tremalo picking, help!!!

[toma]

how do i learn to do this in a controlled way, as in, at the moment, i just spazam (sp?) my hand, works fine, but im not in controll, and for string changeing/skipping, i really need to be in controll if what im doing. any advice?? ive tried just picking to a metranome, and slowly increasing the speed to really fast, but i just tense up and loose it before i get anywhere near as fast as my normal tremalo picking...

im not a shredder, so have little knowlage in this area...any advice woulld be welcome!!!

cheers

tx

[HoP]

its more of a wrist thing... if u set your wrist on your computer desk and relax your hand and point ur hand up off the desk, without moving your forearm move your wrist back and forth... thats basically what u need to do.. only on guitar, u dont want to tense up to much, u just want your hang flying back and forth as fast as u can. if u look down at your hand while you are doing it on guitar, u should see about 15 fingers just flying back and forth in a whiplash effect lol. (kind hard to explain I guess,)

[Pantofels]

and just definetly not tense up. thats really important.

[Andelusion]

It can take months to be able to pick at a high tempo without moving your arm or tensing your arm/shoulder up.

By using the metronome and starting at a slow tempo, you're doing the right thing.

Although take it slowly, very slowly, go up in 5bpm increments, and don't speed up until you can play whatever you're playing absolutely perfectly at least 20 times in a row! Then speed up.

Don't spend all your time practising picking, do small sessions over the course of a week and you'll eventually notice an improvement.

You could even try recording your attempts, then listen back at the end of the week, possibly compare these recordings with an attempt from the previous week?

Following some of these ideas will get your picking up to speed with correct technique. It's not impossible as loads of good players can do it, just with everything; it takes heaps, HEAPS of practise

[sniperfrommars1]

Their are different methods for this some more accepted than others. Watching other guitarist tremolo pick youll soon discover that their are multiple different postures you can use for the technique. Ill go over some quick pointers for you to help you right off the bat.

1. Choke up on that pick! The less area of the pick that you have to move the better, this will allow you to relax more. You can even adjust your speed by chocking up more and less on the pick. Experiment to find what works best for you. I try to have the smallest amount of pick sticking out possible thats just what works best for me. I also use dunlop tortex jazz picks (the little green ones) These picks have NO give in them so you dont have to compensate for the pick flexing around on you. Since the tip is sharp it makes it far easier to tremolo pick as you have less area to move over the string. Try them out you will find them rather difficult to use at first. (these picks also make pinch harmonics much easier)

2. Relax your hand, when your tensing up youll tend to become sloppy, contine to work with your metronome. One exercise i used to do goes as follows. Your basically just fretting natural harmonics on the high e string to start. i start at the 7th and 12th fret picking back and forth and slowly increasing my speed. Then i widen my strecth to the 5th fret for a moment then move to next string (hope that was clearly it would be easier to tab out but im lazy) This will help your fretspan as its a far stretch for most players, and since your fretting natural harmonics youll have to control the pick so you cant just man handle it.

[brothersnowgone]

Originally Posted by sniperfrommars1

(these picks also make pinch harmonics much easier)

Yeah they do, I like them for all the same reasons.

[Eddie_V_H]

Have any of yous heard or tried Snarling Dogs Red Brain Picks. They have like little bumps for a grip effect and r my fav pics.

[andy7jem]

No,but thats a superb name for a pick though