Anyone Here Still Working On Their Technique?

[TSJMajesty]

Or is everyone the player they want to be? I'm not.
I really like triplets, mostly alt-picking. I find them very useful in adding a bit of flair to my playing, that can fill in between eighth notes, and 16th notes that are too fast for me.

So I've been working on several examples, but I find going one way, my picking is clean. But the other way, not so much. So I identified the weakness as being in my upstrokes. It's real easy for me to put a slight accent on the down strokes, but I have trouble keeping the notes even and clean when the emphasis needs to be on an upstroke, especially when changing strings.

So I just reversed my picking, starting on upstrokes instead of down-strokes, for all sorts of basic riff patterns, and it really helps. Even just picking a single note on one string, starting on an up stroke and accenting the beats, is an exercise I'll work into my practice routine. And I can tell it needs work, due to how unnatural it feels. But you need it to play triplets evenly, I feel.

Anybody else here working on their technique, and have any tips to share on how you zero in on the tricky areas?

 

[andergtr]

my technique sucks. i wish i had more time to work on it. i can easily post on a forum from work but can’t break out a guitar.

 

[GTR37]

always learning , and working on new things. its a moving target

 

[Blix]

Yes. I just have basically started from scratch again with my right hand. I've always played with way too much tension and never been able to pick fast in any controlled fashion, just been able to "fake it" it in very short bursts. Tired of not having control I want...
We'll see if I ever get there.

 

[TSJMajesty]

Yes. I just have basically started from scratch again with my right hand. I've always played with way too much tension and never been able to pick fast in any controlled fashion, just been able to "fake it" it in very short bursts. Tired of not having control I want...
We'll see if I ever get there.

In the past couple years, I've gained a good amount of control and speed from what I used to have. One of the first things I wanted to do was to play the triplet intro to Dream Theater's Overture 1928 from Scenes From A Memory. So I literally sat with a metronome just playing triplets on an open D string, only as fast as I could while keeping the notes perfectly even. Then I started adding the accents to the first of the 3 notes, which means an accent on the down stroke, then up stroke, alternating.

Just gaining that control spilled over into so many other things I wanted to do, and once I was able to play that intro accurately, and up to speed, I was pretty stoked. John Petrucci's accuracy has always been an aspect of guitar playing that I've been drawn to, so just being able to play something like that, even though it's only one note, was a pretty big accomplishment for me. And now my playing has improved to the point where I can play the fast descending 16th-note triplet riff that ties into the next section, up to speed pretty consistently. I just need to clean it up around the edges. Not planning on playing DT songs in full, but learning that riff has translated into being able to play so many other similar things that much better, and learning them takes less time. Plus, I enjoy just improv'ing a solo, and being able to throw in a quick little 3-note-per string run here and there.

I absolutely love learning stuff like this, challenging parts that I never thought I'd be able to do. It's super-rewarding!

Oh, and one of the most eye-opening things about fast right-hand picking technique I picked up from Bernth was: "To run, you don't just walk faster. The mechanics of your stride actually change, and the same thing happens when you pick fast." So I'll play one note at a comfortable pace, and watch my wrist motion closely, then I try to use that same motion any time I start to play a lick faster than my comfort zone. I had, until I started paying attention to this, a tendency to tighten & tense up, and not use that same fluid motion with my wrist, and it made everything I was trying to do more difficult.

 

[Blix]

In the past couple years, I've gained a good amount of control and speed from what I used to have. One of the first things I wanted to do was to play the triplet intro to Dream Theater's Overture 1928 from Scenes From A Memory. So I literally sat with a metronome just playing triplets on an open D string, only as fast as I could while keeping the notes perfectly even. Then I started adding the accents to the first of the 3 notes, which means an accent on the down stroke, then up stroke, alternating.

Just gaining that control spilled over into so many other things I wanted to do, and once I was able to play that intro accurately, and up to speed, I was pretty stoked. John Petrucci's accuracy has always been an aspect of guitar playing that I've been drawn to, so just being able to play something like that, even though it's only one note, was a pretty big accomplishment for me. And now my playing has improved to the point where I can play the fast descending 16th-note triplet riff that ties into the next section, up to speed pretty consistently. I just need to clean it up around the edges. Not planning on playing DT songs in full, but learning that riff has translated into being able to play so many other similar things that much better, and learning them takes less time. Plus, I enjoy just improv'ing a solo, and being able to throw in a quick little 3-note-per string run here and there.

I absolutely love learning stuff like this, challenging parts that I never thought I'd be able to do. It's super-rewarding!

