Economy picking and planning out your picking patterns

Playing Technique
#1

Hey, I’m wanting to get more into picking technique and debating with myself if I should primarily use alternate or economy.

I would just practice both for everything so I can do both, but I have very limited time I’m able to play each day due to carpal tunnel, so one needs to be my focus if I’m gonna make significant progress

I’m wondering, with economy picking, do you need to kind of plan out your picking sequences on everything? Especially with improvising? Alternate seems pretty straightforward to me, just play an upstroke after the down and vice versa (not taking into account pick slanting and whatnot), but economy seems it requires planning in advance, no?

#2

Pretty much everything played at speed requires some kind of pre-memorisation, so the “planning” aspect is not the real difference between alternate and economy IMO.

More generally, you don’t have to choose between alternate and economy — why not use both? :slight_smile:

You can go on a lick-by-lick basis, depending on what feels easier for each case!

1 Like
#3

Awesome, thanks Tommo. I like the idea of using them on a lick to lick basis a lot. I think that makes the most sense.