How To Master Guitar Picking Technique
One of the most common questions I am asked by guitar students about improving guitar picking technique is whether they should use alternate picking or economy/sweep picking (which I call "directional" picking) when they play scales on guitar.
Before I answer this question, I want to first explain the differences and similarities between these two guitar picking techniques.
Alternate picking requires you to play using upstrokes and downstrokes. You may NOT play more than one downstroke in a row or more than one upstroke in a row and an upstroke must always be followed by a downstroke (or vice versa). This guitar picking technique is used by the majority of guitar players.
Directional picking (which is also called economy picking) also uses upstrokes and downstrokes, but there are situations when you can play two downstrokes in a row or two upstrokes in a row. To put it simply, whenever you play an ascending scale sequence with directional picking, you must always play the next highest (in pitch) string with a downstroke. When you descend a scale (or scale sequence) with directional picking, you must always play the next lowest in pitch string with an upstroke.
When it comes to the issue of deciding which of these guitar picking techniques you should adapt in your guitar playing, most guitarists fall into one of two groups:
1. Some guitarists suggest that alternate picking is the superior method of playing the guitar since many of the fastest guitar players use this technique.
2. Others claim that it is best to practice both alternate and economy (directional) picking techniques, but to do so "separately".
After teaching over a thousand guitar players to master their guitar technique to virtuoso levels, I can tell you that both of the approaches above are highly ineffective for mastering guitar picking technique.
I strongly encourage you (as well as all of my guitar students) to adapt the directional picking technique as the primary picking technique for lead guitar playing.
There are several reasons for this:
1. When playing 3 note per string scales, strict alternate picking requires you to make extra motions with your picking hand every time your pick crosses over strings. This unnecessary motion slows down the speed of your picking. Directional (economy/sweep) picking avoids this problem by taking alternate picking to a whole new level of efficiency. The ability to perform two downstrokes or upstrokes in a row when strings are crossed on 3 note per string scales, makes the picking motion much faster and more efficient.
2. As I already mentioned, many guitar players recommend to practice alternate picking and directional picking "separately" as if the two techniques are very different from each other. The fact is that when you practice directional picking in the way I explained above, you are ALSO practicing pure alternate picking AT THE SAME TIME. The only time when directional picking breaks away from the traditional method of strictly alternating pick strokes is when you play odd numbers of notes per string. In such situations, it is more efficient to use two downstrokes in a row (to cross strings when ascending) or two upstrokes in a row (to cross strings while descending). In every other case, directional picking and alternate picking are identical. As you can see, instead of thinking of alternate and directional (economy) picking as two "different" guitar picking styles, you can get the benefits of "several" guitar picking techniques by focusing exclusively only on "one" (directional picking).
3. Although it is true that many world famous virtuoso guitar players play almost exclusively with alternate picking, directional picking will help you to get to the same level of guitar picking technique mastery in a lot less time.
To hear what results some of my students have achieved with directional picking, check out the playing of Mike Philippov, Zack Uidl, Chris Kalkbrenner and Angel Zamora
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