice one thing? It seems to me like there’s a big difference between being able to alternate pick and sweep pick vs. being able to alternate pick and economy pick. What’s the point of practicing alternate picking if economy picking is better every time? Why not have economy picking go brr?
@Matthew_Klepadlo Economy picking is just a combination of alternate and sweep picking, so to understand the economy, you should understand the fundamentals of both alternate and sweep. Alternate picking to stay on one string and sweep to the next. You should decide on whether you want to downstroke on a string change when traveling up the scale (technique from sweeping) or you could stay true to alternate picking technique and do an upstoke even though your pick will have a farther traveling distance. This is why it's economy picking because it's the shortest possible distance to travel to play the next note. I'm just trying to argue that they're not completely different things. I would use alternate/economy picking with scales and sweeps for arpeggios. To actually answer your question, strict alternate picking would be used to play tremolo.
Alt picking and economy picking are just 2 different approaches, there isn't a right way or wrong way. I agree that alternate picking 3 note per string runs is way more awkward with alt picking and I usually prefer to economy pick them! But there's no harm in practicing both approaches
I don't get how anyone does this comfortably without grinding their knuckles against the strings. Wouldn't it be better to learn to do REAL alternate picking. Like, if you were doing three notes per string you would strum DOWN>UP>DOWN>DOWN>UP>DOWN.. seems way more practical for cleaning up fast playing...
OMGWTFBBQ THANK YOU! The explicit breakdown you gave in the first 2 minutes of what up and down slanting is relative to which part of the pick just totally fixed this for me. Thanks!
i was watching another RU-vid guitarist analyzing yngvie pick slanting and I realized i was alright doing downward slanting like him just from me being lazy and dropping my wrist. (I can't play as fast though) the upward slanting will be an interesting exercise as it's the exact opposite... duh... thanks 😂
Great alternate picking lesson. I have always used economy picking and struggled with alternate picking. These exercises and the understanding of slanting really brought things together for me. Thanks! Subscribed and looking forward to trying more of your examples in the future!
Dude, thank you for sharing so many tips and applicable riffs to work with. These videos are great, and I'm just starting to check out your Guitar School. I have one small suggestion, especially for videos that highlight picking. Could you use a contrasting color of pick? On my phone screen, your matching green pick and guitar made it a bit hard to decipher your movements. Rock on, my friend! 6:16 totally broke my immersion! 😂
Not only informative but MELODIC speed picking! Brazos! Also I mix pick slant with hopping and I'm pretty fast and accurate as it eliminates the 2 way pick slant thing which I DO NOT understand how to do AT ALL
I think I feel more comfortable just sticking with upward stroke slanting all the time except one time switch to downward stroke if needed. So basically 99% upward stroke except 1% downward stroke. That way, I don't have to worry about changing the position constantly.
What do you think : do we need to focus on pick slanting if we adopte the "directional picking" as Tom Hess showed ? It seems to me that with that technic we don't need to pick slant to escape ! I wonder what do you think ?
Tom Hess is not a scam artist, but he’s close. “Directional picking” is just economy picking, a technique anyone can teach you. But he’s rebranded it as a special technique only he can teach to sell you courses.
Good explanation, but I get a bit foggy as to which one I should be using. I have tried it, but always go back to old faithful muddling through LOL. Will try again.
exactly, at it's core it's the fundamental biomechanics of pick-playing on guitar. Makes it even more impressive and incredible that guys like Yngwie literally just listened to music they like and chased "the sound", developing such a finessed and comprehensive system of technique.
I think you should have credited Troy Grady from the outset. He put a huge amount of effort into describing it in detail in his vids with Frank Gambale and Michaelangelo Batio.
Great video about picking techniques, but this is so broad that sometimes I get a bit confused. For example, I watched a video of Cesario Filho about this subject, and he uses downward slanting all the time (going up and down the scale). That's what I'm using right now, and I think it improved my picking. However, Alex Hutchings is the opposite and always uses upward slanting, and it works for him very well. Your way of using both picking techniques works great (we can tell watching your videos), so I think it also depends on the guitar player (maybe something genetic). Thank you for this lesson!
Do tons a scales! If each note isn't ringing clearly, slow down. Eventually not using alternate picking will feel weird. A good guitarist never graduates from playing scales, he just finds new challenges with them.
While you were makling hilarious videos, Troy Grady told everyone some time ago. That being said, another thing I discovered personally, is that rounded picks as oppsed to the pointy jazz ones were holding me back speed-wise. The less point contact to the string the better and more accurate imho. I've analyzed my own playing and the slant just sort of evolved as I realized it allows you to essential 'sweep downward' if you play a lot of legato, only hitting the string once for descending run.
Sucks because my ring finger got crushed and then peeled a piece of skin right where I would press the strings with, now I have to play with 3 fingers for a while...
I guess I tend to hold my pick somewhat loosely and it naturally angles forward and backward while picking different directions. Or choke up for really fast picking then their is not enough of a pick to really be slanted and makes hitting screamers easier.
Thanks Brad Confidence was at a low will practice more now for sure Set myself a goal to work to Hopefully playing mixture of slow sustained notes to fast Where I need to be 😊
