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<div class="item-wrap"> <div class="trail {{crumbs|red"> |11 <span class="text">[[|Guitar Parts and Functions|Parts]]</span> <span class="text">[[|Holding the Guitar and Pick|Playing]]</span> <span class="text">[[|Basic Technique|Technique]]</span> <span class="text">[[|Tuning and Harmonics|Tuning]]</span> <span class="text">[[|Music Theory Basics|Theory]]</span> <span class="text">[[|Position|Position]]</span> <span class="text">[[|1st String|1st String]]</span> <span class="text">[[|1st and 2nd Strings - Intervals|Intervals]]</span> <span class="text">[[|2nd and 3rd Strings|2nd/3rd Strings]]</span> <span class="text">[[|4th, 5th, and 6th Strings|Other Strings]]</span> <span class="text current">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking|Alt. Picking]]</span> <span class="text">[[|C Major Chord|C Major]]</span> <span class="text">[[|G Major Chord|G Major]]</span> <span class="text">[[|F Major Chord|F Major]]</span> <span class="text">[[|E Minor, D Minor, and A Minor Chords|Minor Chords]]</span> <span class="text">[[|Music Theory - Diatonic Chord Progressions|Progressions]]</span> </div> </div>}}
<div class="item-wrap"><div class="trail {{crumbs|blue"> |1<span class="text current">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#Open Position C Major Scale|Open Position C Major]]</span> <span class="text">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#Alternate Picking|Alternate Picking]]</span> <span class="text">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#Practice|Practice]]</span> </div> </div> }}
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<div class="item-wrap"><div class="trail {{crumbs|blue"> |2<span class="text">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#Open Position C Major Scale|Open Position C Major]]</span> <span class="text current">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#Alternate Picking|Alternate Picking]]</span> <span class="text">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#Practice|Practice]]</span> </div> </div> }}
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<div class="item-wrap"><div class="trail {{crumbs|green"> |1<span class="text current">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#The Upstroke|Upstroke]]</span> <span class="text">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#Economy Picking|Economy Picking]]</span> <span class="text">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#Rests and Unequal Note Duration|Rests/Sustained Notes]]</span> <span class="text">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#When to Alternate Pick|When?/Usage]]</span></div> </div> }}
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<div class="item-wrap"><div class="trail {{crumbs|green"> |2<span class="text">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#The Upstroke|Upstroke]]</span> <span class="text current">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#Economy Picking|Economy Picking]]</span> <span class="text">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#Rests and Unequal Note Duration|Rests/Sustained Notes]]</span> <span class="text">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#When to Alternate Pick|When?/Usage]]</span></div> </div> }}
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<div class="item-wrap"><div class="trail {{crumbs|green"> |3<span class="text">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#The Upstroke|Upstroke]]</span> <span class="text">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#Economy Picking|Economy Picking]]</span> <span class="text current">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#Rests and Unequal Note Duration|Rests/Sustained Notes]]</span> <span class="text">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#When to Alternate Pick|When?/Usage]]</span></div> </div> }}
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<div class="item-wrap"><div class="trail {{crumbs|green"> |4<span class="text">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#The Upstroke|Upstroke]]</span> <span class="text">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#Economy Picking|Economy Picking]]</span> <span class="text">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#Rests and Unequal Note Duration|Rests/Sustained Notes]]</span> <span class="text current">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#When to Alternate Pick|When?/Usage]]</span></div> </div> }}
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<div class="item-wrap"><div class="trail {{crumbs|green"> |3<span class="text">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#Single String|Single String]]</span> <span class="text">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#Cross-String: Inside|Cross-String: Inside]]</span> <span class="text current">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking#Cross-String: Outside|Cross-String: Outside]]</span> </div> </div> }}
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<div class="item-wrap"> <div class="trail {{crumbs|red"> |11 <span class="text">[[|Guitar Parts and Functions|Parts]]</span> <span class="text">[[|Holding the Guitar and Pick|Playing]]</span> <span class="text">[[|Basic Technique|Technique]]</span> <span class="text">[[|Tuning and Harmonics|Tuning]]</span> <span class="text">[[|Music Theory Basics|Theory]]</span> <span class="text">[[|Position|Position]]</span> <span class="text">[[|1st String|1st String]]</span> <span class="text">[[|1st and 2nd Strings - Intervals|Intervals]]</span> <span class="text">[[|2nd and 3rd Strings|2nd/3rd Strings]]</span> <span class="text">[[|4th, 5th, and 6th Strings|Other Strings]]</span> <span class="text current">[[|C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking|Alt. Picking]]</span> <span class="text">[[|C Major Chord|C Major]]</span> <span class="text">[[|G Major Chord|G Major]]</span> <span class="text">[[|F Major Chord|F Major]]</span> <span class="text">[[|E Minor, D Minor, and A Minor Chords|Minor Chords]]</span> <span class="text">[[|Music Theory - Diatonic Chord Progressions|Progressions]]</span> </div> </div>}}
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no edit summary
== PreReqs ==
== Open Position C Major Scale ==
Remember these figures from earlier lessons? Good. We're about really nail this home. This is tab for one octave of a C Major scale.
