I really like what you said about the open string tremolo. When I do scale and arpeggio practice going forward, I will try doing some playing in tremolo picking style as well. Hard to believe, I use that in songs where it calls for it, but I never thought to actually add that technique to my practice. Thanks for help us bone heads out!
I definitely have an anchoring issue causing tension. I’m anchoring my right forearm like my guitar is trying to run away. Using a strap seems to help as well.
Indeed, having to support the guitar that is not in balance, ruins your efforts. So, an ergonomic guitar, a good strap and a playing position in which you can move your arms and hands without the guitar moving is necessary.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. You may have saved my gradual technique decline. I now realise I have been doing all of the above to some degree over many years. Recently it has started to catch up with me compounding to the point where there are some licks (I've been playing for years) have become almost impossible to play. Back to the drawing board and already seeing some subtle improvements. I have also started using a metronome/drum machine which is also helping. Subscribed!!!
This is extremely helpful and you explained and showed all your points very well. Thank you so much! In my case I think I'll need to go through the diagnostic exercise twice: once on my acoustic and once on my electric. I'm doing things wrong on both for sure, but not the same ones! I've started playing on an electric only a few years ago after decades on acoustic exclusively. Some things are much easier for me on electric, especially for my left hand, but other things are much harder than on acoustic and that's mostly for my right hand. I can't even do alternate picking comfortably on my electric, let alone tremolos; I basically find myself doing down strokes only. On the acoustic, I'm mostly consistent in my picking but I've always been self-conscious about how much and where I let my picking hand touch the guitar. By default I rest my wrist above the strings and pretty close to the neck. When I'm playing a solo or anything else mostly on the high strings, I automatically move my hand below the strings and rest my wrist there instead. It's only when I'm strumming full chords that I lift my hand off of the guitar and make it "levitate" over the strings, but I lose a lot of comfort and accuracy in that position. Anchoring my hand all the way to the bridge might help, although it will sound a lot more treble and brighter than I'm used to. If that's the only downside, it sounds worth it, though. In any case, I'll test your method and I've bookmarked this video and subscribed to the channel.
Solid video on picking, looking forward to trying the last exercise with the picking and then stopping on the next string to see where I'm going wrong on some of this stuff. Will try it out later today when I start practicing.
After watching 30+ videos over the last year, this is the BEST picking advice that I've encountered. I'm working on Van Halen's "Panama" after taking a break from guitar, and the reminder to stop anchoring + moving my hand to ensure repeatable pick angle across all strings has resulted in significantly cleaner playing. That being said, I'm still struggling with one thing: holding the damn pick. I find that I'm choking up too tight on my plectrum, which results in excess string noise due to my index finger brushing against neighboring strings. Too many years of natural downward pickslanting is to blame, I think... Regardless, this video has helped me sort out multiple issues. Now I can work on resolving the final pieces of a systemic problem. Thank you!
Another excellent lesson. I've been playing the intro, live version, of One Way Out. For alternate picking. I'll warm up with it. Sometimes I'll nail it other times no! Using a V-Pick with a rounded end sometimes does the trick but after a bit of playing i need my Dunlop 73. Awesome job! This angle is a game changer! Never give up! Thank you
Yeah, this is good. I think I've always put more thought into my left hand because it's the left hand, the "weaker" hand. Other than learning to do some hybrid picking I've never really spent much attention on "picking." Good call!
@MaxRichMusic People don't realize the effort that goes into a well presented and high content video, like yours. 73 years old, playing guitar for 15 months. Love it. Focused on my strumming the last 4 months. Now it's adequate. Now, focusing on picking. So your video came at a good time.
First off, nice informative video on picking. One key ingredient was missed, pick grip and pick type. Pick grip or how you hold the pick influences angle and volume significantly. Inefficient pick grips can result in the pick shifting or rotating slightly due to resistance and cause tension ad newer students will try to compensate for this with a heavier squeeze on the pick. Additionally, pick type and thickness influences resistance distance and volume as well. I'd love to see you make a video adressing this as well. First time here. Apologize in advance if you covered that in another video. Cheers!
