alternate picking

[henry]

just wondered what anyone's thoughts on alternate picking

I watched one of David Hartley's video's and he said 'if you're not alternate picking already i'd recommend getting into it' (apologies David if I have misquoted you).

I found when I was playing the guitar alternate picking was great for some things
But it feels a bit weird on the pedal steel cos of the chromatic strings and the jumps you have to make. and also i find that sometimes I will be picking at a weird angle (if an alternate pick stroke means a stretch) which means i cant strike the string how i'd like to and dont get the tone.

what do other people do alternate? whatever finger seems closest?

[Basil Henriques]

I think it depends on what grip is in use before the required single notes.

[henry]

Hi Basil,

This sounds like great advice - would you be able to elaborate?

Thanks,

Henry

[Tony Smart]

What is alternate picking? - - Never heard of it.

[Ken Byng]

What is alternate picking? - - Never heard of it.

Tony - I would assume (maybe wrongly) that it is just the practise of single string runs where you use thumb-index-thumb or middle-index-thumb. That sort of thing. Tommy White uses thumb-middle-thumb-index for much of his speed picking stuff.

[henry]

yep. that's what I was asking about alternate middle/thumb or index/thumb.

so i get the impression it's not somethign everyone does?

[Ken Byng]

yep. that's what I was asking about alternate middle/thumb or index/thumb.

so i get the impression it's not somethign everyone does?

Henry - there is not really any alternative to using alternative digits to pick single string passages. Check out Doug Jernigan on this Youtube clip



Doug is one of the better single string players around, and see how economical he is with his hand/finger movement on the single string portion of the clip. He is using alternate fingering, and achieves the smoothness you need for this style of playing.

[henry]

thanks for that vid, Ken. He does make it look easy!
He looks like he drops his second finger in every once in a while (not just for the double stops), but I suppose working out when you do that is a matter of trial an error?

I was playing a phrase like this today and ended up playing it alternate, so thumb, middle, thumb, middle. It's a bit of a move to get the middle finger behind the thumb for the last note, and I found I often didnt' strike the string properly. but the only alternative seemed to be thumb middle thumb thumb, which was more consistent but seemed not as good technique

                T   M   T    M
1___________5___________
2_______________________
3________5B_____________
4______________5________
5_________________5A____
6_______________________
7_______________________
8_______________________
9_______________________
10______________________

[Steve Broatch]

Hi Henry,

If I was playing that phrase the most natural thing to me would be thumb/middle/first/thumb.

Steve

[The Invisible Man]

Alternative Picking.

How does Maurice Anderson do it as I believe he wears 3 fingerpicks?

p.s. Is there a spell check on this site?- Can't seem to find one.