Hi Rick, I’m a very accomplished guitarist as well as a classical guitarist and acoustic as well, I’m a composer and songwriter and would like to do some recordings but don’t know where to start and I’m not that savvy when it gets to computer/ interface/ and so on, I was hoping that maybe you could help, thank you so much. Michael Hanson!
I would like to know how you think about scales and arpeggios when you are playing. Do you have set patterns/fingerings you prefer or more just use the scales and arps where you can go while playing or constantly thinking of what notes to hit? Thanks! Have a great day, you’re a great player man, stop being so hard on yourself.
With hybrid picking using legato, how do you keep your muting intact while using your middle to pluck, which part of the finger/how much meat do you use or do you use a nail, how do you get it as efficient as the tiny movement of a plectrum stroke... Help! Haha.
When you do two downstrokes in a row, economy picking, is the second note played by the weight of the previous pick stroke or is it another hit? Is it more of a sweep or another pick?
5:01 Rick reminds he isn't actually having a bad picking day because he just can't pick worse than perfect because he is a God and it's just funny so he laughed at us mortals.
It's so comforting hearing someone of Rick's caliber describe waking up some days and feeling like you lost 90% of your ability. I'll be practicing the day before and feel like everything is just clicking perfectly and the next day I'll wake up playing as Rick described it "like shite". Granted, his bad days are far better than any of the good days for the majority of us. 😁
When Rick’s picking is “horrid”, he just gets more powerful as he pivots to being a God of legato. Some say he’s still hammering on and pulling off to this day, years later.
Totally true 20 years of playing some days I feel like a complete pro and some days I feel like I have no business even have my hands on a guitar definitely a labor of love but definitely getting a lot out of your videos Rick I’ve never had such a exponential playing growth since a few months ago when I was watching your video on modes it was like it unlocked The key the way that you explained modes and the way that they’re set up on the fretboard it was just perfect I feel like as a guitar teacher that one video can literally give any intermediate guitar player a whole new groundwork for playing the explanation was perfect the way explained the three different fingering positions and the way they’re set up was just like a eureka moment all the modes and scales just locked together that I have been playing for years and I feel so much freer on the fretboard thank you Rick you’re the man #mikejrguitar
man, ive been a bassist for about 14 years. ive always played fast aggressive music. due to not being able to put a band together i recently started playing guitar in order to make full productions myself. ive been heavily practicing my picking techniques but jumping two strings while alternate picking has been giving me a hard time. i just toook your advice on looking at my picking hand and i cant believe how much it helped. its ridiculous to think that it had never occured to me. Thank you very much for all the work you put into these videos.
Bravo,… well done!!! After years of watching you I’m getting the picture. The fingers are on the right trail and I can finally smell the tea ☕️ Thanks Rick!!! You are my hero!!!
Amazing! I started to focus on string crossing even more after watching Troy Grady's Cracking the Code series. I happen to use double pick slanting, some players use upward OR downward pick slanting and play an even number of notes on each string to make string crossing easier, but some players use what Troy called swiping and just go through the flipping string. Works for them. I don't think of it as "cheating." But I totally get the "satisfying side" to this kind of practice :) Thanks for sharing all these cool lessons and licks. Rock on!
This video came in the right time just yesterday I was frustrated about my picking being absolutely horrendous, some times I have good days when my picking is great but then there are days in which I just wanna throw my guitar across the room.Thanks for the help!!!
You're great man, I have a lot of those days, and it's soul crushing. I'm mainly an economy picker too, I only really learned alternate picking stuff for my students so I could kinda point them the right direction at least if that's what they want to do, and I know it's bad when alternate feels easier than economy with the basic stuff I do all the time :D But then I just run through the basics for a while, try to find the motion, and some days it's just not there at all. Other days... well, I prefer those days :)
Can you make a video, explaining the physical mechanics of your picking hand? I wish i could understand it so i can practice it slowly, and build my way up. You make it look like you are touching the strings so lightly, yet the noted so stand out with great definition. You make it look effortless. I get inspired and frustrated at the same time. I love your videos.
Rick, your videos are really inspirational. Thanks a bunch for all this. I was practicing your min7th chord inversions and it was really helpful. Great quality as well from your new camera.
I've been wanting to point out Rick's "weak elements of his technique" for a long time, but he's noticed them himself and we're really glad he's working on them.😅
Your technique is amazing. I’ve been playing (on and off) for about 35 years and I’ve never come close to this sort of speed and precision. Have you checked out Gypsy Jazz picking techniques? Watch Joscho Stephan’s right hand for incredible picking.
