Been playing for a long time with the wrong picking technique

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#1

Hi all,

I’ve been playing guitar for more than 20 years and was self-taught until I started playing with School of Rock in 2021. I took lessons there and played in an adult student band until a few months ago. Now I play rhythm guitar in a Ghost tribute band and do alright for the most part. The only problems I’m having with that are playing alternate picked palm muted 16th notes evenly at 120bpm and 8th note triplets palm muted at 128bpm.

The self-taught period consisted of playing the same Metallica songs a million times. I could play Master of Puppets with all downstrokes without an issue. There was a long lazy period where I never played with other people, which caused me to forget a lot of things.
For lessons, none of my instructors pointed out that my picking sucked. I mostly played with an open hand like James and Kirk, but was told to stop that. I had never spent any real time on picking technique. I had never even thought of pointing a camera at my hand and recording what was happening.

I was just never able to play fast things, which weren’t even that fast. Anything requiring 16th notes over 120bpm was just not happening. I thought I was just not practicing enough or that other people were just more talented than me. I’d even regressed to where downpicking 16th notes above 100bpm is not easy. I just tense up and get fatigued quickly.

I have now watched all of the Pickslanting Primer, except for the last three sections on downward/upward pickslanting and the technical reference.

I have tried all of the techniques presented, and so far, nothing has just felt super natural and comfortable. I’m still within a week of starting this journey and do not expect progress to come quickly or easily. I will put in whatever work it takes to fix 20+ years of doing it wrong.

I am absolutely amazed by what Troy can play in the videos I have seen. I am unable to play most of the examples at even half speed.

For reference, this was the starting point for me a few days ago, and the first time I recorded myself. I think that was just 100bpm. String hopping, garage spiking, double trapped, uneven.

This was today, after many takes of trying the DSX technique at 120bpm. It’s a little better, but I’m finding it hard to do zero pick slant while keeping the underside of my wrist off the guitar. I really want the thumb side of my palm to stay pressed against the strings or body.

I know nothing is going to just solve my issues overnight, and I’m looking forward to putting in the time it takes to get this right.

#2

Hi Carl,

Sounds like you’re on the right track with watching the primer etc. As you’ve noted, the above clips show clear string hopping - this is when there is a semi-circular motion path whereby the pick escapes the plain of the strings on both upstrokes and downstrokes.

Have you tried using more of a deliberate pick slant (i.e downward slant, or upward slant) and using the adjacent string as a reference for picking more in a straight line? As an example of lot of players (especially metal players) will use a downward pick slant (i.e the pick is angled more towards the floor) so that when they perform a downstroke the pick is caught between strings, and the upstroke escapes the plain of the strings? This can be useful as a ‘guide’ and practice tool.

You mentioned MOP used to be easy for you, which means you have the ability to play 16ths well above 200bpm if you dial things in correctly.

If you haven’t already, I would watch Troy’s ‘starting with speed’ video on youtube.

#3

Thanks for the reply, Jab.

I did watch the Warp 3 video which I figure is an updated version of Start with Speed. That does make sense. I had learned a long time ago when learning to play the trumpet in school that you start super slow, work it up over a period of time, and then you’ll be able to play it eventually at full speed. That really has not carried over to fast things on the guitar and I have been stuck for a long time.
What Troy pointed out about a technique working at low speed but not at high speed was something I had not really heard before him and explains a lot.

Playing though my band’s set last night, I tried to just pick as light as possible. That felt better and I was less tired after the 45 minute set. I figure I have been killing the strings for way too long and a lighter touch is just the start to making progress.

Thanks for the suggestion for a pick slant. I found the DSX with zero pick slant while keeping the pinky side of my palm on the guitar hard to do. Playing with a downward pick slant with USX and a mostly open hand feels comfortable to me and I can play a decent tremolo with it at 180bpm 16th notes, though there is tension in my forearm. I’ll keep at it with a focus on releasing tension.

For downpicking, I figure Creeping Death is a good song to work on. I can play at 80% speed, 171bpm 8th notes, but I just lock up if I try to play full speed with 214bpm 8th notes. The left hand isn’t challenged, but I don’t know where to go with the right. I’m unable to do the tap tests that fast either (two taps per beat at 214bpm).

Also, what guidance is there after the Pickslanting Primer? What should I be working on?

Thanks.

Edit: I think I’m going to try what the guy in the video below suggests for downpicking, even though it’s not start with speed at all. I like the idea of chunking multiple downstrokes into one unit.

#4

Sounds like you’ve made some useful adjustments and 16ths at 180bpm is a great place to working from!

Once you’ve gone through the primer and have a stable and consistent tremolo (and you’ve started applying this to riffs and runs) you might want to look at a technique critique via the masters in mechanics subscription. There are also some awesome etudes to work on from the Obsidian seminar.

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#5

I have a magnet on the way and will sign up for the technique critique once I stop progressing on my own for any period of time.

For now, I’ll use the below to work on downpicking and alternate picking during my warmup every day. I’ll start to integrate the left hand in the downpicking as I progress (1 beat of 0, 1 beat of 1, go from there).

2025-12-12 08_52_20-Downpick chunks - Guitar Pro 8
2025-12-12 08_52_20-Downpick chunks - Guitar Pro 8991×510 19.7 KB

Edit:
Here’s an attempt at 190bpm. Four notes at a time seem fine. I did not realize that I was only playing six notes at a time in the second half. I need to keep trying to break it down into chunks. I can’t count to 8 that fast, and it seems I might not be able to count to 4 that fast either. Tapping 4 times at the speed is not a challenge.

#6

Listen to the click, you’re playing triplets.

D u d U

^ - - ^

How fast can your drum a 16th note roll with your fingers on your knee or a table?

#7

My mind is just blown by how I’m doing triplets at speed, and I need to find a way to fix that.

I tried rolling my fingers (video below). I could do subdivisions up to around 150bpm, but above that, it was just land my pinky on the beat, and the other ones come down when they will.

#8

Hi Carl, this is not what I meant. Sorry if I wasn’t clear. You need to internalise a 16th note pulse, see below

https://youtube.com/shorts/7Md3Aa_osJM?si=G1PXnnlYKhnZCEt2

#9

Oh!
I tried that out and I can get to 165. Anything above that and I would tense up and get off.

I do have a drum kit and am a novice drummer, though I’ve been really lazy with it for the last few months and haven’t played much. Would you recommend doing exercises on a kit?

Thank you for taking the time to help me out. I appreciate it.

#10

I don’t believe that you can expect to pick steady 16th notes on a guitar significantly faster than you can maintain a steady 16th note pulse off the guitar. Drummers get two hands, but they only get one stroke per hand. Guitarists only have one picking hand, but we get two strokes (up and down) with it.

I don’t think you need to practice on a drum kit, but some hand percussion will help you to feel what a 16th note rhythmic chunk should feel like.

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