I used to have a dunlop stubby, they make a really horrible sound when you pick the string with it though... I use nylon 88s, 1mm is ok though i reckon

I find the 3mm makes you work harder, thus you get the heaviest sound possible with a good firm strike. It can make widdley stuff harder -but- you just got to get better than you would normally have to -to execute the widdley stuff like. My first introduction to guitar was from a blues/rock player who practically abused his axe. His veins would bulge from his hands as he raked and squeezed the notes from the poor bloody thing... took me ages to realize you gotta calm down sometimes.

In reference to the original request (trem pickin')...

Been busy practising and I kinda got it. Could go faster in time but I'm kinda pleased to break the 180s.
Thanks for the advice, it really helped.

Check out the vid on my site as proof:

http://www.myspace.com/williammorton

I nearly pissed myself playing that.

Cool vid, everything sounds nice and even, shame about the effect on it though as i can't see your technique.

Here are some genral tips i use.

Decide what technique your going to use and then stick with it.

Thumb finger, Wrist or Elbow

All have their advantages and disadvantages. I genrally use my wrist to do most of the work as Elbow is not so accurate and you tend to tense up. Plus it gets a better tone than Thumb finger as you can put more weight into each stroke, i'l only use thumb finger if i'm doing so tricky lead passages.

Like people have said, start slow and work up.

Never NEVER! tense your arm, it's very bad for you (anyone who does this, shame on you, you wont be playing guitar for long). I found the best way to keep my arm untensed when i play is to relax my shoulder and the rest of the arm follows.

Might sound stupid but it makes a difference, remember to breath, i see lots of players hold there breath through difficult passages, and it shows cause it gets ballsed up.

Another comon mistake is practising in different rythmic divisions, nothing worse that working on 16ths for ages and then not being able to play triplets anywhere near as fast (i know, i made this mistake a while back)

16ths, Triplets, Sextuplets, Quintuplets (5 notes over each beat) ect ect it's all important.

A Paul Gilbert tip here... If your playing 16ths to a click accent the first note (the one on the beat) and play the last 3 as normal, again start slow and work up, do this with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th again working up.
This will help build up control in your picking, rather than just spasming your wrist.
It also helps you keep track of where you are in long passages as you've always got that accented note on the beat and helps when you want to add dynamics to your playing.

Keep your pick movements as small as possable, again the only way to practise this is to start slow and work up. (This all depends on how fast you want to pick, as if you only want to get to around 16ths at 200 bpm it's not as important, but i'm assuming you want to go faster.)

But yeah practise safely, if you feel pain stop and take a breather, RSI's suck balls especially afterwards when youve gotta relearn stuff you once did.

Mikey

William Morton wrote:In reference to the original request (trem pickin')...

Been busy practising and I kinda got it. Could go faster in time but I'm kinda pleased to break the 180s.
Thanks for the advice, it really helped.

Check out the vid on my site as proof:

http://www.myspace.com/williammorton

I nearly pissed myself playing that.

That was cool man, nice tight riffing, technique sounds really precise too!!! and the riffs sounded fucking cool

I found Iced Earth helped me with super fast gallop picking if you wana learn that! Listening to Dante's Inferno and some of the riffs on that are pretty mental!!!

Thanks guys. It's really good to have this kind of advice. Thanks Mikey for the detail you've gone into there. It's coming along but it's just the whole 'play relaxed' thing -how?! I'm purposely relaxing a bit but I don't understand how you can do it with little effort, but I'll take your word for it and keep trying... I've always thought it was 'No pain no gain' but you live and learn. Thanks again.

Indeed, I play bass so the main topic doesn't really apply to me, but the point of relaxation made me want to say yes indeed. I find it hard to make myself relax, and sometimes my hands go all stiff and it's an oh me gawdness. But then sometimes when I'm just enjoying myself with great times, my hands are naturally nice and relaxed. But when they're not, I find it hard to make them so. You know what I mean?

hahaha, quite a confusing way to put it Jon

but yeah, I find it easier to relax when I'm warmed up and just playing, rather than when trying to do excercises... just not thinking too hard about what you're doing, just more about how you're doing it (ie, if your arm is tense or not), and trying different ways to do it! Also, part of relax is how much you are moving, for example, if you're using your whole arm to pick, and moving your wrist a lot, that tends not to be good.... I hope this makes some sense

Overall, just really think about how you're moving your arm and how you can play not tensed, and try using as little movement you can get away with

Three days later... Yeah, it takes a long time but if you try to meditate on the part of your arm/hand that's tense you can slowly relax it whilst still playing the riff/excercise. I've been trying to pick with the thumb-finger method too and it's amazing how much longer I can go for using that. (no wanking jokes please). 1st day: nothing but grief. 2nd day: you get it for a few seconds and then it's gone. 3rd day: It clicks - you don't need to use you're wrist or your arm to play but it just sounds heavier when you do, so you have a choice. I have a small insite now how the guys from Slayer must have trained over long periods to do what they do.

I don't think it really makes that much difference what size plectrums you use, that's all down to personal preference.

The best advice i can really give. . .

1- Choke the plectrum off really shallow. So that there isn't much material showing through your hands.

2- Angle the plectrum slightly, rather than hitting it straight on.

3- Remember, it's all in the wrist, not the fingers.

Hope that helped compardre

Oh yeah also sometimes tensing your forearm muscles helps too. Not always though. Worth a try.



Seph

Nefarious Joseph wrote: ....all down to personal preference.

The best advice i can really give. . .

1- Choke the plectrum off really shallow. So that there isn't much material showing through your hands.

2- Angle the plectrum slightly, rather than hitting it straight on.

3- Remember, it's all in the wrist, not the fingers.

Oh yeah also sometimes tensing your forearm muscles helps too. Not always though. Worth a try.

Is this for wanking techniques too?

thrashduck wrote:

Nefarious Joseph wrote: ....all down to personal preference.

The best advice i can really give. . .

1- Choke the plectrum off really shallow. So that there isn't much material showing through your hands.

2- Angle the plectrum slightly, rather than hitting it straight on.

3- Remember, it's all in the wrist, not the fingers.

Oh yeah also sometimes tensing your forearm muscles helps too. Not always though. Worth a try.

Is this for wanking techniques too?

Lol i dunno mate hang on i'll just try. . . .

Yup it works.

The best tip to playing is not practice... It's this:

Hold the pick with your thumb and your second finger, that way you can do the horns while you're playing.....

No I don't have any tips really, apart from, just downpick the slower riffs for accuracy.

Atom wrote:Jazz III

The king of guitar picks.

Agreed, There amazing pics.

But i also like the Jim Dunlop ones with the grip on it. makes it much easier to play faster.