That type of stuff I can’t do at all. Compared to you I suck bad at picking lol, I was more wondering if you guys could post a vid of you doing the pattern, but came out wrong.
Gives me something to chase after 
You could be right, of course! But this is somewhat how I look at the complexity, where the “x” is the start and stop of a single stroke. The top is 2, the bottom is one of the cases that you described, above. (The pick tip doesn’t really make sharp corners like that, but I take artistic license.)
I believe that, even though the pickstrokes are alternating in your example, because you have three moving in the same direction (towards the floor), cumulative physical stress will be lower than if every note changes direction (consistent outside, or inside, picking). But I suppose it matters how many repetitions we’re talking about.
I guess I also don’t understand the point of this question.
If we’ve learned anything from the analysis here, it’s that intentionally finding extremely challenging things to play, and practicing them, doesn’t really do much to improve your ability to play easier things faster - practicing these jumps and building some speed here won’t make, say, the picked run at the end of the “For the Love of God” solo easier. You may build some accuracy on multi-string skipping, but I guess as a general observation, I don’t know if I see much practical gain from rigorously running down the question “what is the hardest possible sequence of three notes to alternate pick,” except perhaps as an example of what not to play, if you’re looking for a fast lick.
Again, I don’t see the point… but that’s kind of what I was getting at when I suggested incorporating the A string. In the original motif, you’re all moving in the same direction, and if I follow that correctly, it’s upstroke, downstroke, upstroke. To add in that A, you reverse direction (coming off an upstroke, so your pick is moving in the direction of your string change), but then have to pick the A with a downstroke, the reverse of the direction your hand is moving, while continuing the wrist angle adjustment throguh to return to the E string, which you now need to pick with an upstroke, while simultaneously moving your wrist angle back up to allow you to catch the high E with a downstroke.
You basically create a series of motions working at cross purposes, which seem like it SHOULD make things a little harder.
Which, that and $5 will get you a decent cup of coffee.
1 Like
If someone plays with strict alternate picking their maximum speed is limited by the most “expensive” (slowest) stroke. So, what is this stroke? I think it is 2, above.
That may be true in this specific picking pattern, but I don’t think it’s true generally. And, I think drilling this particular picking pattern will primarily result in your being able to play this particular picking pattern faster, rather than picking all things faster in general.
I’m a little confused. Are you talking about just playing the low E, the G, the high E, repeating, all alternate picked?
Stroke 1: E
Stroke 2: G
Stroke 3: E
Stroke 2 seems like the most “expensive” stroke in terms of complexity; there are several similar strokes that also really stand out in terms of being difficult (= being a rate-limiting step).
The tempo determines how much time one has for each stroke, where EVERY necessary stroke must fit in its time slot, and just one like 2 might create big problems.
Wait! I think I finally understand what you’re getting at! haha So, the single most-difficult (expensive) pickstroke. You posit that a downstroke on G, that is preceded by an upstroke on low E and must be followed by an upstroke on high E, is the “hardest” possible pickstroke. Maybe it is!
But!
Are there case-dependent techniques which exist primarily for just this sort of more-expensive-than-usual situation? There are: forearm rotation, Martin Miller’s finger technique (maybe), to name two, and there are probably many.
Exactly! Do I translate what you’re saying as follows?
“Few people can do strict alternate picking at speed without an escape hatch (like hybrid picking?) to handle cases like 2.”