alternate vs economy

[evolusean]

ive heard a lot of guys say that economy picking is faster and easier than alternate picking but the thing is im so used to alternate picking that i cant economy pick at all. does anyone else have this problem? its like my brain cant tell my fingers to break pattern and do the extra down or up strokes fast enough.

im thinking i shouldnt bother with it because id venture to say my alternate picking is just as fast and more consistent sounding. whats your guys opinion?

[pawel]

With economy picking you should be doing less downstrokes/upstrokes than with alternate picking, no?

If you are confortable with alternate, don't bother. Sure, you can play 3nps (or 5nps) shapes quickly, but that picking technique doesn't work too well when you want to use odd note groupings, mixing 2nps, 3nps, 4nps, etc... It's just not a very flexible approach in the long run.

[Adagio_777]

I personally prefer the sound of alternate picking than economy picking. It's much more percussive sounding, while economy picking can have a very legato sound. Economy picking doesn't leave too much room for dynamics, it's very tricky to do heavy pick strokes and what not with the technique.

[nickcoumbe]

I like to mix an match both.

Saying that, if your alternate picking is good, then you really have mastered one fothe more important things.

[Little Fighter]

classical picking ... efficiency of motion ... why upstroke a string when you can just let your pick fall onto it ... a waste of movement if you ask me

[pawel]

Originally Posted by Little Fighter

classical picking ... efficiency of motion ... why upstroke a string when you can just let your pick fall onto it ... a waste of movement if you ask me

Clarify this please...???

[Drew]

Originally Posted by Little Fighter

classical picking ... efficiency of motion ... why upstroke a string when you can just let your pick fall onto it ... a waste of movement if you ask me

Because it breaks the rhythmic drive of the right hand, and if you think about it, if economy picking really IS faster than alternate, then any change in speed has to come while switching between strings, which means that you are picking faster on one note out of a series of (generally) four. This is what we sometimes call "playing out of rhythm."

I mean, it's not a BAD sound, a bit looser and flowing, but economy is nowhere near as tight as good alternate.

Realistically, they both sound different, and the more different sounds you have at your fingertips the better. So, it's worth learning how to do both, but for rhythmic precision, straight alternate is where it's at.

[mi2tom]

alternate picking is used for fast run you can do really fast run with economy

[Little Fighter]

Originally Posted by Drew

Because it breaks the rhythmic drive of the right hand, and if you think about it, if economy picking really IS faster than alternate, then any change in speed has to come while switching between strings, which means that you are picking faster on one note out of a series of (generally) four. This is what we sometimes call "playing out of rhythm."

I could say the samething about alternate picking everything.

When swithching strings your pick movement is much longer which means your picking one note slower ... lol

Check out Frank Gambale's "Monster Licks and Speed Picking" DVD ... just proves that you don't need to alternate pick everything and that it's highly overrated as the end all be all picking technique.

[buddroyce]

I have no problem with either, I but I generally prefer Economy picking 'cause I'm lazy, that and also injured my wrist on my picking hand years ago.. so I had to pull a Frank Gambale and economy pick everything now. Straight alternate picking for a long time hurts my wrist.

Quite frankly, I found it harder to economy pick that it was to alternate pick 'cause I actually had to *think* about my picking for a while.

[evolusean]

Originally Posted by buddroyce

Quite frankly, I found it harder to economy pick that it was to alternate pick 'cause I actually had to *think* about my picking for a while.

yes this is exactly my problem.

for clarification economy picking is, instead of keeping the alternate pattern, you just pick in the direction of the next string when you change strings right?

[fono22]

I think people should master the down stroke first... get as fast as possible with downstrokes only (metallica's older stuff is good practise), then learn alternate picking (as fast as possible while being accurate) then economy picking will come somewhat naturally.

I don't see a big difference in rhythym personally, downstrokes sound more punchy and when possible I would rather play all downstrokes than alternate picking.

This being said, it depends on the dynamics of the song. It pays to learn all the techniques as you will find uses for all three at some point.

[PacificaJonny]

Originally Posted by nickcoumbe

I like to mix an match both.

Same here, try to be versatile, practice both until your confident.