I have noticed that the high e string and also the B string sound much weaker than the other four lower strings. I wouldn't necessarily blame myself or my pick hand, but purely the guitar and its amplifiers. I have also wondered if the thickness of the strings could matter. I am currently using a 9-string and ended up using this instead of a 10-string because I could stretch the strings more easily and pressing them on the frets would be lighter.
Unfortunately I just discovered your video's this morning. On your left hand instructional video you asked if there were any questions that you might have some answer to. My question is, my pinky finger was injured year ago in a work accident and its now permanently locked in a 90° position. Its quite a handicap and it has definitely hindered my progress for years. My ring finger does double duty. I have large hands with long fingers and so many things I run into are not possible such as simple blues chords that demand all for fingers. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.
Grip matters too. I use an unconventional pick grip that enables me to vary the angle of the pick relative to the strings from parallel for strumming to 45 degrees for alternate and tremolo picking. This grip also enables finger, thumb wrist and forearm articulation that enable VERY fast and accurate lead playing. The grip I use is the same as George Benson, Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana - I pinch the pick between thumb and forefinger pads instead of curing my index finger up and pressing the back of the pick against the side of my index finger. The results speak for themselves: ua-cam.com/video/u6_s9zJ6t4A/v-deo.html Everything you say about about relaxed posture and neutral positioning is correct. I don't brace my hands on the bridge or pick-guard - I use them more as as tactile points of reference for hand and pick position relative to the strings. If you really want to develop precise, accurate alternate picking chops, look into bluegrass flat-picking styles and learn some cross-picking patterns. Cross-picking involves skipping between higher and low strings in time to generate multiple voices / melodies without employing finger-style techniques. It requires precise controlled picking motions through a variety of patterns and string intervals. Practicing scales melodically and precisely is another way to build good picking chops while coordinating with your fretting hand. Ultimately both hands must work together. But the best tip I received about improving my guitar playing was to RECORD myself and listen back. Listen for where you need to improve, and focus on it. It's worth every other tip combined if you really want to get better ;-)
Very interesting. Very helpful. It seems, that you're holding your pick much closer to the first joint of your thumb, than the tip of your thumb........My first mistake. Also, you seem to be using a really really thick pick? Is this another mistake I'm making ?
I like picking with comfortable chords and my eyes closed. Then I pick string 6 and 5 skip 4 then pick 3,2,1. Then change it out. My favorite is using g ,c d then back up d,c,g. And continue mixing up different e,a,f. Just being creative and most mistakes made are new Ideas.
I used thick buttons for years. Absolutely no resistance with those. I can play fast or slow. Noworries. Try it. You will love it once you get used to it. Joe Pass, Ella Fitzgerald’s guitarist once told me that he uses them. Rip Joe.
I can pick very fast. Learning it took decedes. I trained, rehearsed and tried, but did not gain anything. Finally I got frustrated and decided not to try anymore. After two weeks of not caring any more, I picked far, far faster and more economically than ever before. What happened? I ceased to stress my hand and body. Even today, I am not aware of all the changes happened then. So, I just must say that the skill was there, but I was preventing it by tension and stress. And no, you don't learn to play by relaxing. But you really should be aware of not tensioning the muscles you don't need for playing. I should have taken lessons, and not from an ordinary guitar teacher, but from someone really specialized in electric guitar playing. If this video, or the whole UA-cam, had existed back then, it would not had helped me. I would have needes someone else to look and listen to my playing. I can do exercizes, but after playing a couple of tunes, I really cannot consentrate on details anymore. So, I learned speed picking after decades. How much faster would it had happened with some mentoring? Is 10 years a good estimate? I don't know. Lessons needed for that would not have been very expensive. Far less than one good quality electric guitar. And then there my one specific gospel: if you bite your teeth together, you are far, far too stressed and tensioned. Stop and play something easier. If you really want to play that particular excerpt that makes you tensioned, slow down, analyze the issues, and find the tempo you can play the thing relaxed. Learning one specific technic, like fast and accurate picking, should not take decades. But maybe years. Playing an instrument is one of the most difficult tasks that exists. Slow progress is the norm. There are prodigies, but most probably, you are not one. And even more probably, you don't want to use your short days for nothing but training. Finally, the last hours of a training day are not very fruitful. Do something else instead... like study or work! So, am I a good guitarist now? I would not say that. But I can do something faster than the most.
