Alternate Picking
What is "Alternate Picking"?
Also referred to as "economy picking", I guess that the most simple definition would read something like: ...the use of up and down strokes rather than just down when playing guitar strings with a pick or fingernail.
This is true whether you are
1. Playing the same string repeatedly (usually, but not necessarily, playing different frets on that string with the left hand)
2. Playing different strings
If you are playing different strings, you need to develop a feel for when it is most appropriate, logical and economic to:
1. Play two downstrokes (i.e. moving from a high string to an adjacent lower string)
2. Play two downstrokes (i.e. moving in an upward direction from a low string to an adjacent higher string)
3. Play a combination of up strokes and down strokes (i.e. when changing direction in a sweep, or doing a "tickling"-like motion repeatedly between two strings)
Economy picking is essential to master if you wish to progress in more complicated techniques such as sweep picking.
Back to Stages of Mastering the Guitar
Also referred to as "economy picking", I guess that the most simple definition would read something like: ...the use of up and down strokes rather than just down when playing guitar strings with a pick or fingernail.
This is true whether you are
1. Playing the same string repeatedly (usually, but not necessarily, playing different frets on that string with the left hand)
2. Playing different strings
If you are playing different strings, you need to develop a feel for when it is most appropriate, logical and economic to:
1. Play two downstrokes (i.e. moving from a high string to an adjacent lower string)
2. Play two downstrokes (i.e. moving in an upward direction from a low string to an adjacent higher string)
3. Play a combination of up strokes and down strokes (i.e. when changing direction in a sweep, or doing a "tickling"-like motion repeatedly between two strings)
Economy picking is essential to master if you wish to progress in more complicated techniques such as sweep picking.
Back to Stages of Mastering the Guitar
