Help me with playing this homemade run of mine

[357mag]

I have been working on a run for a Scorpions song called Coast To Coast off of their Lovedrive album. On the album, Michael Schenker is doing the run. Needless to say he sounds great. I can’t play like that so I decided to come up with my own much more simple run.

But when I play and practice it, it feels wrong. It feels like my right hand picking technique is all wrong. My playing sounds bumpy and unsmooth, and sometimes the pick gets caught on the string on the upstroke.

I’ve tried picking using the wrist, and picking using the thumb and forefinger too.

I am planning on having a friend film my right hand while I’m playing this homemade run of mine and uploading it so you can maybe help me out or tell me what I’m doing wrong.

It’s a very disappointing and frustrating feeling.

[kgk]

Can you also post the TAB annotated with up and down strokes, if you have it, to show what you’re attempting?

[357mag]

The guitar pro tab is done but how do I upload it to this site?

[Riffdiculous]

It worked, I was able to download it and open it in GP. But if you want it to display right in the post, you’ll need to export it as something else, like a png file.

[kgk]

I’m not sure that I understand the pick directions. I see 17 notes on one string, then one, and one.

Do you know if you’re USX or DSX?

[357mag]

I use downward pickslanting as far as I can tell. Ignore the rhythm. You will get the rhythm when you look at the video. I just chose straight eighth notes just for something to use.

I think the rhythm is closer to a two-sixteenth and an eighth note. Like long - short - short - long - short - short - long etc.

[kgk]

FWIW, please take with a grain of salt:

• So you’re USX (upward escape). This means that the pick becomes free on an upstroke.

I’m not familiar with this song, but I would pick it like this, with perfect regularity:

down, up/skip, down, up, down, up/skip, down, up…

So now we get to the last measure, with a free pick, and this is where all of the complexity seems to be. If you had DSX, you’d want to start that measure with a trapped pick, and it’s pretty trivial (down, up, up), but we have to work with USX… somebody smarter than me will figure this part out. What do you think so far?

[357mag]

I’ve never heard of a skip stroke. What is that? And I think there is more going wrong with my picking technique. Maybe my pickslant is off. Maybe I’m digging in too deep etc. Things like that.

[kgk]

I don’t know the name of this stroke, but you don’t hit a string, you barely miss it. It’s useful for things that have a complex mixture of 8ths and 16ths so one can just (say) pick at 16ths cadence and skip when appropriate to get twice, or three times as long… I don’t know if it’s cheating, but, “if it sounds good, it is good.”

@357mag

And I think there is more going wrong with my picking technique.

Yes, many smart people will examine the video and advise you. But I’d start with this: “exactly what are you trying to do?” Then, “are you actually doing what you’re trying to do?” For example, you thought that you might “be digging in too deep.” But too deep compared to what? I think that you need to decide how deep you’d like to dig, and then see if you can practice within a reasonable tolerance of your goal. Now, there are lots of YOLO advocates here that will argue that just go really fast and figure it out, and that might be a great way to go as well… I’m not, as you can tell, a guitar teacher!

[Fossegrim]

So I listened to the song. First time I have ever heard it as I can’t say I’m too familiar with this era of the scorpions. I’m guessing this is the lick the op wants to sub for. This is just my transcription based on what I hear and most likely’s, but I’m guessing Michael Schenker is playing something pretty close to this:

EDIT

(I re-listened and I’m pretty sure he is ho-po trilling the first three notes which makes the phrase easier)

Now if I were to use a strict USX to try to play it similar to how someone like YJM would, I might recommend fingering it like this, although it may not be the easiest to play for some if they aren’t used to economy picking.

(Note you can keep the trill just like the first, and get rid of the upstroke on the grill part and the picking convention is the same)

Although part me feels like taking maybe a Paul Gilbert approach and adding in strategic pull off’s may even be an easier way to play it. Listening to it I almost suspect Michael Schenker is playing more similarly to this, and it’s not all alternate picked. It was hard to tell on the recording though:

Now if the lick is a bit too much right now as is, cut out enough to make it easier but still keep the vibe of it especially if you were writing the lick as a sub when performing the song. I would maybe keep that ending though since it ties it together. I will take a look at the lick @kgk posted in the post above to see about fingering and such, but not sure about keeping it mostly on one string unless that it the easiest way you find to play it.

EDIT #2
So I looked at options to simplifying the lick so that it still captured the same-ish vibe of the original but makes it maybe not as difficult to play.

This first breaks the grouping down into 16th’s and keeps everything mostly in one position but also keeps an upward escape for some one who plays that way.

The second breaks it down further into eighth notes but still requires crossing strings.

And the third is a doctored version of the one @kgk posted if one feels compelled to keep it on one string.

[tomsters]

Great song (instrumental). The version on WWL is nice.