Oh, and one of the most eye-opening things about fast right-hand picking technique I picked up from Bernth was: "To run, you don't just walk faster. The mechanics of your stride actually change, and the same thing happens when you pick fast." So I'll play one note at a comfortable pace, and watch my wrist motion closely, then I try to use that same motion any time I start to play a lick faster than my comfort zone. I had, until I started paying attention to this, a tendency to tighten & tense up, and not use that same fluid motion with my wrist, and it made everything I was trying to do more difficult.

What I meant I'm fundamentally changing how I pick mechanically. I have a pretty good grasp on how to work on it, been through most picking videos on YT for years

Petrucci has always been a huge inspiration.
I could play a lot of songs on Images & Words when I was younger , but I really had to force it and wasn't in control as much as I'd like.
It's kinda fun pretty much starting over, gives me something to really work towards.

 

[HotRats]

I'm not constantly working on technique and never have been, actually, but I have periods where I do it because I feel the need or I have to because I need to play a song that is above my comfort zone (that's a big motivation for me).

Main thing is that between family, work and other interests is hard to find the time for playing, let alone practicing guitar, and even when I was a student living with my parents and had tons of free time, I always split my free time between several things: guitar, piano, drums, writing and recording music, playing in bands and some sport.

Since I don't have a band at the moment, I've bought a digital piano after many, many years I've been basically away from the instrument and I'm focusing on climbing back to the point where I was when I've moved to my first house without a piano.

I really love playing the piano.

 

[the-trooper]

Absolutely, Troy Grady transformed my right hand. I switched to completely alternate picking, now I can, somewhat comfortably, play Dream theater solos I could barely come close before.
Even one note per string, Glasgow kiss intro for example. I struggled with it, economy/sweep picked it, now I play it completely comfortably with alternate.
And thanks to recording dry guitar along with wet, i now see just how off grid my timing is. Thanks digital, you suck

 

[TSJMajesty]

Absolutely, Troy Grady transformed my right hand. I switched to completely alternate picking, now I can, somewhat comfortably, play Dream theater solos I could barely come close before.
Even one note per string, Glasgow kiss intro for example. I struggled with it, economy/sweep picked it, now I play it completely comfortably with alternate.
And thanks to recording dry guitar along with wet, i now see just how off grid my timing is. Thanks digital, you suck

Yeah, Glasgow Kiss is a good workout. The solo in Never Enough is similar in the one-note-per-string, but it's insane, and those 16th-note triplet arpeggio pull-offs are just...., fuck! I don't know how he plays that stuff. Maybe had something to do with the short hair, highlights, and the Road Kings!

That's a cool idea, the wet and dry recorded together. No hiding behind that.

 

[Orvillain]

I don't consciously work on technique anymore. But if there is something I want to do for a song and I can't do it, then I'll focus on it at that point - break it down into small tasks, do them slowly, and then build it up from there.

 

[JiveTurkey]

What is the work on technique you speak of?

 

[eaeolian]

Michael Romeo doesn't post here, so I would assume the answer is yes.

 

[Blix]

Troy Grady has been a big help. There's a couple jazz guys on TGP that comes into every thread on Troy amd rags on him. "We knew all this decades ago"...

 

[Fireproof]

I’m not awesome, but would like to be. Don’t have much time to practice currently, but before summer I was focusing on it, and hope to get back to it soon…

 

[metropolis_4]

I don’t think I’ll ever stop working on technique.

These days I don’t work on speed or shredding so much, but I’m spending a lot of time on things like Travis picking, Chet Atkins picking techniques, chord voicings, moving bass lines, and just the feel of my attack on the strings and how to vary it.

There’s always something new to work on!

 

[Fireproof]

Yeah, I should get back to finger picking exercises…

 

[la szum]

I want to sing better. Want to learn how to record better. Want to write better songs. Want to become more proficient
with the drums. Started messing with keys and synth again. There is so much I want to become more fluent at doing.

I don't do anything guitar-centric as far as technique goes. If I hear something in my head and can't play it then I
work at it until I can. But it is all about songs and performances for me. I only have so many years left, if I am lucky.
Maybe I can have one decent song down somewhere before I perish. :)

 

[Hapless]

For about the last 35 years.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Always even if not consciously - at least when I'm playing that is. I've gone thru a pretty big slump the past two years so that hasn't always been true. I learn songs for bands and learn technique that way. In 2019 I had to change the way I held a pick so that was my last massive work on technique

 

[Los-D]

Like cooking technique at this point?

Joking aside I’m more focused on technique with a purpose, instead if blindly playings scales/arpeggios all day. So I’d rather practice an interesting lick or riff that is both challenging and will help my playing/phrasing. Or learn something completely different (like a Jazz standard) just for kicks.