Okay so I have tried improving my alternate picking for about a year now and I just can't seem to get anywhere! The thing is when I alternate pick on E A D, theres no problem, but when I get up on G B e strings it seems like the pick wants to stop by the string and my picking gets choppy and the notes don't ring out clearly! I fucking hate it!

I have tried changing position when I'm playing, change my hand position, change my pick position, when I relax its even more disturbing.

What the fuck am I doing wrong?!

BTW: The action is kinda low too...

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action shouldnt cause a problem. make sure too much of the pick isnt sticking out.

and it IS harder to pick on uncoiled strings, practice i guess.stay loose!

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are you completely relaxed when your picking?
any tension in your picking hand will not only stop you from playing but also give you problems.
a freind of mine used to playguitar with his muscles like a rock, and now he can barely move his wrist.

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Ok thanks. Well I tried it some more and It went better. Practice makes perfect...

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kept practicing and dat shit just ties in eventually

What is the tension on your strings like? Loose string tension makes it VERY hard to alternate pick on the thinner strings.

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also, make sure youre not using a gay pick

...or make sure you are using atleast a medium pick. I'm pretty sure picks have no sexual preference.

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Buy some new strings, change brands or something. It could be the source of the problem. Also, if you want to alternate pick fast, play some death metal like Hate Eternal or Sadistik Exekution.

Ok thanks all. Well I use 0.10-0.46 (D'Addarios) and I use Jazz III's. Shouldn't be a problem. I'm off practicing.

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I recently got a pai of GHS 11 Boomers, and they are good. I'd say switch to 11's. The Daddario 11's in the XL (?) Range are good too.

Yerr, I play in E though, 10's are kinda good enough for that. I think I'll stick to them.

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what is alternative picking

alternate picking is picking a string starting with a down stroke then an up etc.. but it doesent have to always be in that order so for e.g
down up down down up up etc....

the best thing i was ever taught about playing guitar is if you cant play something slow you cant play it fast.try practicing your scales really slow.try to only hit the very top of the sting with as little picking hand movement as possible.i guess playing slow you can figure out what your doing wrong.

Just relax your arm, make sure your not using your elbow, just your wrist. Also, do not grip the pick so tightly. Just hold it loosley, but of course firmly. If you have problems, just start out slow and eventually pick up the pace.

try alternate picking on string like:

e
b
g-5-6-7-8-5-6-7-8-5-6-7-8
...D.U.D.U etc

i think its called the caterpillar technique. Do the exercise on all strings and use a metronome to increase the speed. Then change strings add your own licks etc.

A favourite warm up riff for me when I am playing is to play the main riff Plug In Baby by Muse (not exactly metal) in strict alternate picking. You end up using up 4 strings and is a good way to get speed. As everyone has said before, relax and start slowly. I always beleive that in trying to gain speed, a metronome is very handy. Hope that helps, good luck

don't you mean tremelo picking? Alt is when you switch notes every time...tremelo is where you stick on one for some time and then switch around and stuff.

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Its all in the wrist.... ok that sounded weird. just dont move ur elbow. and try a heavy pick like a dunlap 1.26mm some of the famous players that are acctually good use i think its like 1.90 or somthing around there.
if ur just starting out then play that line from call of the kutulu or somthing and switch up the playing, or with the blues scale.

Repeat over and over
e---------0-------------0----
b-------0---0---------0--0---
G-----5------5------5-----5--
D---7----------7--7--------7-
A-0--------------6-----------
E-----------------------------
D U D U U D U D D....ect

Either that or try the A minor arpeggio(do with alternate picking/ A minor for speed)

e-5-0------0-5-8-5------5-8-12-8--------8-12-17-12---------12-17-----
b-----1--1---------5---5----------10--10------------13---13-----------
G------2-------------5---------------9------------------14-------------
D-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A-----------------------------------------------------------------------
E-----------------------------------------------------------------------

e-20-17---------17-20---------
b-------17----17-------------- G----------17----------------- D----------------------------- A-----------------------------
E-----------------------------

Here's a few chromatic exercises to help with alternate picking too. Just do em with no amp while your watching TV, thats what I do so I don't get bored.

http://www.shredaholic.com/chromatic.html

hope that helps

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Thx man I appreciate it.

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Dunlop Tortex 1.0mm. Can't beat it

Picking man needs a lot of patience and in the final it is the most difficult part in electric guitar.Read some interviews of petrucci or watch some training videos and you will be improved .Don't worry

1.90 doesn't that influence the sound ?

I use a green dunlop tortex .088 and can get all the speed i need. the thickest i ever used were the purple tortex. I think those are 1 mm

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i stick to 1mm any heavier and i don't like the sound when it is picking
any less and flops around like a drunken sailor

Yeah because its not like death metal ever does that.

Ow. Fucking hell, what's that thing called when you get pain in your elbow and upper due to improper picking?

I'm quite sure I pick only with my wrist, but I have a habit of tensing my arm, even when I try not to, it always comes creeping back.

Any tips?

RSI Before you start practising first warm your hands like before a real sport event don't start picking like crazy whenever you want .Stretch your muscles and then start playing