Alternate Picking: Play with Intent, Don't Take It for Granted.

If you play, you probably know all about alternate picking. Down, up, down, next string, repeat. You've practiced it, can blow through scales all the way up and down the neck (or you're working on it). Some of you may even use a metronome when you do it (a very good idea; knowing how to move through a scale in time, instead of rushing it and just holding the last note until the 1, is imho one of the men-from-boys hallmarks).

Recently I've been listening to a lot of Paul Gilbert and Steve Morse; I cycle through players like this now and then, because one day I'll be in the gym or something, and once again just be blown away by the accuracy and dexterity of these players. They can play scales, arpeggios, skip strings, all that, perfectly in time, and they don't miss notes. Both of these players are considered very speedy; Gilbert is in the world's top 50 fastest, Morse is a five-time Guitar Player "of the year" guy (which means he had to bow out; he's no longer eligible for the award...and this was years ago), so when they say, "I used to do this but don't anymore, here's what I do now", I figure I should listen.

Interestingly, neither of these guys are huge fans of sweep picking; there's video lessons right on youtube of both of them saying they've done it, they get it, but they prefer alternate picking...EVERY time. That includes vertical arpeggios. If the pick direction is down on the E string, it should be up on the A string. Both Gilbert and Morse make that very clear.

I've always somewhat prided myself on my alternate picking; I've worked pretty hard at it, have taken direction from the Morse, Malmsteens, Gilberts, etc. of the world, and it's helped me differentiate, to a point, from most of the players I see at the jams and so on. I'm known as a "fast, technical" player (though I'm not one of the nu metal shredders, that use hammers/pulls and sweeps constantly to create what I call "blurs", etc., that's just not my style). But, I had to be honest with myself, after I got "good enough" at it, I sort of took it for granted. I find a new scale or run, I practice it cleanly and with a metronome a while, then instinct takes over and I just let my hands go. The results have always been more or less acceptable to me, largely because live, I tend to pull off what I know. But now and then, I know that my picking would sort of "get lost", and I would finish the run with hammers or pulls, then reset.

What was causing this? Were Gilbert and Morse telling me, "good...but get better. Look MORE closely at your picking, REALLY break it down." I figure they'll both tell themselves that until the day they die, so maybe I should to.

Back to the drawing board I went, and I found out a few things, the most important being, I was taking notes for granted. By this I mean, I wasn't consciously picking notes; I was taking for granted that my pick would find them, because I know the pattern I'm playing. Sort of like not consciously looking where I put my feet when I walk...we all do it, but you only have to visit the Fail Blog once in a while to know the hazards of it.

Take for example, this major arpeggio I like to play (the number is the fret so start, "R" indicates a root tone). I sort of consider it one of my signature riffs. This example is in A major:

4
-R---
-x-x-
x--x-
--x--
x--x-
-R---

I've shown that to a lot of people; it's a great way to open up a run in a major scale. You can play it up, down, start it in the middle, as long as you resolve to the root (or a chord tone), it's classy.

I sat down and played it, as usual, without thinking about it; I blew through it, clean. Here was the pattern I used (the arrows indicate the up/down strokes).

4
-v---
-v-^-
v--^-
--v--
v--^-
-v---

Surprise surprise; according to the wisdom of Morse and Gilbert, I'm not alternate picking. I guess I would call this "alternate sweeping". It was quite a revelation, because I realized that I was taking the picking pattern I was using entirely for granted. I was totally unconscious of the direction my pick was moving on any given note, I was just instinctively telling myself "If the next note is on a string below the current one, even if my last pick stroke was down, change the picking to a downward sweep. If the next note is on the string above, even if my last pick direction was up, change the pick direction to an upward sweep". Or taken another way, if you can just keep your picking going in the same direction, do it. Only change direction when you have to, which usually means, if your next note is on the same string.

Acceptable here; I knew that, although I should analyze this more deeply, that there was nothing wrong with this, when taken from the perspective of motion conservation, which instinctively makes sense to me...on paper. So, I said hmm...how am I actually blowing through my straight scales? Although not every time, I did catch myself doing this (no fret number here, this is just an extended Ionian mode shape):

v-^-v
v-^-v
-v^-v
-v^-v
v-^-v
v-^-v

Now, according to Steve and Paul, it should look like this:

^-v-^
v-^-v
-^v-^
-v^-v
^-v-^
v-^-v

In other words, entirely regardless of what direction the string is, if your picking is a downstroke on the current note, it should be an upstroke on the next note, and vice versa. ALWAYS.

Ok, I'm an alternate picker, I can drop the metronome to the bottom and still double the click on a good day. How hard can this be? I discovered that, while not beyond my ability as far as alternating went, it was pushing me to be absolutely aware of what note I was picking. In fact, I found that for turning scales around (so playing up, then down), it somehow flows better, and it certainly makes it easier to be conscious of the beat. This kind of precision is something I constantly strive for; when I move through a run or arpeggio, I want to be able to nail a chord tone, or switch modes, cleanly and with intent, exactly when I want to. What I discovered I was doing though, was just letting my hands get ahead of me, and sort of timing the stop on the target tone, not really being aware of what direction my pick was moving, doing a mental reset, and proceeding with a downstroke to begin my new phrase.

I also found this, and to me, this is the clincher; when sweeping, I hit the next note faster than when I alternate...but you can't play a whole lead without alternating, even if you alternate sweeps. I'm not talking about tremolo picking here, I'm talking about a conscious alternate to hit a particular note. This can make your timing jagged. Not good. When I switched to all alternates, I discovered that my timing was more consistent. Even though this is taking me out of a comfort zone that has served me well for years, just by doing this little exercise, I've found an opportunity to become a better player, and perhaps gotten a glimpse of how Steve and Paul think about what they do.

In the end, I believe that, if you were to tear apart their playing, you'd find even the most adamant alternate picker hybrids their technique to a point. But I think they might do it more for a certain tone or feel than out of habit; alternate picking can't get the fluidity of a legato run or the rake sound of a sweep. But if you default to one or the other simply because that's what your limbic system (sort of your unconscious learning/memory system) is telegraphing to your hands, and you're not REALLY paying attention to what exactly your left and right hand are doing and how you're syncing them up, then you're taking your technique for granted, which as I found, can probably lead to some bad habits.

Give it a try; take an arpeggio or run you love to play in front of people. Sit down and REALLY carefully look at how you're playing it, against a metronome. Then try alternate picking it without any sweeps at all; the pick should never move twice in the same direction. You might find out a couple of things about your playing.

As always, don't show up too drunk for gigs, and thanks for visiting.