Alternate...Picking?

That means exactly that - alternating the way you pick individual strings.

And it might be more challenging than it sounds!

If you're following my Beginner Guitar Course, we've been only using down strums up to this point. Now it's time to conquer alternate picking - a technique that you'll need to play the riffs and solos!

We'll start simple and make sure we get a solid foundation! Firstly, you must understand the pick angle’s importance and how that will influence how fast you can play! And guess what? Pick angle also affects strumming, so that lesson will help you out even if you're not planning to play songs that require alternate picking strings.

As we go through this course, we'll incorporate more lessons on alternate picking and ways to improve your technique. So don’t rush - getting the basics down in a reliable way is the best thing you can do to thrive in the Intermediate Foundation!

🎸 Improving alternate picking is an ongoing process for most guitar players - including myself! :)

The Right Angle For Your Pick

When it comes to alternate picking, the angle of your pick is essential. Try this:

Hold the pick completely flat against the string and try to pick it down and up. You might find it’s pretty challenging to get a good rhythm going without the pick. You're just catching on the strings and making things all lumpy.
If you start picking notes across different strings and your pick is parallel to the strings, that will cause you many problems. You’ll be likely to catch the wrong notes by accident and the one you want to hit!

Awful, isn't it? Now let's fix that! Thy this:

Instead of holding your pick flat, try holding it at an angle. You should hit the string with the edge of the pick than with the flat side of it. You’ll find that the guitar pick glides much more easily across the string.
Eventually, you'll be able to build up more speed this way. For example, you might use one edge of the pick for going down and the other for going up.

Life is much easier now, eh? :) But we won't stop there!

Here's The Secret: In and Out

Once you're comfortable holding the pick at an angle, it's to unveil the secret! Instead of thinking about alternate guitar picking as down and up, you should think in and out.

Let me explain:

👉 In - the pick goes towards the guitar.

👉 Out - the pick goes away from the guitar.

Again, this isn’t something that you’ll be using a whole lot as a beginner guitar player, but it’s a great habit to get into. It'll make you a better intermediate guitarist. ;)

I didn't learn this way but really wish I had.

How to Practice Alternate Picking

The best way to practice is by taking it slow! Remember accuracy over speed. Speed will come over time if you get things right!

This is all you have to do to practice alternate picking as a beginner guitar player:

Pick a string and get comfortable picking it back and forth. Be aware of the in and out, up and down movement.

You can vary the strings you choose, so it doesn't get boring! Also, picking on the thicker strings will feel different from picking on the thinner strings. :)

⚡️ Extra Tip: A powerful exercise is to alternate between picking with the pick parallel to the strings and then picking with the pick angled to the strings. That will help you better understand the difference between the two movements. Observation and practice are key to master that angle!

Wants to go further? If you're following my Beginner Guitar Course, just be patient - we'll get there very soon! :) If not, feel free to check out my Technique Guitar Lessons: more advanced guitar lessons are available over there.

Thanks, Troy!

Much of what I know about alternate picking comes from the most extreme picking nerd that ever lived - a dude based in New York called Troy Grady. He's got a fantastic website called Cracking The Code, which delves deep into picking and the different approaches to playing fast and clean.

Cracking The Code is not for beginners, but it's super exciting. The depth to which he (still) studies guitar picking is insane, in a beautiful way. :) So bookmark his site, and when you're done with the basics, check that out! I am still learning a lot from his adventures, and you probably will too!

Now let's check into the G Chord… HACKED!