INTRO: Picking WORKSHOP with Audio

Picking Technique Workshop
V-Picks Home Page

Get some V-Picks!

Why did I start this workshop with what looks like a plug for V-Picks?

Because it IS! Kinda Sorta! But you don't have to get your picks from Vinni.
Hit your local music shop if you wanna. But be sure to get a rigid, acrylic
pick! They sound infinitely better than plastic or nylon. You get more tone!
And they're louder! Plus . . . you don't DROP THEM! BUT . . .

You need to stop using those flimsy picks!

FYI: I'm just a customer! Click the image and get a 1980 V-Pick!
If you like a grittier sound, order it with the Ghost Edge!
V-Picks Home Page

Get some V-Picks!

Intro ~ Types of picking, and when to use what.

Don't skip this intro! Read it once. Then you'll go to the Part 1 page!

~

In this workshop, you'll go from working basic, simple riffs, scales,
fills and licks to playing some really cool stuff! And playing it fast!

Many of you have not progressed, are not progressing because you never actual
practice anything. You just keep playing the same old songs, same riffs,
and never level up! That stops NOW!

If you're working this workshop, you're most likely wanting to improve your
soloing and improvisation skills. Best guess, most of you just wanna be able
to JAM better! Rock out with buddies, at open mics, play better solos with
your band. Or just have fun playing better than you do now. Not become the
world's finest virtuoso. Albeit, virtuoso just means highly skilled!

So you'll start by playing some exercises that might not sound like what you
like to play . . .

And end up playing some killer stuff you never thought you'd be able to play!

So, here's the thing. You can work this, and other workshops in your time!
Yes, ideally you'll spend a good amount of time on these. But you don't
need to make it a burden! Have fun with it! A little at a time. DON'T skip
around! Apply discipline! Do them systematically! In some kind of repeating
order. Like one day, hit this one, for a time. Be sure to "overlap". Start
each session a bit before where you left off last session!

Next day, work some on the Pentatonic Master Class. Same thing. Start just
before where you left off last session. 3rd day, hit the "Starting Over"
workshop.

But you gotta be ORGANIZED! keep track! Keep a journal. Log where you left
off, which workshop. Make a note about how you did.

TIP! When you stop each audio track, it shows the time. Record how far you
got on your 3rd time playing each track. Part of improving weekly, showing
regular, constant progress . . . is applying discipline!

We'll be using Alternate, Economy and Sweep Picking in this workshop. And
incorporating something called "Note Bursts"! Learning these will increase
your picking accuracy and speed! A TON!

Ya know, you can never learn just one thing. Maybe you set out to learn
just one little thing. Sometimes you find out that you can't learn that
one thing untill you learn some other thing first! And sometimes you do
learn that one thing you wanted to learn, but you realize right away
that, that one thing relates to a bunch of other stuff! And now, some
other stuff you didn't know or understand suddenly makes sense!

It's all . . . a process!

And so it is with picking. You can't just ask "How do you pick this?" and
expect one simple answer. There are way too many variables! And much of the
answer will be based on other things you might, or might not know yet! You
might not even know you don't know, or need to know!

At first, you might think this workshop is a bit convoluted. Or maybe you
think it has a bunch of stuff you don't need because you just wanna know
how to pick stuff, and don't understand that . . . It's a process!

Stick with me on this! It's gonna be an eye-opener!

vpicks

This is a WORKSHOP! Once you start it, you STAY ON IT for 90 DAYS!
The workshop becomes your DAILY ROUTINE! You can still work on
whatever you usually work on. But . . . most of your practice routine,
every day, will be The Workshop!

NOTE: You can work more than one workshop at a time. Albeit, it will
take quite a bit of time daily. But it's time well spent! However, you can
ALTERNATE them. But make it a routine! As in, if you're working 3, you
can do one each day, in order, rotating them in order.

Make it a structured routine! Discipline!

Most guitar players learned on their own. Got tips from buddies. Watched
videos. Developed a lot of bad habits that severly add time to your learning
curve. One main issue preventing you from leveling up on a regular basis.
IE: Why you're not improving at least weekly, is . . . you never developed a
disciplined daily routine! You more or less just work on whatever comes to mind.

And in MOST cases, you'll never get to the level where you want to be! So . . .

Do my "Starting Over" Workshop! Once you get through it the 1st time, the
daily routine is short, and simple! The FINGER EXERCISES PART! Plus, doing
the CHORDS PART will help as well! So, #1 - Do THE STARTING OVER Workshop!
You'll correct many of the bad habits you developed! And jump a level or two FAST!

If you're only interest is playing chords, songs, this workshop will literally
propel you to the next level, and then up ANOTHER LEVEL! Doing the basic
finger exercises along with the chord exercises will take you from where you are
today, to where you'll be in 2 years . . . but in 90 DAYS!

Depending on what your goal is . . . If you want to be a solid lead/solo
player, 2). Work both, this Picking Workshop, and the Pentatonic Master
Class Workshop.

How I'd suggest you do it . . . Day 1/Session 1: Work the Starting Over Workshop.
Do This First: Where to Start, or Where/HOW To Start Over!

