Would someone please clear up what the difference is between economy picking and alternate picking?

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say you were doing a 3 note per string pattern all the way across 6 strings. if you were alternate picking you would do a DOWN UP DOWN, UP DOWN UP picking pattern no matter what. if you were to do the same scale using economy picking, you would play the scale DOWN UP DOWN, DOWN UP DOWN

Economy picking is faster than alternate picking when doing exercises like that described by Amerok.

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i think the newbs do that shit on purpose to try and piss us off.

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yep i sure do....

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econemy picking is all downstrokes alternate picking a.k.a "spider" picking is down up down alwase. the first one is more accurate while the latter adds finnese. use spider picking dude you'll thank me later...

no, thats NOT what economy picking is. accuracy has nothing to do with which technique you use. out of all the techniques, alternate picking usually adds the least 'finesse'. he will not thank you later.

Hahaha wtf??

I can't imagine that you would only use one technique. I generally alternate pick but if i were some thing like amerok was describing I would switch, yes because its faster but in that case its also a lot more comfortable (for me at least).

what the hell are you talking about? alt picking adds fluidity. makes it sound better dick. you must listen to BrUtAl death metal. ten bucks says all you're chord progressions are chromatic hehe...amitures.

this thread is for discussion. there is no reason to start being a vagina.

alt picking adds fluidity compared to what? economy picking, no. legato, no. sweeping, no. fingerpicking, sometimes but rarely used. is there any common technique im missing here?

Congratulations! You're wrong!

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all right all right. i looked it up. i stand corrected. i am a strict alt picker. and i have absolutly no problems doing all that stuff. it's the way i was taught to play. how about crescendo?
and call to ktulu WILL help. look the tab up and try it. i swear. song wise. OR look up a C lydian scale. you don't have to be a dick, i've been playing guitar for a LONG time and when someone puts down what i know, really pisses me of. so yeah. be nice!!!

Or what, peckerhead?

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I thought economy picking was another name for sweeping

aha

it's kinda like sweeping but for scales instead of apreggios

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_picking

I like alt. picking for sounding really accurate, when you have high gain it really has a pronounced bite to each note, I suppose it can be done fluidly and it does feel more fluid than economy picking but usually it's not used for its fluidity.

Economy picking is usually for legato runs and phrases.

that was not a threat captian-save-a-hack. i bow down at you're unrelenting internet forum authority.

Hahaha, what?

Well, after hearing so much about economy picking over the last year or so, first hand, Loomis, etc - today I decided that I'd start to seriously practice it. I've always thought that a smart guitarist would put all styles of picking into their repertoire and economy picking has been something I have been putting off. The key to me seems to be having the ability to apply both styles appropriately and efficiently. For anyone that has managed accurate sweep picking, this is pretty easy to get accustomed to

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haha you're obsessed with this.


I still don't think it's fact.

Look at the geometry of pick motion - trust me!

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I'm gonna stick up for John here...

Economy picking is a much more efficient way of picking when going from string to string while playing three note runs.

Alternate picking is great when playing on one string, or if the next note just happens to be in synch with the picking.

It's very simple:

When playing a bunch of notes and crazy runs, if you're going to the next string (up) and you just hit a downstroke, continue with a downstroke. If you just hit an upstroke, do a downstroke. If you're going down and the last note you hit was an upstroke, continue on the next string with an upstroke.

I don't even think about it anymore, my picking varies from alternate to economy solely depending on the last stroke I made. If it happens to follow an alternate picking pattern, then that's what it is. If it's going to be economy, so be it.

ok, to put this to the test im trying out economy seriously.

a riff such as:
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
----6----------------9---|
------5--------7--6------|
--------4----------------|
----------5-4------------|

has been verified by Luke from Sleep Terror that it is alternate picked and not swept. But John, would you still economy pick it?

...
Well, Ive been doing a lot of deliberate economy picking and I realise that I actually use it pretty much all the time. Sorry about my jackassedness... I was actually under the impression that I was alternate picking due to picking at slower speeds, but actually yes, I was picking economy during runs.

I hope you know how hard it is for my arrogant being to admit to being wrong

However, do you agree alternate is better in a riff such as the one above? as sweeping would ruin the texture of the sound, and sweeping is economy.

Meh, I've said enough. Thanks for making me realise. I think Irealise your geometry fact now aswell. Do you mean it is simply not efficient to move your hand under the next string down to upstroke it? Is that your geometric analysis?

the downward part is a would be easy as a sweep then alt pick the rest

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I'd play it like this:



And yeah, that's how I mean by my geometric reasoning. I just don't see the point of passing the string when you can hit it on the initial downward stroke.

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honestly I don't think it really matters, once you get to a certain level of coordination the picking style makes no or negligible difference.

+1

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good use for alternate- played in drop C tuning

---------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------
-------5----------4----------5----------4---------
-5-7-8--8-7-5-7-8-8-7-5-7-8--8-7-5-7-8-8-7------

also a good use for when you do 4 string runs, or as been said playing on one string

economy, ppl said enough. three string runs.

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