i like to play alot of fast things and when ever i try playing some trivium songs i always fuck up on them and im picking with my wrist so i went to my guitar instructor and asked him why and he said that i should try playing with my arm instead of my wrist but it seems liek its slowing me down is playing with ur arm supposed to be faster for most peopl than the wrist?"

i really need help with this because i cant play very many fast trivium songs and i need to know why i cant play fast enough

It's possible to be not physically capable or strong enough. Sometimes I just pick up the plectrum and I just can't be arsed with tremolo picking.

Trivium, fast?

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Some people use their whole arm for really fast tremolo picking, but generally you'll want to be using your wrist. Using your wrist avoids injuries that picking your arm can develop and expends less energy due to smaller movements. Just keep practicing, and learn slower songs. If you can't pick fast enough, you're only going to develop sloppy technique when you try.

Wrist all ways!!!! if you cant get it slow down. dont start use bad technique.

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yeah, what I meant to say. learning to pick with my wrist and alternate picking doubled my speed.

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Always pick from your wrist. Try this exercise: sit down and just start alternate picking very slowly, concentrating on staying relaxed and making short, even, clean pick strokes. Ideally, after any pick stroke, you want the pick to be about as close to the string as possible without actually touching it. This is the most economical picking motion and therefore the fastest. Don't underestimate the importance of staying relaxed either. Muscle tension is easily the biggest enemy of speed. Also, how you position your arm/wrist in relation to your guitar can make a difference. Check out some video of guys with exceptional chops (i.e. MAB, Vai, etc...) and see if you can't pick up a thing or two from their picking style.

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so wat ur telling me is that it doesnt matter if u pick with wrist or arm


my guitar instructor said that the arm is the fastest way

whenever i try to slow down and gradually play faster it still kicks my ass when i try to play any trivium songs is it possible my left hand is still under devloped and not fast enough

i would say wrist but seriously...use the way you are comfortable with, but in my opinion I would use wrist

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Wrist.

Of course if you played bass you wouldn't have to use either.

if ethier makes a differnece then you clearly need to work on tremelo picking.

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Picking with your whole arm is the shortcut way to do it. You may be faster now using your arm as opposed to just your wrist, but that's just a matter of underdeveloped picking technique. If you take the time to develop your picking from the wrist only, you will be much faster than if you just pick from the elbow. If you do the exercise I mentioned above for a few minutes as part of your warm-up routine, you will likely notice a marked improvement in your speed. Just remember to keep completely relaxed. Like I said, muscle tension is the number one enemy of speed. Do yourself a favor and learn a bit about muscle memory. As a matter of fact, head over to http://www.guitarprinciples.com/ and check out the website and forums. I've also heard of using a Stylus pick to develop the short, quick pick strokes necessary to play speedy passages. Never used one, but it seems like a good concept.

One more thing, it's important to realize that while guitar teachers are valuable to have, they are not always going to be right. In this case, I'd have to say your teacher is wrong.

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Wrist definitely, more acuuracy less chance of permenant damage. Something Soeru said once was is that its not trying to get your pick to move faster but actually move less thus using economy of movement enabling you to pick faster. It helped me. Also try and practise the left and right hand separately. Some of you problem might just be struggling to implement both at the same time. As the old saying goes walk before you run. Good luck

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Yeah exactly, you want the least arm and hand movement possible to reduce fatigue. It's very hard to get wrist technique down right for very fast and long passages. I can only do really fast wrist picking consistently for about 6 seconds beyond that I start making mistakes if I don't put any elbow into it. It takes a long time to find the right way to do it so just be patient, and always play in a comfortable position. I still don't have it anywhere near mastered, standing up I'm much better at wrist movement but sitting down it's very hard for me to get the right leverage/angle to do it with the wrist really fast.

Tight strings and firm picks that don't bend are always very helpful for me too. No way would I play decrepit birth shit accurately on 46-10's with flimsy picks.

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Maybe it depends on the person. I can trem pick at unbelievable speeds. I know several people who can play better than me, but can't trem pick as fast. And I use my wrist. I wouldn't even know how to use my whole arm at this point.

How about a mix of both?

The key is though to keep as loose as you can. Honestly, next time your arm is all tensed up, try and let go, but maintain your speed, it does work.

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+1 to that. It helps a lot. If you find yourself having trouble playing something, especially if it's something you know you can play, sort of search around your body looking for tension, not just in the arms and hands. Tension in the shoulders, gut, face, etc can lead to more tension in other areas.

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i believe that that van halen dude picks with his arm. it works for him, and he can tremolo fairly fast using his arm...

but usually picking iwht your arm makes you sloppy. if you're picking with your wrist, you would usually keep your picking hand on your bridge, that would help you with accuracy, and would save you from looking at your fret board like some hot girl attached to your fret board

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That Van Halen dude? Show some respect!!!!

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arm picking = tendonitis

tendonitis = cant play gitter, cant bathe, cant fap, cant type... lots of bad things.

pick with your wrist.

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haha I forgot the tendonitis!

you can have a tendonitis when you pick with your wrist, its just because you have *baddly picked* i dont know how the hell i should say it!

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It's called CTS. I've had it for a year or so, it sucks ass.

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

It comes from overstraining yourself when picking. Try to relax as much as possible.
Also, less pick movement = more speed.

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yeah i've always heard that usiing your wrist is better and less damaging, at least at first.

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i don't know about you guys but i use my wrist and if i'm sittin gdown for a while messing around then i move my picking arm my elbow hurts a bit...i just stretch it out and it is fine...kind of weird though...it doesn't happen all the time and it doesn't mess with my playing or anything just kind of weird...anyone else have this issue at times?

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In the techniques of many 'virtuoso' guitarists ( namely the ones who have developed alternate picking to virtuoso level ), you'll see that they don't really change that much when they speed up.

For instance :

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DSlR90VEKlY

Watch Petrucci's right hand. Whenever he reaches 'shredding' tempo, he is using the same technique. Not a different one. You'll notice that if anything you seem to see less of his hand. That's what you need to do.

But you might be saying, "No matter how hard I try, whenever I crash into that threshold for high-speed alternate picking I just go to my arm! Even if I've been practicing that lick to a metronome"

I found out the answer to this about 3 weeks ago. And the answer is to breathe constantly. Breathe as if you're lifting weights if you have to, just constantly supply yourself with oxygen, and your muscles will get that oxygen, and your muscles won't tense up and ... finally your hours to the metronome pay off. When you breathe properly as a habit then you forego the method of holding your breath when you play a fast passage, which is what kills your technique because you start to run out of oxygen. Think about it : You can die in a minute without oxygen, don't stop breathing for ten seconds just because you're trying to concentrate on that sweep. And normally, you tend to 'freeze up' right after exhaling out of your nose, and compounded with the fact that you're about to do something that requires great dexterity, that's the least ideal time to stop breathing. To me, once I made the mental effort to breathe, MUSCLE MEMORY did the rest, and finally I knew how Paul Gilbert could get nuance while blazing through arpeggios. Neat. I've never used my arm to pick a Cryptopsy song without feeling some discomfort. With my wrist, I can do it.

Under a Glass Moon! Take notes, N00bs.

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if you can't play trivium songs its because maybe you're just not fast enough YET. you could always do trem picking exercises, a lot I guess. I was always told the best way is to use your wrist, but it probably just depends on the person. or play every other note with a fast delay that fills the other stuff in idk

John Holland and MTM, wisdom is within your words.

I saw the solo for Under A Glass Moon in tab, and the fast bit with the tapping, those are 64th notes. Super, super, super fast.

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