Play those scales up and down until you're bored. Then play them some more. Get comfortable playing it.
== Alternate Picking ==
The idea of acquainting yourself with the above scale is to get good enough so that you don't need stringent focus on your left-hand. We're about to start some alternate picking. All that means is we alternate from down stroke to up stroke for each note. Let's see what I mean:
-0--0--0--0-|0--0--0--0-|1--1--1--1-|2--2--2--2-|3--
The '''d''''s and '''u''''s represent down and up strokes. Normally tab doesn't include these. And professional tab where d/u is indicated use something like '''п?''' for up and '''v''' for down - notice these are rough approximations.
''Notice the strict alternation.'' Count along to your playing.
E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E F G
=== The Upstroke ===
So far we've only been using downstrokes, and you probably feel like you're starting to get the hang of those. To review from [[Basic Technique]], your pick stroke should come from your wrist or your elbow, and the motion should be parallel to the face of the guitar, so the pick is pushing through each string. The pick itself should be pointing directly at the face of the guitar - think of the pick like a screwdriver. It should not be angled so that it hooks under or effortlessly slides over the top of the strings. Yet the pick may be rotated so that only one edge of the pick touches the string during a downpick.
The biggest issue a beginner usually has with an upstroke actually originates from an incorrect downstroke. He angles the pick during his downstroke, so that the tip of the pick lags behind the top of the pick, causing the strings to easily slide off the pick without having to push through them. This may lead to a loss of power and expression during downstrokes but isn't a huge problem in itself. The problem is when holding the pick at the same angle during an upstroke leads with the pick tip, hooking under the string and causing it to slide up the pick towards the right-hand thumb and index finger holding the pick. The pick angle must be altered mid stroke, or the stroke strength must be increased to a ridiculous level. The end result is that downstrokes are easy while upstrokes take far more effort. This will prevent decent alternate picking technique, where each note has consistent dynamics and timing.
=== Economy Picking ===
Be careful. Many beginner players get sucked into economy picking as follows:
See how economy picking switches the way the down/up strokes line up to the beat? In the first measure beats 1 and 2 are played on downstrokes. All other beats are played on upstrokes. Alternate picking keeps the downstroke on the beats and uses upstrokes between beats. This can help ground you rhythmically, as you feel the beats line up to your downstrokes.
=== Rests and Unequal Note Duration ===
What about rests or notes with longer duration? In strict alternate picking, these do not change how the downstrokes and beats line up. It's like you are continuing to alternate pick, but you are simply not picking the string. Here's an example:
Notice how there are 3 notes in the 3rd beat? That's a ''triplet'', which can be a bit tricky to time, especially this early. Not only the timing, but also the picking pattern is disruptive. Notice how if we alternate pick, we end up with an upstroke on the 4th beat? That's just something we have to deal with. Notice how we go back to using downstrokes on-beat in the next measure. This is favorable if possible, as you will likely get used to "grounding" yourself to the beat with downstrokes. But sometimes, we don't have the opportunity to do so (such as if there was another note in between the 4 and 1 beats). We have to roll with the punches so to speak until we catch a break and can re-focus. This is unusual, however. Triplets tend to either come in pairs or before an emphasized note.
=== When to Alternate Pick ===
Alternate picking serves two main purposes: tone and speed.
Of course, tone only matters if you can actually play it different ways. If a passage is fast, it may require to be alternate picked vs. strict down or up picked. There's no firm cutoff point where you should say, "This is fast, so I'll alternate pick." So long as there's no tonal requirement, the choice is totally yours - you may be more comfortable alternate picking even a slower passage. Usually a song will have a common note duration, like quarter or eighth notes. If I'm comfortable downpicking them, I will, saving alternate picking for anything faster than that. The downpicking helps ground your rhythm to the beat, which actually helps you alternate pick in time by having the downstrokes line up on the beats.
== Practice ==
Here are some practice exercises that focus on the most common obstacles you'll face when alternate picking.
=== Single String ===
Alternate picking on a single string is rather easy. The main thing to focus on is inter-hand synchronization. And make sure your hands aren't simply in sync with each other but in-time as well; practice with a metronome.
We have 4 measures. Each measure focuses uses a different left-hand position as well as fingering pattern. Make sure that as you slide up positions you stay in time as well as inside the measures. Start slow.
=== Cross-String: Inside ===
d u d u
Of the two cross-string variations, this seems to be the more economical and easiest to master. However, the deceptive secret here is to make sure you get enough power on each stroke. If you use the same motion as on a single-string, you'll find your stroke isn't long enough to jump the first string and pick the second with solid force. Focus on making big, powerful, sweeping figure 8 motions, starting slow and then building speed as you get more and more comfortable with the motion.
=== Cross-String: Outside ===
d u d u
This motion is a little tough to grasp at first. Time to train!
== Homework ==
* [[Touch, Dynamics, and Accents]]
[[Category:Guitar]]
[[Category:Shred]]