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Optimized Picking, Ice
Skating & Turntables

Picking

Posted by CapnZilog - Aug 10, 2004
@ 02:00:55 AM

An approach that made me rethink
picking. Can lead to extreme efficiency!

About eight years ago I had kind
of an 'aha' moment working out a solo that became one of my
early posts here, a tune called Eminent Domain. Up until that
time I'd call myself a decent, but not firebreathing,
alternate & economy picker.

Anyway, I picked up on
this idea of arranging my fingerings and picking patterns in
such a way as to minimize string crossing inefficiencies in a
certain way, and from listening I can tell by ear the players
who have figured out the same approach. I'll post a little
snippet here so you can get an idea.

E|------------------------------------------------------|

B|------------------------------------------------------|

G|---------------------------------------11-12-14-12-11-|

D|----------------------9-11-12-11-12-14----------------|

A|-------7-9-10-9-10-12---------------------------------|

E|7-9-10------------------------------------------------|

E|--------------------------------------|

B|--------------------------------------|

G|--------------------------------------|

D|-14-12-11-12-11-9---------------------|

A|------------------12-10-9-10-9-7------|

E|---------------------------------10-9-|

Begin on a downpick, and strictly alternate-pick
this loop over and over until the miracle of it kicks in. It's
a 100% picking-optimized run and with a little practice I
believe that anyone can play this at ridiculous speeds with a
minimum of effort. You can hear me doing something very
similar to this in the fast part of another early GW song,
"Vice Squad".

OK. The reason I'm mentioning all this
is because the sheer ease of coordination in runs like this
allows you to put fingerings and string-crossings aside
(because they almost take care of themselves) and simply focus
on hand synchronization, evenness, stamina, and playing with a
light touch. Eventually when you get used to the kind of 'ice
skating' effect associated with that feeling, you'll be trying
to recreate that feeling in -all- your playing; something you
may not have had the luxury of doing before because your hands
were burdened with all the other details of execution.

Does anybody remember the "linear tracking" record
turntables of the late 70's? Instead of having a tonearm that
made an arc by pivoting from a fixed point, you had an entire
tonearm assembly that moved across the record like the screw
drive on a Genie garage door. That's how I think of my wrist
and forearm when playing today; the forearm is like the screw
drive, (major motion, moving slowly but getting the needle
into the general vicinity of the groove) while the wrist
(minor motion, moving rapidly) handles tracking (picking) the
groove itself.

If any of this doesn't make sense, keep
repeating that tab exercise until you have your own 'aha'
moment!

-djh

5 comment(s) | viewed 386
time(s) | |

Your Comments

Commented by PeK - Aug 13, 2004 @ 03:08:49
PM

this seems like a realy cool
pattern, but i have a question as to the which fingers i
should be using to do this exercise correctly, following each
note exactly as ur tab says it here is which fingers i am
using, plz correct me as to what the best way to do it is:
Index,Ring,Pinky,Index,Ring,Pinky,Index,Middle,Pinky

right?
wrong?

Commented by CapnZilog - Aug 13, 2004 @
07:31:20 PM

Yes, proper LH fingering helps.
Here's how to do it:

E|------------------------------------------------------|

B|------------------------------------------------------|

G|---------------------------------------11-12-14-12-11-|

D|----------------------9-11-12-11-12-14----------------|

A|-------7-9-10-9-10-12---------------------------------|

E|7-9-10------------------------------------------------|

>>i.r.p..i.r.p..i..m..p.i..r..p..i..m..p..i..m..p..m..i.

E|--------------------------------------|

B|--------------------------------------|

G|--------------------------------------|

D|-14-12-11-12-11-9---------------------|

A|------------------12-10-9-10-9-7------|

E|---------------------------------10-9-|

>>..p..m..i..p..r.i..p..m.i..p.r.i..p.r.

Commented by PeK - Aug 14, 2004 @ 03:21:58
PM

awesome man, that has helped me so
much just over the past day or 2 doing that exercise...i dont
think ive quite hit the 'lightbulb moment' yet though
lol

Commented by Aeoule - Aug 30, 2004 @ 08:13:28
AM

seems like a great exercise.ill
try it when i get home. thanks capnZee

Commented by Gremlin - Oct 29, 2004 @ 01:00:02
PM

this is awesome. Im glad it only
covers 4 strings, nice for a bass player to work with. But I
see what you mean about the fingering working itself out.
Thanks man, this has really helped
me.

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