Which picking technique do you use when improvising at high speeds?

[nitro1976]

Hello everyone,

Thanks to CTC I realized that many passages are far easier to play when you know which picking technique to use when playing them.

But when improvising you don’t necessarily know what you are going to play beforehand, so I would like to practice mastering a picking technique that I am able to use at high speeds when improvising over a chord progression.

Is there such a thing?

In other words, should I practice ALL techniques equally (DWPS, UWPS, 2WPS and sweeping) and then let my subconscious decide while improvising which one to use?

Or should I specialize and master one main technique, say strictly DWPS that works for practically everything, except for very specific high speed licks, where I might use sweeping?

I want to spend my practice time as efficiently as possible.

Are there players who are able to improvise at blazing speeds when using strictly DWPS or UWPS, or is it more or less mandatory to be able to do 2WPS when doing this?

Any help is welcome,
thank you

[Hanky_Pooh]

Are there players who are able to improvise at blazing speeds when using strictly DWPS or UWPS, or is it more or less mandatory to be able to do 2WPS when doing this?

Hi Nitro, If I’m improvising at full speed I do DWPS and I will legato a note sometimes to keep from being trapped in a down stroke. The legato note is hardly noticeable because I’m playing so fast.

If blazing up and down a scale I use economy picking. With a pick slant depending on acsending or descending.

Lately, I am metronoming alternate picking with two way pickslanting for practice. But since I started playing using economy picking, that’s where I naturally get the most speed.

Every player is different though man so I don’t want to say you should do what I do.

Maybe you should start out with DWPS and come up with your own “chunks” to incorporate into your improvising. ? When you connect “chunks” in your lead playing you’ll be able to pick every note and not be trapped on a downstroke.

Just a thought.
-Hankyteen Pookiesteen

[Troy]

Most improvisation is simply chaining together pre-memorized units, with small variations here and there. The faster the tempo, the fewer the variations. This is an oversimplification but in broad strokes it holds, even when tabbing out the all-time greats like Pass, Farlow, etc.

So I wouldn’t worry too much about which technique you use - there is no right way here. Write the lines you want to write, and play them with whichever picking technique is easiest. Or, choose a system, and find phrases and patterns that fit the system. That approach is probably the easiest, since it gives you a clear starting point.

The real money is made in learning to chain the phrases together, especially when the underlying chords change. This is where systems like CAGED come into play. How this is done is the subject of the Martin Miller “Playing Through the Changes” talk we did. Here’s a clip:

We haven’t uploaded this to the platform yet but we’ll do so shortly, with Soundslice this time.

[Brendan]

@nitro1976

In other words, should I practice ALL techniques equally (DWPS, UWPS, 2WPS and sweeping) and then let my subconscious decide while improvising which one to use?

Also probably worth noting that the universe of all possible techniques is pretty vast — for example, don’t forget about crosspicking — and surely even includes ones we haven’t covered much in Cracking the Code, like variations on finger-based motions that sometimes get lumped into the technical jargon-bucket of circle picking.

While it would be a lot to attempt to master all of them, it does seem like a good idea to gain a solid understanding of the possibility space + basic fluency in a variety of techniques. This may naturally come from experimenting with many ways of playing something and seeing what works best for you; it also may be a good idea to try the strategy of random / interleaved practice as we discuss in our interview with Noa Kageyama.

[milehighshred]

So I wouldn’t worry too much about which technique you use - there is no right way here.

That, right there.

You’ll use what comes most natural to you anyway. If it’s REALLY improv, it’s probably not the best idea to over analyze what picking style you’re going to choose. That being said…

Nothing wrong with improv practice while focusing on a specific style if that’s something you want to do.

You mentioned mastering a technique. Well, you never will. There’s no such thing. Nobody will ever reach a point where they can’t possible get any better. Sure, you can get really damn good at something, but master? Nope! Not gonna happen.

Personally, for my fastest stuff, I’m an UWPS. I do not choose to do this, I just do it. Troy pointed it out to me. If you know what style of picking feels most comfortable for you, then it may make sense to stick with that for your fastest stuff.

How long have you been playing? Do you know if you tend to favor a particular style of picking?

I think it’s a great idea to practice being well rounded a lot of picking techniques. This will allow for greater creativity in the heat of the moment. Focusing on just one thing seems problematic, in my opinion. I could always be wrong!