Paco de lucia : "The left is what makes music, it is creative and intelligent. The right is the one that runs" . This costs Paco de Lucia a beating by 6 right -wing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Playing a guitar is definitely a two-handed job. Ok, so "plucking the string is where the sound starts.". That may be true, but you know as well as I do that there are all kinds of subtleties involved in fretting the notes. (You'll use that in a video someday when you make one about the left hand.)
Way "over explained B.S."......so many things here off base it's ridiculous. The depth of pick is complete nensense!!!!! It's all in control of the pick!!! Wheather you decide to oick softly or hard, no basis on depth! It hurts just to say that!!! Too deep and it's just gonnna buzz in you every time!!! Lol. Oh my. I could go on but ithers have more than explained this. Blocked and never to be seen again!!
9:06 "Your pick angle, the volume you play, it's all gonna change from stroke to stroke." YES! THAT'S EXACTLY what I want. "Your brain won't be able to keep up." Oh, yeah???! I play with a lot of dynamics. For example, I'll think about how I want a passage to sound. If I want it to be sarcastic, for instance, I might want a little extra twang in several key notes, maybe slur a few notes, and bend one a little bit sharp. I think about that as I'm playing, it happens very quickly. In just a quick flash, my brain is able to calculate all the angles each note gets picked at, and maybe I'll use the pick to silence a note early by snubbing it with the pick. The point is, all those things change with each note (or a few notes in a fast passage), and my brain is able to keep up with it. And, even though the connections are chemical (neurotransmitter mediated), and not electrical, it happens almost instantaneously! My brain, and all the nerves & muscles controlling my pick (as well as coordinating with my fretting hand) are able to keep up! Isn't it amazing?! So, while I get what your overall point is, you're going a bit "over the top" in your 'splainin,' and getting a lot o' stuff WRONG! It hurts your credibility. 😕 You could shorten this by omitting most of this video; you'll get your point across without all the BS that's hurting you. Just sayin'. 😮 PS: I think, bottom line, this point should be all aimed at very to early beginners. Everything about this video implies that it's aimed at "intermediate" players who "aren't getting better." So maybe if you tighten up who this is intended for, then you can more properly aim ALL the content toward that persona. There are parts where it seems like you're trying to "prove your point" where you're arguing with a disbelieving listener. Please remove all that crap, it's not needed. Why is this now getting into "tremelo picking?" C'mon! You need to focus your material. I'm not even gonna watch the rest!
It's easy to skip through the video to the parts you find relevant...Max always provides a lot of detail- to his credit- but watching every second of it isn't mandatory.
I really like what you said about the open string tremolo. When I do scale and arpeggio practice going forward, I will try doing some playing in tremolo picking style as well. Hard to believe, I use that in songs where it calls for it, but I never thought to actually add that technique to my practice. Thanks for help us bone heads out!
Glad it helped!
Instant subscribe. I love how unique your approach to guitar technique is. Thank for this type of content.
Awesome, thank you!
I definitely have an anchoring issue causing tension. I’m anchoring my right forearm like my guitar is trying to run away. Using a strap seems to help as well.
Indeed, having to support the guitar that is not in balance, ruins your efforts. So, an ergonomic guitar, a good strap and a playing position in which you can move your arms and hands without the guitar moving is necessary.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. You may have saved my gradual technique decline. I now realise I have been doing all of the above to some degree over many years. Recently it has started to catch up with me compounding to the point where there are some licks (I've been playing for years) have become almost impossible to play. Back to the drawing board and already seeing some subtle improvements. I have also started using a metronome/drum machine which is also helping.