Once you complete the workshop, EVERYTHING you play, from that day
forward, will have improved! Invest 90 days, be a better player for life!

Day 2/Session 2: Work this Picking Workshop! This one will help you develop
solid picking techniques. You'll learn some things you never thought of on
your own! Things like not getting your pick stuck in the space between strings!
Picking Workshop. Yeah, I know. You're here right now! HA!

Day 3/Session 3: This one is a Power House! Work the Pentatonic Master Class
Workshop! This one will get you using ALL 5 of the minor and major boxes! The
DRILLS tracks are KILLER! And you WILL progress up AT LEAST a couple levels!
Pentatonic Master Class Workshop

Although this workshop essentially focuses on guitar, the exercises
apply to ALL instruments! You just need to know where the notes
A C D E and G are, on your instrument. Ideally, 2 octaves.

Most exercises include either a TAB or a fretboard diagram. For all
keyboards, this should not be necessary, as patterns don't change
octave to octave on a keyboard.

NOTE: You can Right-Click on any of the graphics in this workshop.
Select "Save Image As". You can also download any MP3 by clicking on
the 3 vertical menu dots and select "Download". Or Richt-Click the
menu dots and select "Save audio as".

The Audio Player will look different, depending on the browser you use.

BUT . . .

The entire workshop can be downloaded WITH ONE LINK! All audio WORK
TRACKS and Backing Tracks MP3s can be downloaded, including a spread-
sheet (or Word, Notepad list) with it all laid out!

REMINDER . . .
Do Not Use a flimsy, flexible PICK!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here we go!...

I need to cover two things before jumping into the actual workshop. One
issue many players have, one that will be a progress killer in these
workshops, is how you use a pick! Yeah, seems fundamental, right? And it IS!

Many players hold the pick with WAY too much of the pick "sticking out"!
If you are only a chord strummer, this isn't so much of a problem. But if
you play any single note stuff, licks, chord connection riffs, or solos,
this is a KILLER! So, choke up on it some! You don't need much of the pick
sticking out past your thumb nail! The pick is an extension of your thumb
nail! If it's sticking out too much, you will have multiple issues.

audio player
For one, lack of control! You're gripping the pick way too hard so you
don't drop it! And that creates TENSION in your hand and wrist!

Also, the pick will be too flexible! You cannot develop accurtacy or speed
if you don't shorten up your pick! Depending on your playing style, and the
pick you use, you don't need, or want more than 1/8" to maybe 3/16" sticking
out! But here's the NUMBER ONE REASON for shortening up your pick!

If your pick it sticking out too far, it's gonna get "stuck between the
strings"! ! ! When you pick a string, the pick should end up "above" the
strings at the end of the picking stroke. If you pick down, the pick will
end up stuck between the string you picked, and the next string!

audio player
As a result, you need to lift the pick up, and out when you pick. Adding
a TON of wasted motion to your picking! Instead of gliding over the strings,
with your hand barely moving, you're moving your hand up and down, lifting
the pick out! And THIS creates wasted motion, and sloppy picking. And
you'll never develop any speed! You might play "quickly", but not CLEAN!

Also, depending on whether you're picking up, down, alternate picking, or
economy picking (more on this later) your pick should be on a bit of an
angle! Strumming chords, it can be "straight on". Sure. 90 degrees to the
strings. But not when picking "notes"!

If you pick the strings with the pick parallel to the strings, there's a
lot of unnecessary force applied to the string. And you have to drag the
pick over the strings. A slight angle allows the pick to "glide" over the
strings! And not get stuck between strings!
audio player
Actually, "picking" is the wrong word. Instead of PICKING a note, your wrist
should just "flick" a little! A slight wrist motion and the pick hits the
string, glides over it, and moves to the next note.

Eliminate the wasted motion, get rid of sloppy playing!

We'll get into more of the picking styles as we progress through the workshop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OK, one more thing before we jump into this. There's a specific reason
for doing the beginning sweep picking exercises. You've never actually
played anything FAST before. These exercises will have you playing solo-
worthy scales and riffes really fast! In a lot less time than you'd think!
So work these HARD! They will lead to greatness!

After some sweeping exercises, we'll focus on some regular picking, whatever
regular means! But sweeping will help you develop good, solid technique
when we start working on various Up and Down picking. Because a lot of it
involves sweeping! Trust me on this!

Objective: Be able to play all tracks, to the end, without much,
if any difficulty! Smoothly, accurately!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ When you mess up, STOP! Start the track again. ~
~ Do this for each track, 3 times - JUST TILL YOU MESS UP! ~
~
DO NOT PRACTICE SLOPPY! Just go as far as you can, accurately!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OK, ready to have at it! Got a stiff pick handy? If not, get one ASAP!
You won't do well using a flimsy pick. It will bend, flex, which makes
the distance between notes FARTHER! You pick down, but instead of a little
"flick", you have to move your hand farther down because the pick takes
longer to get off the string! Wasted motiong KILLS SPEED!

Click here to jump to Part 1 of the workshop! See you there!
Pickin' N Stuff

Contact me any time! Got a question? Ask me! Or request a workshop topic!

Email me any time! ~/~ Wayne on Facebook

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