Alternate Picking Practice

[Ajsweet]

Ok, so should I be practicing my alternate picking with my wrist/palm rested on the bridge, or wrist locked , not touching the bridge?

Or both?

 

[Lobster11]

There are several different questions here.

First: You have to decide whether to use alternate picking, versus only downstrokes or upstrokes. Most people (including me) suggest alternate picking, though I find it useful to sometimes practices using only downstrokes or upstrokes. (I got this tip from Julie Slick.) Per Carol Kaye, I try to keep to downstrokes on downbeats and upstrokes on upbeats.

Second: You want to position your hand so the edge/side of it will mute the string(s) below the one you're picking. This might or might not be near the bridge, since you can pick anywhere between the neck and the bridge. Per Carol Kaye, I tend to pick between my P-bass pickup and the neck.

Third: Your wrist should never be "locked." All of the picking motion should come from your wrist. Guitarists sometimes get away with creating the picking motion from the fingers holding the pick, but this is not a good idea on bass.

 

[Klangfarbe]

 

[Ajsweet]

Thanks guys.

ATM, during practice, with a thinner pick, when Im playing mainly down strokes, my wrist is locked and straight, with arm perpendicular to the strings (with a kinda arm/sholder motion), my unused fingertips of the picking hand sometimes touching the strings/bridge.

When I change picks to a thick pick, I rest the palm on the strings/bridge, and use a wrist motion to do alternate picking

 

[sean_on_bass]

i think either approach could be used. watch alot of your favorite pick players and try to emulate what they do or at least gather examples of their approach to try. you will likely find that you need to use multiple styles depending on the music and situation.

 

[the_Ryan]

Thanks guys.

ATM, during practice, with a thinner pick, when Im playing mainly down strokes, my wrist is locked and straight, with arm perpendicular to the strings (with a kinda arm/sholder motion), my unused fingertips of the picking hand sometimes touching the strings/bridge.

When I change picks to a thick pick, I rest the palm on the strings/bridge, and use a wrist motion to do alternate picking

I think what might be happening when you're using a thin pick is that you're gripping the pick harder than you are the thick pick, which is a downside of using thinner picks: with thinner picks the natural tendency is to let the pick itself do the "flexing" as it hits the string (where it bends and then snaps back into shape) which leads to gripping harder, while with thicker picks the flex is transferred to feeling the whole pick rock/pivot in between the thumb and index finger. You can retrain your technique to be the same regardless of pick thickness, it just takes time and attention.

Regardless of whether you're using a thinner or thicker pick, the actual plucking motion should be like you're turning a doorknob: clockwise for downstrokes and counterclockwise for upstrokes (reverse that if you're a lefty). When you grip hard it takes away a lot of the wrist/forearm flexibility and rotation. Something that's also helped me a lot as well is that instead of using the sharp tip of a pick, use one of the rounder corners (if you're looking at a standard-shaped pick) and to only have as much pick exposed as is necessary to pluck the string.

For or reference, I like the standard-shaped 0.73mm (yellow) Tortex/Tortex Flex picks, although depending on the sound I want I might go down to the 0.6mm (orange) or up to the 0.88mm (green) thicknesses.

 

[Ajsweet]

Thanks again guys.

Why is it that most people say that the picking wrist motion should move, and not have a locked wrist (with the picking motion coming from the sholder/elbow/arm) ?

 

[Lobster11]

Thanks again guys.

Why is it that most people say that the picking wrist motion should move, and not have a locked wrist (with the picking motion coming from the sholder/elbow/arm) ?

You could use arm/shoulder motion if you were strumming across the strings like a rhythm guitarist, but when picking individual notes I don't see how you could be either accurate or fast that way. Also, referring back to one of your previous posts, I don't see any reason why the thickness of the pick changes this.

Watch this little video of (the awesome) Julie Slick, who IMHO is one of the best pick players out there. She makes it look so easy:

 

[Ajsweet]

Thanks for the video. She's awesome! ...but I feel she could really smash it if she had fluro coloured hair, and a large pile of long messy cables on the floor

Re the pick thing, a Taylor Primetone 1.
0mm pick provides me great clear articulated notes, and a heavier Taylor thermex pro 1.5mm gives me more control and accuracy with a thicker , less defined note - the 1.5mm works best for me when I do alternate picking with a wrist picking motion, with my palm resting on the bridge/strings

The thinner pick offers me more control and the pick flex helps me control the dynamics , which is great for working on my 'locked wrist' technique.

 

[Lobster11]

Thanks for the video. She's awesome! ...but I feel she could really smash it if she had fluro coloured hair, and a large pile of long messy cables on the floor

Re the pick thing, a Taylor Primetone 1.
0mm pick provides me great clear articulated notes, and a heavier Taylor thermex pro 1.5mm gives me more control and accuracy with a thicker , less defined note - the 1.5mm works best for me when I do alternate picking with a wrist picking motion, with my palm resting on the bridge/strings

The thinner pick offers me more control and the pick flex helps me control the dynamics , which is great for working on my 'locked wrist' technique.

Here's a good example of Julie playing pickstyle with a band in a live setting. There are a couple of moments when she plays from the elbow and/or shoulder, for particular effects, but notice how most of the time all the action is in her wrist.