Subscribed!!!
Glad it helped!
This is extremely helpful and you explained and showed all your points very well. Thank you so much!
In my case I think I'll need to go through the diagnostic exercise twice: once on my acoustic and once on my electric. I'm doing things wrong on both for sure, but not the same ones! I've started playing on an electric only a few years ago after decades on acoustic exclusively. Some things are much easier for me on electric, especially for my left hand, but other things are much harder than on acoustic and that's mostly for my right hand. I can't even do alternate picking comfortably on my electric, let alone tremolos; I basically find myself doing down strokes only.
On the acoustic, I'm mostly consistent in my picking but I've always been self-conscious about how much and where I let my picking hand touch the guitar. By default I rest my wrist above the strings and pretty close to the neck. When I'm playing a solo or anything else mostly on the high strings, I automatically move my hand below the strings and rest my wrist there instead. It's only when I'm strumming full chords that I lift my hand off of the guitar and make it "levitate" over the strings, but I lose a lot of comfort and accuracy in that position. Anchoring my hand all the way to the bridge might help, although it will sound a lot more treble and brighter than I'm used to. If that's the only downside, it sounds worth it, though.
In any case, I'll test your method and I've bookmarked this video and subscribed to the channel.
Solid video on picking, looking forward to trying the last exercise with the picking and then stopping on the next string to see where I'm going wrong on some of this stuff. Will try it out later today when I start practicing.
Let me know how it goes!
I swear I picked everything you said as if you read my mind. I am new to guitar and I often get mad at my right hand. Love this channel btw!❤
Glad you're loving the channel, keep practicing and thanks for watching!
@ thank you!!! 🙏
Just use your fingers mate. Plastic sucks! Our nails and skin give us the best tone! Four picks in one. All tax free! Just saying.
That is a lot to think about but that is what I need to work on. Thanks
It takes time, good luck!
After watching 30+ videos over the last year, this is the BEST picking advice that I've encountered. I'm working on Van Halen's "Panama" after taking a break from guitar, and the reminder to stop anchoring + moving my hand to ensure repeatable pick angle across all strings has resulted in significantly cleaner playing.
That being said, I'm still struggling with one thing: holding the damn pick. I find that I'm choking up too tight on my plectrum, which results in excess string noise due to my index finger brushing against neighboring strings. Too many years of natural downward pickslanting is to blame, I think... Regardless, this video has helped me sort out multiple issues. Now I can work on resolving the final pieces of a systemic problem. Thank you!
That's great to hear, keep practicing and you'll get it!
@@letsallkilladam chuck the pick mate. Grow your nails and play with your fingers. Hear that organic sound! That or just use a thumbpick.
Another excellent lesson. I've been playing the intro, live version, of One Way Out. For alternate picking. I'll warm up with it. Sometimes I'll nail it other times no! Using a V-Pick with a rounded end sometimes does the trick but after a bit of playing i need my Dunlop 73. Awesome job! This angle is a game changer! Never give up! Thank you
Yeah, this is good. I think I've always put more thought into my left hand because it's the left hand, the "weaker" hand. Other than learning to do some hybrid picking I've never really spent much attention on "picking." Good call!
It's easy to overlook the right hand...but if you put in the time you'll find it might improve your playing more than anything else.
DEFINITELY is my biggest problem! hits the nail on the head...
Thanks man, greatly appreciated.
No worries!
Thanks. Nicely done.
Thanks for watching!
@MaxRichMusic People don't realize the effort that goes into a well presented and high content video, like yours.
73 years old, playing guitar for 15 months. Love it.
Focused on my strumming the last 4 months. Now it's adequate.
Now, focusing on picking. So your video came at a good time.
First off, nice informative video on picking.
