Hello all, I was inspired to post this question after seeing the Gary Moore question answered so clearly.
I’ve always been a big Michael Schenker fan, but found his picking technique befuddling. I know he picks with the rounded corner and uses a Dunlop .88 nylon. It looks like during slow parts he uses three fingers and picks straight on, with no pick slant and he posts his pinky around the bridge. For rhythm strums he takes the third finger off of the pick and doesn’t post. But for the faster alternate picked runs, I’m not sure what his technique is. I saw one video that showed upwards pick slanting at one point, but the rest I’m not sure of. Can anyone here provide any insight into this? Like many here, I’ve been chipping away at improving my (mostly alternate) picking since discovering CTC. Far and away it’s the best resource for learning out there right now. Thanks Troy and crew for this invaluable teaching tool.
Clip below has some good angles, though I don’t know if there are better representations of his fast playing. Too bad they cut over to his fretting hand so much. 
First thing that jumps out to me is an emphasis on wrist-deviation movement mechanic, probably with some wrist flexion/extension blended in. Interestingly, there are some slower bits where he uses trailing edge picking, though other times leading edge and sometimes close to “parallel”.
Pretty sure I saw some fast UWPS, but there also seemed to be some DWPS, at least in the some of the slower “rhythm” sections.
Good playing here but I can’t really see anything in this clip. About all I can say is that it doesn’t appear that much forearm is involved, so this is either wrist, fingers, or both. To know more, we’d need a more Code-friendly “down the strings” type angle where he’s not moving around. The Moore clip was perfect in that respect. Find us one of Michael like that and we’ll take a look!
Would definitely like to dig into Schenker’s playing a bit more. I’ll do a bit of snooping and see if I can’t find any decent angles of him for the thread.
Yeah, I’m seeing the 3 finger trailing edge, then the switching to leading edge. Maybe he is switching to leading edge to give the lead lines some A.H. overtones. Bruce Bouillet does this to hit artificial harmonics then switches right back to trailing edge.
I’m also a huge Schenker fan. Here is a great video of his picking. I have seen him use trailing edge picking for faster passages many times in the past. Also, I don’t believe he uses the rough edge of his nylon picks when playing lead all the time. I think he uses the rough edge for more slower melodic playing, and also rhythms.
It never occurred to me that he might use the pointed edge for some parts; that is entirely possible. I just assumed that he always played with the rounded edge a la DeMartini and Lynch. Is the picking technique all the same through 1:03 to 1:17? He noticeably shifts his position at 1:09 but not sure if that’s a picking thing or a tonal thing.
Closest thing I’ve found to a CTC-style view of his picking hand. It seems like almost every video of Herr Schenker is cut off at the bottom. About halfway through (starting at 4:55) you get a half decent decent angle, but the quality of the video (which is spotty to being with) takes a deeper nose-dive. :\
EDIT I) Getting closer to the goods! (4:50)
Apparently he has an instructional video, from which this was taken - angles aren’t great but much higher quality footage:
Like a lot of the greats, Michael appears to have several techniques. There’s some pretty textbook prontated uwps wrist movement happening, as well as a totally different and pretty neat thumb/index crosspicking technique that he uses for 1nps arpeggio lines. No idea he did all this stuff.
We’ll add him to the list!
We’ll add him to the list!
Seeing as how he doing a “comeback” sorta thing with this massive Schenkerfest tour he’s embarking on, he might be interested in appearing on something like CTC. Lots of USA dates in March 2018.
http://www.michaelschenkerhimself.com/tour.php
Another video–lots of great picking hand footage here though it’s not a lot of his fast playing.
Yep saw those dates. We haven’t had great luck trying squeeze people in between tour dates - they’re basically running from one city to another with very little down time. But you never know, we can try.
Yes, IMO, it’s the same from 1.03 to 1.08, the then changes position.
@element0s that’s one of the best picking hand videos of Schenker I’ve seen! Excellent footage.
I love Schenker. His playing is brilliant!!
Would be amazing if you could film a segment with him.
Michael Schenker is probably my favourite guitar player. Had the chance to meet him a few years back and he’s a really nice guy too.
Here is a video that might help:
If not, it’s still a cool video since you can hear his playing very clearly. That tone!