Fast guitar picking techniques are generally a mystery to even reasonably experienced guitarists of any playing style. If you’re one of those guys who dreams of playing blistering solos or arpeggios, or you’ve been playing for a while but have stalled and are looking for a way to break… maybe re-examine your right-hand (for right-handed guitarists) technique. is where your next opportunity lies.
an element of truth
Everyone who has ever picked up a guitar inevitably (and understandably) focuses 100 percent of their attention on the left hand on the fretboard. This makes a lot of sense… it doesn’t take much skill to perform the right hand action with a plectrum on the strings, does it… or does it? The kernel of truth here is that if you’re just strumming chords with your friends or playing acoustic rhythm alone or in a band, the right-hand quick-pick technique will probably never matter to you.
On the other hand, what you see in the videos is not the way to do it
The fast guitar performances you see in MTV videos from guys like Eddie Van Halen and all those awesome ’80s metal bands show incredible speed. The blessing (and curse) of these same videos is that the right-hand techniques they show are not the kind of examples you’d want to model your own style of play on. A guy like George Lynch or Eddie Van Halen can play with a pen-thin pick (a slight exaggeration) and still play a blistering solo. They can do it because they have developed their own style after thousands of hours of play. The same can’t be said for the rest of us, and as a result, we constantly fail when trying to copy our guitar hero’s styles. Fear not, however, for there is hope.
Guitar Speed Picking – For the Jukebox Hero
Fast guitar picking for the rest of us should start at the very beginning by learning proper technique with both hands, not just the neck hand. It may sound silly to many who have been playing at a certain level for years, but if you’ve never learned the proper position for right-hand playing, you need to unlearn what you think you know and start with a plectrum, an open string, and do it. the right way from the start.