One key ingredient was missed, pick grip and pick type. Pick grip or how you hold the pick influences angle and volume significantly. Inefficient pick grips can result in the pick shifting or rotating slightly due to resistance and cause tension ad newer students will try to compensate for this with a heavier squeeze on the pick. Additionally, pick type and thickness influences resistance distance and volume as well.
I'd love to see you make a video adressing this as well.
First time here. Apologize in advance if you covered that in another video. Cheers!
Thanks…that info was included in a prior video: ua-cam.com/video/SRitX_ASz6I/v-deo.htmlsi=4edzrxe8__rcu2Hg
Which is why I left it out of this one.
Excellently conveyed; perfectly demonstrated.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank You !
I have noticed that the high e string and also the B string sound much weaker than the other four lower strings. I wouldn't necessarily blame myself or my pick hand, but purely the guitar and its amplifiers. I have also wondered if the thickness of the strings could matter. I am currently using a 9-string and ended up using this instead of a 10-string because I could stretch the strings more easily and pressing them on the frets would be lighter.
Unfortunately I just discovered your video's this morning. On your left hand instructional video you asked if there were any questions that you might have some answer to. My question is, my pinky finger was injured year ago in a work accident and its now permanently locked in a 90° position. Its quite a handicap and it has definitely hindered my progress for years. My ring finger does double duty. I have large hands with long fingers and so many things I run into are not possible such as simple blues chords that demand all for fingers. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.
I'd really have to see it to be able to offer honest advice.
Grip matters too. I use an unconventional pick grip that enables me to vary the angle of the pick relative to the strings from parallel for strumming to 45 degrees for alternate and tremolo picking. This grip also enables finger, thumb wrist and forearm articulation that enable VERY fast and accurate lead playing. The grip I use is the same as George Benson, Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana - I pinch the pick between thumb and forefinger pads instead of curing my index finger up and pressing the back of the pick against the side of my index finger.
The results speak for themselves:
ua-cam.com/video/u6_s9zJ6t4A/v-deo.html
Everything you say about about relaxed posture and neutral positioning is correct. I don't brace my hands on the bridge or pick-guard - I use them more as as tactile points of reference for hand and pick position relative to the strings.
If you really want to develop precise, accurate alternate picking chops, look into bluegrass flat-picking styles and learn some cross-picking patterns. Cross-picking involves skipping between higher and low strings in time to generate multiple voices / melodies without employing finger-style techniques. It requires precise controlled picking motions through a variety of patterns and string intervals.
Practicing scales melodically and precisely is another way to build good picking chops while coordinating with your fretting hand. Ultimately both hands must work together.
But the best tip I received about improving my guitar playing was to RECORD myself and listen back. Listen for where you need to improve, and focus on it. It's worth every other tip combined if you really want to get better ;-)
Very interesting. Very helpful. It seems, that you're holding your pick much closer to the first joint of your thumb, than the tip of your thumb........My first mistake. Also, you seem to be using a really really thick pick? Is this another mistake I'm making ?
I like picking with comfortable chords and my eyes closed. Then I pick string 6 and 5 skip 4 then pick 3,2,1. Then change it out. My favorite is using g ,c d then back up d,c,g. And continue mixing up different e,a,f. Just being creative and most mistakes made are new Ideas.
I used thick buttons for years. Absolutely no resistance with those. I can play fast or slow. Noworries. Try it. You will love it once you get used to it. Joe Pass, Ella Fitzgerald’s guitarist once told me that he uses them. Rip Joe.
I can pick very fast. Learning it took decedes. I trained, rehearsed and tried, but did not gain anything. Finally I got frustrated and decided not to try anymore. After two weeks of not caring any more, I picked far, far faster and more economically than ever before. What happened? I ceased to stress my hand and body. Even today, I am not aware of all the changes happened
then. So, I just must say that the skill was there, but I was preventing it by tension and stress. And no, you don't learn to play by relaxing. But you really should be aware of not tensioning the muscles you don't need for playing.
