How To Master Your Alternate Picking Technique

Are you frustrated with your guitar playing progress?

Are you struggling to build finger dexterity, play with accuracy and consistency?

If so, then alternate picking may be the answer that you’re looking for.

Most guitarists focus on the left hand, and as a result, the right hand often develops more at a slower rate.

This can be a big problem because it can slow down your progress as a guitar player.

In this lesson, we will focus on developing a good foundation for right hand technique.

So let’s get started!

What Is Alternate Picking?

One of the most important things you can do is practice alternate picking.

It’s essential to improve your accuracy and consistency as a guitarist.

So before we jump into the deep end, let’s first make sure you’re clear on the idea of alternate picking.

Alternate picking is a method of playing guitar where you pick each note with a down-up motion.

This is instead of using repeated down strokes.

This may seem like a minor distinction, but it can make a big difference in your playing accuracy and speed.

Why is alternate picking so beneficial?

Alternate picking minimizes wasted motion and makes your playing faster and cleaner.

If you try to play fast when using only down strokes with a guitar, you’ll soon have trouble.

This is due to the fact that you use one pick attack for two motions, which requires more energy and movement.

With alternate picking, you have one pick attack per motion.

As a result, it’s a more efficient use of your picking motion.

This helps you play at a faster pace and with more consistency.

You can also avoid bad habits by playing without movement or tension that is not needed.

If you practice alternate picking every day, you will see an immediate improvement in your playing accuracy.

Before you start practicing alternate picking exercises, make sure you are focusing on the right things.

This will help you get the most out of your practice routine.

Guitar Pick Choices For Alternate Picking Exercises

The right guitar pick makes a big difference when practicing alternate picking.

Guitar picks come in a variety of different materials including plastic (nylon) or metal.

There is also a range in pick thickness, from thin (or light) 0.4mm picks to thick 1.5mm picks.

Some players prefer the nylon picks because they’re less expensive and very durable.

A thinner nylon guitar pick is usual ideal for someone who strums and plays rhythms.

But if you’re searching for more control over your playing, a thicker nylon pick might be ideal.

Other guitarists like metal picks because they sound brighter than other picks and feel smoother on the strings.

You have many options in front of you but it’s important to take some time finding what works best for you.

Keep an eye on your picking angle.

The angle of your pick is also important when it comes to alternate picking.

Try this little experiment:

Try picking down and up with the pick flat against the string. It might be difficult to get an easy, and smooth rhythm going.

If you hit the strings too hard, it will be harder to play and your picking might not be smooth.

Now try this:

To get a more even sound, try holding your pick at an angle.

You should use the pick’s edge to strike the string rather than its flat side.

By lightly touching the top of each string with your pick, you’ll produce a more consistent tone.

You’ll also notice that the guitar pick glides much more smoothly across the string.

Find a picking angle that feels comfortable to you and sounds good to your ears.

Always try to keep the tension in your wrist and fingers low.

Alternate Picking Motion: Wrist or Elbow?

There is a lot of conflicting information about alternate picking when it comes to wrist motion and elbow motion.

But the very real concern here is your comfort and lack of tension.

You also should be very aware of any risk of repetitive strain injuries.

Many guitarists suffer from wrist pain, often caused by repetitive motions.

To prevent any long-term damage, it is important to take care when practicing and be mindful of the way you play.

If you keep making mistakes with your technique, your wrist, hand, and fingers will start to feel tense.

If your hands or wrists start to feel painful or numb, you are pushing too hard.

Stay relaxed, take lots of breaks and always make sure you warm up before playing

Never, ever play through pain.

Start Slow And Focus On Accuracy and Consistency

When you are looking to improve your alternate picking technique, accuracy is more important than speed.

You can measure how fast you play a pattern or scale, but this can lead you to practicing in a way that doesn’t help your accuracy or consistency.

Sure you might be getting faster, but are you getting better?

First, focus on the rhythm of your alternate picking. Make sure that your downstrokes and upstrokes are even and steady.

Then, you can think about increasing the tempo.

It’s important to start out slow and build up your speed over time.

This way, you’ll be less likely to make mistakes and get frustrated.

