Any advice on how to pick fast on the low E and A strings?

Technique Critique
#1

Hi there,

For some reason I haven’t quite figured out yet, I cannot pick or even just tremolo on the low E and A strings nearly as fast as I can on DGB and e. The low E string is the worst by far. I play flat wound 12-52 gauge strings on an archtop guitar for some context. As a result, faster phrases that involve the low E string tend to slow down in order for me to get the pick back and forth over the strings. Not great because then the tempo gets away from me.

Is this common at all with the lower strings? Does anyone have any advice on overcoming this?

Cheers,

Josh

#2

To make sure you get the best advice, I’d recommend posting a short video demonstrating the issue, for example a few seconds of tremolo on the higher strings followed by a few seconds of tremolo on the low E.

Without video the risk is we all start guessing at random:)

3 Likes
#3

Definitely took me longer to get comfortable on the low E and A once I had a working motion, not sure if this is unique to wrist/forearm or not because that’s all I have experience with.

Using less edge picking helps when playing those two strings but like Tommo said, it would be best to see a video for the most accurate advice :slight_smile:

#4

It’s usually an issue of running of out palm rest space, well, that what I ran into anyways, I’ve noticed many switch to elbow/forearm picking for higher strings.

#5

Totally depends on your approach, if the base of the palm by the pinky is your pivot it’s less likely to be a problem. A short video is worth a thousand posts though.

#6

Haven’t seen it mentioned, but what kind of bridge does your guitar have? I find this to be more of a problem on raised bridge guitars (Les Pauls, archtops, etc). The problem can definitely happen on “flat bridge” guitars as well, but that can normally be remedied by practicing your tracking.

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#7

I could see it definitely being tricky in certain setups, for example pronated form on a Gibson style guitar. You could lose your anchor point completely. As mentioned though, a video should reveal the problem!

#8

I don’t have any advice on overcoming it, but I have the exact opposite problem. I can tremolo pick my fastest on the low E, and I get slower / more sloppy as I move to the high E. For instance working on Dick Dale’s Misirlou, I can play the first section on low E at about full speed (175 BPM 16th notes), but can only play the next section on the high E around 120/130 before getting really sloppy.

#9

So I’m thinking it might have something to do with pick slop. The more pick slop, the harder and slower it is to pass through a string. I’ve noticed that on the lower strings, there’s more pick slop if I maintain the same level of tightness on the pick across all strings because the lower strings are thicker and take more force to pass through. I think I’m noticing that if I tighten up ever so slightly on the low E string then I can pass through the string easier because there’s less slop.

Losing your anchor point also makes sense as a potential problem. Given I play an archtop with a floating bridge, the strings are quite high off the body so a pronated forearm has the risk of losing its anchor point. I’ve recently moved to a more supinated forearm position which allows me to keep an anchor point on the strings while picking the low E string. The pick attack is closer to a gypsy style, coming from underneath the strings, with an upstroke escape motion using the trailing edge of the pick.

#10

@PlanBMachine that sounds like tracking to me, but I’d have to see a video.

#11

When I played a strat I was an upward pickslanter. Works with strats where the distance between strings and body is very small. Going to archtops meant I had to rest my pinky on the scratchplate and become more of a downward pickslanter, or juggle between the two positions. You just have to adapt, you win some and you lose some.