Inside picking and high action

Playing Technique
#1

Hi fellow pickers,

From the beginning I started playing with pretty high action. My first was a nylon string guitar, my first serious electric was a -72 Fender Strat and because of the fretboard radius, you couldn’t bend strings with low action. Strings were lighter in the 70s: 009 was “normal”, 008 was “light” and 010 was considered “heavy”, suitable for strumming open G chords on a tele.

I’ve always favored inside picking for fast patterns. My theory is that with high action, especially above the 12. fret, the strings under the pick actually jumps up and down. The last note on a string is out of the way for a split second, enough time for the pick to move to the next string, which is much higher. This explains why I never keep my index down like a capo while moving the other fingers.

This technique favors inside picking. Thoughts?

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#2

I remember reading this which is related to your idea:

Here are two others:

#3

This is interesting, I recently lowered my bass and raised the treble side because I have many years of experience but when I try to play fast I miss pick strokes when I go from low strings to high.

Must be something about my body refusing to conform but this is working for now. Maybe the strings will sound out of balance or intonation problems.

If so I can possibly lower it a bit at a time to train my body to string track like a human.

OK, 4 years on a zombie thread isn’t my record for what it’s worth.

#4

From my experiance you adapt to the action, whatever it is.

The strings vibrate much faster than you can move you hand, so any idea of hitting a string away to create a gap for your pick is nonsense. You’re saying hitting the string out the way creates a gap for your pick to hit the next string. The string vibrates way to fast for that.

But fretting a string will lower the action relative to another string. So the idea could work if you’re doing single notes per string. But it’s still so small that I think it’s not worth bothering with.

#5

What has string vibrations to do with it? I’m talking about pressing down strings with your fingers. The “new” string that I’m approaching will be slightly higher than the “old” string that I’m currently playing, making inside picking easy since the pick is passing over a “low” string in order to hit a “high” string (high and low referencing to height over the fingerboard).

#6

Thats why I thought you were on about the vibration.

You’d need a serious string hight difference to bother with this effect, high action at the high frets.
At that point you need a set up…

The amount your right hand can deal with is way beyond the small hight differences from the strings fretboard hights.

If you wanna practice this idea play some three string lick high up the fret board, and the same low.

You’re literally changing the string hights doing that.
Very easy to adapt, almost no change if not No change in picking

#7

As I said, I really like high action - because of tone, I get a better grip on the string, and bending and wide vibrato is easier without catching the next string under the fingers. WheI pressing down the high E-string on the 12. fret, it’s crearly visible that the string gets closer to the neck pickup by more than a millimeter.

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#8

This is what I mean in terms of it not being an issue.
It’s such a small string difference that you can change in the moment, and definitely change with practice. The string difference is nothing. Your hand can adapt to it.
I’m playing from the lowest difference in string hights to the highest.

and thats inside and outside picking.

The strings at the top of the neck fretted are very close, at the bridge, far apart, dont really matter, it’s too small too effect your picking hand in my opinion n as I show.

#9

I don’t have a youtube account I can post to, but here’s a clip from 1987 (time flies!) of me playing with a swedish fusion band. https://youtu.be/7kZnX7tKoeY?si=Rh2xcMxjgsF6pM3T
At that time all my fingerings and patterns were pretty much inside picking, and the action was really high. I really suck on low action.

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#10

Damn dude! That’s some really good playing

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#11

can you make an acount n post some playing?

That not your account?
If you been playing before I was born be cool if you could post that n show that rather than make me reach out and embarrass myself trying to help a serious player, I mean comon man lol.

To be exact, I was 1 when that clip was recorded. If you are legit then show it. Very easy to record n post on here, I do it all the time n show how shit I am lol.

if this is you then damn.

Please record a vid, its been a long time but comon, I will love it along with everyone, its almost 40 years, Dont need to be fast x

#12

https://youtu.be/zBqNepmkoAE

Not for everybody’s eyes and ears, just something I did five minutes ago…

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#13

Fuckin Wow, amazing. xx

1 Like
#14

Highly inspiring, Staffan!

1 Like
#15

You still got it! Damn. Really nice phrasing there

2 Likes