Keep Your Pick Movements As Small As Possible

The right hand’s movement should be as small as possible. This is called the “efficiency of picking motion.”

A useful exercise to internalize this movement is to down-stroke an open string, and mute it with the pick.

Then do the same in the opposite direction, play the open string with an up-stroke, and mute it with a down-stroke.

This will help your right hand keep the picking motion action as small as possible.

Give Yourself A Tempo Target

When practicing alternate picking exercises, it’s best to work towards a specific target.

And always use a metronome and increase it daily when working towards your goal.

Start at low speed, and try to keep the pace without mistakes or imprecision.

The metronome will help you keep track of your progress.

Mix Up Your Practice Routine Tempos

Many studies show that variations are important for developing your skills over time.

One specific study (Kerr and Booth (1978)) divided children into two groups.

One group was trained to throw to a specific target distance. The other group was trained to throw to multiple target distances.

The children were then tested at the specific group’s practiced target distance.

The study found that children who practiced throwing at different distances (3 ft and 5 ft) made fewer mistakes when throwing at a new distance (4 ft).

The same idea applies to practicing guitar.

Varying your practice can help improve your performance when placed in unfamiliar situations.

Make sure you mix up your practice routine tempos so you can be ready for any situation.

Try Overshoot Your Target Speed

When working on speed development, sometimes it helps to play faster than you’re used to.

If you want to practice playing at 190 beats per minute, try playing at 200 beats per minute for a while. This will make your hands work harder.

Then decrease the speed to 200 and see what happens.

Practicing in this way can help you reach the target speed faster than if you increased the tempo without overshooting it.

Space Out Your Practice Sessions

Spacing out practice sessions is a good way to help you remember what you learn.

This is is called “spaced repetition”.

We go into more details about this in our article on how to create the perfect practice routine.

The idea behind spaced repetition is to leave some time to allow your brain to forget some of what you learned.

So the next time you try to recall the information, you have to work a little to remember the information.

The more that your brain works during practice, the better chance you have of remembering.

So, even though our memory fades, if we review the material at specific times, we can improve our recall.

Start With 2 Notes Per String Exercises

There are many different exercises that can help you improve your alternate picking.

One of the best exercises is to practice playing guitar with a consistent 2 notes per string alternating picking pattern.

This keeps your pick strokes even to create a consistent upstroke and downstroke pattern.

Because they have only two frets per string, Pentatonic scale shapes are a great way to practice alternate picking.

And by using pentatonic scale sequences, you can improve your dexterity, accuracy and consistency on the guitar faster than you ever thought possible

Our Pentatonic Scale Sequences course is the perfect place to get started. Our proprietary approach has been refined for over 40 years, and it helps students learn right and left hand techniques, visualization, phrasing, and improvisation all at the same time!

Avoid 3 Note Per String Patterns (For Now)

Alternate picking is tough enough with 2 note per string patterns.

So I recommend that you avoid 3 note per string patterns for the time being.

When playing 3 notes per string, you will have to alternate downstrokes/upstrokes with each first hit on the next string.

This gets harder to do as your speed goes up.

Take your time and make sure that you can play two notes per string before moving on to more complex patterns.

Introduce String Skipping Over Time

As you improve, It is a good idea to work on the things that are more difficult.

You can increase the difficulty of your exercises by incorporating string skipping.

They are more difficult, so you might not be able to play them as fast.

Working on them will help you deal better with the types of melodies that you will find in real situations.

Record Your Playing and Get Feedback On Your Progress

When you’re playing, you might not notice if you make any mistakes. That’s because you have to focus on your hands and the fretboard.

By recording yourself and then listening back, it’s easier to hear any imprecision.

As Always, Practice Smarter NOT Harder

If you want to master your alternate picking technique, it’s important that you focus on some key things as you practice:

• Choose the right pick and picking angle that works best for you
• Start Slow And Focus On Accuracy and Consistency
• Keep Your Pick Movements As Small As Possible
• Give Yourself a Tempo Target and Mix Up Your Practice Routine
• Start with 2-Note Per String Patterns
• Record Yourself and Get Feedback

If you follow these tips, you’ll spend less time frustrated and more time making progress.