I should have taken lessons, and not from an ordinary guitar teacher, but from someone really specialized in electric guitar playing. If this video, or the whole UA-cam, had existed back then, it would not had helped me. I would have needes someone else to look and listen to my playing. I can do exercizes, but after playing a couple of tunes, I really cannot consentrate on details anymore. So, I learned speed picking after decades. How much faster would it had happened with some mentoring? Is 10 years a good estimate? I don't know. Lessons needed for that would not have been very expensive. Far less than one good quality electric guitar.
And then there my one specific gospel: if you bite your teeth together, you are far, far too stressed and tensioned. Stop and play something easier. If you really want to play that particular excerpt that makes you tensioned, slow down, analyze the issues, and find the tempo you can play the thing relaxed.
Learning one specific technic, like fast and accurate picking, should not take decades. But maybe years. Playing an instrument is one of the most difficult tasks that exists. Slow progress is the norm. There are prodigies, but most probably, you are not one. And even more probably, you don't want to use your short days for nothing but training. Finally, the last hours of a training day are not very fruitful. Do something else instead... like study or work!
So, am I a good guitarist now? I would not say that. But I can do something faster than the most.
Paco de lucia : "The left is what makes music, it is creative and intelligent. The right is the one that runs" . This costs Paco de Lucia a beating by 6 right -wing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Playing a guitar is definitely a two-handed job.
Ok, so "plucking the string is where the sound starts.". That may be true, but you know as well as I do that there are all kinds of subtleties involved in fretting the notes.
(You'll use that in a video someday when you make one about the left hand.)
This video is a response to the one I already made about the left hand
Way "over explained B.S."......so many things here off base it's ridiculous. The depth of pick is complete nensense!!!!! It's all in control of the pick!!! Wheather you decide to oick softly or hard, no basis on depth! It hurts just to say that!!! Too deep and it's just gonnna buzz in you every time!!! Lol. Oh my. I could go on but ithers have more than explained this. Blocked and never to be seen again!!
And on and on and on and on ? 😠
Why make a science of it ??
9:06 "Your pick angle, the volume you play, it's all gonna change from stroke to stroke."
YES! THAT'S EXACTLY what I want.
"Your brain won't be able to keep up."
Oh, yeah???!
I play with a lot of dynamics. For example, I'll think about how I want a passage to sound. If I want it to be sarcastic, for instance, I might want a little extra twang in several key notes, maybe slur a few notes, and bend one a little bit sharp.
I think about that as I'm playing, it happens very quickly. In just a quick flash, my brain is able to calculate all the angles each note gets picked at, and maybe I'll use the pick to silence a note early by snubbing it with the pick.
The point is, all those things change with each note (or a few notes in a fast passage), and my brain is able to keep up with it.
And, even though the connections are chemical (neurotransmitter mediated), and not electrical, it happens almost instantaneously!
My brain, and all the nerves & muscles controlling my pick (as well as coordinating with my fretting hand) are able to keep up!
Isn't it amazing?!
So, while I get what your overall point is, you're going a bit "over the top" in your 'splainin,' and getting a lot o' stuff WRONG!
It hurts your credibility.
😕
You could shorten this by omitting most of this video; you'll get your point across without all the BS that's hurting you.
Just sayin'.
😮
PS: I think, bottom line, this point should be all aimed at very to early beginners.
Everything about this video implies that it's aimed at "intermediate" players who "aren't getting better."
So maybe if you tighten up who this is intended for, then you can more properly aim ALL the content toward that persona.
There are parts where it seems like you're trying to "prove your point" where you're arguing with a disbelieving listener. Please remove all that crap, it's not needed.
Why is this now getting into "tremelo picking?"
C'mon!
You need to focus your material.
I'm not even gonna watch the rest!
Can you shorten this comment? I couldn't finish it. Too long
It's easy to skip through the video to the parts you find relevant...Max always provides a lot of detail- to his credit- but watching every second of it isn't mandatory.
Very repetitive, this video could be cut in half but I guess it’s about the minutes watched that count on UA-cam
Haha and this is why I quit golf