3 Guitar Speed Picking Exercises For Smooth & Consistent Technique
Do struggle to pick on guitar both with speed and consistency?
You’re not alone.
Tons of guitar players are able to pick fast but become very inconsistent and make many sloppy mistakes.
For example: You try to speed pick but you are unable to maintain a smooth, fast picking speed for a long time.
So, what is the solution to this problem?
Answer: There are many, but here are three to help you get smooth speed picking very quickly:Making Your Speed Picking More Consistent With Start/Stop Training
Nothing ruins speed picking quite like an inconsistent picking attack. This happens when there is a small difference in the timing from one pick stroke to another or if eve just one stroke is off compared to the rest.
This inconsistency happens frequently because you have not practiced sustained the same attack for a long period of time.
Good news though:
This is easy and fun to practice.
What should you do?
Cut down on the total number of pick strokes and give yourself time to process what your hand is doing.
Here’s how:
1.
Choose any note and fret it.
2.
Tremolo pick the note 3-6 times.
3.
Rest for a moment.
4.
Tremolo pick the notes 3-6 times.
Practice this exercise just a few minutes each day to make your tremolo picking much more consistent and tight.
Integrating Tremolo Picking Smoothly Into Your Overall Technique By Isolating & Perfecting Individual Notes In Arpeggio Patterns
Tremolo picking sounds great on its own – but it sounds amazing when mixed together with other aspects of your guitar playing!
Integrating tremolo picking with other techniques is fun and easy to practice (although most guitarists overlook this).
In fact, sometimes doing so even improves your other skills at the same time. This makes your practice extra efficient, so you get better much faster.
For example:
Speed picking arpeggios helps you practice both tremolo picking technique and arpeggios at once:
This gives you more benefits for your guitar practice in less overall practice time.
Tremolo picking arpeggios is also a great way to clean up your sweep picking.
Developing Smoother & More Consistent Startup Tremolo Picking For Instant Speed
One of the hardest things to do when it comes to tremolo picking is:
Starting tremolo picking from a dead top during a lick and immediately picking at your top speed with complete consistency.
Most guitar players (even those who are good at speed picking) struggle to or never learn how to do this.
This makes having this skill rare and unique, while putting you at the upper echelon of speed pickers.
Here’s how to do it:
1.
Choose any guitar lick you can play well.
2.
Repeat the lick a few times to warmup.
3.
Tremolo pick only the first note of the lick
while picking the other notes like normal. Do this many times.
4.
Tremolo pick only the last note of the
lick while picking the other notes like normal. Do this many times.
5.
Choose a note in the middle of the lick and only
speed pick this one. Do this many times.
6. Next, add two tremolo picked notes. Continue this process until every note in the lick is tremolo picked, then go back in reverse until no tremolo picked notes remain.
See a demonstration of inserting tremolo picked notes into a lick by watching this video starting at 5:53:You now know some powerful ways to make your speed picking technique more fast, smooth and consistent than ever.
However, there is another key factor you need to master to make your speed sound great: playing perfectly clean.
Learn how to ensure that playing fast doesn’t create sloppy mistakes by studying the points in this clean guitar playing resource.