I feel like this is one video that I could take and work on to copy verbatim to maybe finally learn how to implement alternate and economy picking combinations into my playing...thanks Rick, glad you are doing well. I don't even use up, up, or down down to go from string to string...it has been really hard to get my brain to jump out of alternating picking thinking when going to the string above or below...I know it limits my speed, too...
I like the phrase you said... guitar players have to be problem solvers, or something like that... its so true... thankyou Rick you are a so perfect machine.
It's a simple enough sentence but it really does hold a lot of wisdom. A lot of the time you'll hear guitarists saying that "they just can't do technique x" or whatever. And if you question them about it you'll eventually find that the reason they can't do it is because they don't understand the core concept of the technique. And they don't understand it because they've never taken the time to break it down to the most basic level and solve the problems there. I really enjoy how people like Rick Graham, Troy Grady and many others are starting to teach the electric guitar in a pragmatic and systematic way. It shows that everything can be learned if you just break it down to the basic mechanical problems that all techniques ultimately are.
Great lesson Rick. I interpret the laugh as humored your giving away your magic tricks, for free basically. lol Really though, one thing about speed playing is, you GOT to learn it slow till your sick of playing it slow so you naturally start ramping it up. Before you know it, your shreddin`. But first, do the drudgery of the work to get all the notes in there.
"When My Picking is Horrid" Come on Rick. Maybe you mean before 20 years . hahahaah What about pick Thickness and size? iam using a stubby 2.0 (small size) , and find it usefull for alternate picking. Whats the disadvantages? Should i try diff. picks? I really like this !
It’s actually wierd that the picking can feel so different from day to day. Mostly I feel that it’s hard to relax somedays I’m just tense and it gets worse because you get pissed and then it gets even worse and after that you feel like tossing that wooden piece of shiet out of the window. Then I just stop take breather do some picking work and move on to something that isn’t picking.
There's a lot of great picker with different techniques and I've seen tons of them however the only tones I like are SRV and Eric Johnson. And your picking techniques have a lot to do with your tones.
This is like when really attractive women post pics like "oh god I'm so ugly guys :(" lmao. Rick graham and bad picking technique are absolute opposites lol
Since you have a background in classical guitar, would you mind talking about picadp a la Paco de Lucia... I´ve have no problem with plektrum and playing fast and clean. Even after a few years of playing. (been playing for 30+ years) But Flamenco guitar witch i have been playing for 20 years now just goes nowhere when it comes to fast scales. Why is i,m so much harder than down,up with a pick?? My practice routine is like 90% picado, (for 20 years) but i can´t do fast scales.
Rick man, do you ever have days where playing guitar is just frustrating? I keep a pretty consistent regimen, but some days my hands are just blocks of cheese that can't alternate pick and it's extremely existentially aggravating... is there a better method to reducing those days without jumping over to a different technique?
Thanks for the helpful content as always! I just hit the section where you're talking about tension, any tips for keeping it out of the left hand? I have what I think is a correct thumb position, but I find if I'm too loose my fingers movements aren't precise, but when I try to compensate , I tense up too much and it slows me down.
Try practicing your exercises with staccato. (playing short notes). This helped me a lot to reduce tension in my left hand, because i'm no longer have a death grip to the fretboard. Then gradually as you speed up the notes start to sound more glued together.
2:19 I've been playing for about 3 months...and I'm starting to wonder if maybe I am just not physically cut out to pick that fast?? It's not a big deal if I will never have that ability because I absolutely love playing guitar, but I'm not even close to that speed lol
3 months is a *VERY* short time to expect development of super fast shredding (unless you're a prodigy or something). Give it some time. You'll get there eventually.
picking that fast isn't actually as hard as it seems, it *IS* difficult to pick that fast while playing in time and switching strings without fucking up, but it all depends on what kind of music you play. If you can play the rhythm part to Holy Wars (Megadeth), or play the gallops in Battery (Metallica) or pretty much any Iron Maiden song, then you have the speed you just have to figure out how to apply that speed to actually playing multiple notes and strings. It always sounds faster when they play a different note every time they pick, versus when they just play the same note over and over.
Don’t rush your expectations. 2 years is a good amount of time to expect to spend before becoming proficient at an instrument. And plan to keep improving over a lifetime.
I veer towards economy picking too. I’m not getting anywhere near that speed though. How many hours of practice should it take to have that speed and synchronization down?
Everytime I starting to play sweep picking and it doesn't work as earlier with no problems, I'm like, god da** it, guitar is not for me, I su**. And I want to quit. But always after day or two.... I NEED TO FU**ING DESTROY IT!
I tried to play the exactly same like Rick did, and it went well (at least it seemed.. ) but at some point I found 24 fret doesn't exist on my guitar. So I quit and went back to the solo of Stairway to Heaven.
