Crosspicking Chopin Lines?

Technique Critique
#1

Since I’m obsessed with Chopin, I quite often try and replicate some of his lines on guitar. Obviously since they were written for piano, some of these can be quite awkward. These two in particular which I’ve been playing around with recently I thought might be of interest. This is one of those rare times when I didn’t have to think about how I’m changing strings, once I’d got them memorised, they seemed to develop in speed pretty quickly.
But here’s my question: Is it cross picking? It looks like it to me, but I’m not sure, so I’d be interested to hear what you think.
Anyway, they’re a lot of fun to play and a way of playing arpeggios without conforming to any shred cliches.
Also, yes, I need to repaint my nails :wink:

(Edit: Enjoy my amazing titles which read ‘title text here!’ Needed to double check. First one should read ‘From Piano Sonata in B Minor’ second should read 'From Opus 10 no7 with some creative licence!)

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#2

Looks like a crosspicking to me. Great job! What is your speel limit in bpm using this technique?

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#3

Thank you! First arpeggios were at my maximum current tempo, but I only learnt that line yesterday so it’s unfamiliar territory at the moment. Second one I recently recorded at 130, but that was pretty tough!

#4

Sounds really good. You should check out Marshall Harrison if you haven’t already… He’s been designing Chopin licks for the guitar since the 1990s I believe, but I he is based mostly on economy rather than strict alternate picking. You might get some more cool ideas from him.

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#5

Thank you! Yes, Marshall is great, I’ve watched a lot of his stuff. I do A LOT of hybrid picking thanks to him, it makes some lines so much easier than they would be.
These are two my favourites! I could only do the opening of the second lick with the magnet because it goes up too high, but it’s enough to show the idea. Hybrid picking is great! (More chipped nail polish, need to tidy myself up! Haha!)

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#6

Awesome, love the progression around 25 seconds.

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#7

Thank you! It was heavily based on the section at 0.45 from this piece.

The pattern is a little different and it goes over a different chord sequence. It was a lot of practice to get that one down but I’m quite pleased with it!

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#8

Hey Count, the melodies and execution are great, but the limit you mention at 130bpm makes me think that there could be some hopping going on. But you’ll need a more expert eye than mine to spot it properly. If this is not the case, you should soon be able to get these licks to the 150 range (considering your uber speed shown in other licks!).

Still sounds great though!

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#9

Thanks Tommo.
There may well be some string hopping going on, I’m not sure. I wouldn’t say 130 was the limit though, maybe my original post wasn’t clear enough. That’s where I got with it, which took a lot of practice? Could I get it higher with more practice? Possibly.
I did originally have a lot of trouble with the second lick while trying to record it, I tried seeing if I could two way pickslant it, then one day it kind of clicked! I didn’t question it, I just thought ‘cool, now I can record it.’ But thought I’d post it here for further scrutiny!
The first lick posted I got pretty much instantly. I didn’t play it any faster because I’d only just learnt it so it’s still new territory and to be honest, musically doesn’t sound very good much quicker!

#10

Yeah sorry, I didn’t mean to say “You have to play it faster!!”, just that tempos around 150bpm are a good test to rule out hopping!

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#11

Ha! No, don’t worry, I totally understood what you meant. I’ll have a go tomorrow morning and see what the speed limit is, that can be a ‘hop test!’