Guitar Playing Tip #5 is about improving your picking
In order to pick faster, you need to think about several basic components.
The efficiency of your picking motion:
- You do NOT need to pick with the least amount of motion per note.
- You do NOT need to use the least amount of force per note.
... but you DO need to minimize the motions that do not contribute to the sound you want to make. For example: when playing a scale, letting your pick move away from the guitar after each note is very inefficient (which makes it difficult to play fast).
Another example, when playing rhythm guitar (with all downstrokes), you need to practice minimizing the time it takes your hand to return to its original starting point (rather than trying to pick with the least amount of effort).
The efficiency of your fretting hand movements:
The fingers of your fretting hand should not move too far away from the guitar neck, and you should be able to use each finger of the hand without affecting the behavior of other fingers.
Likewise, your fretting hand will need to learn to act independently of the picking hand. In other words, the fretting hand will usually be required to apply less force to fret the notes than the picking hand will need to
pick the notes (with some exceptions).
You need to be able to control the behavior of each hand on its own, without involving the other hand.
Your coordination/synchronization:
Focus your practice on developing the ability of both hands to pick and fret each note simultaneously.
This may sound obvious, but it is often the biggest problem I see with new students who first come to me for lessons.
Your guitar set up (and picks):
Make sure that you use a very thick pick (you must not be able to bend it). Also, it is a myth that you will be able to pick faster by tuning down your guitar (to reduce string tension), or by using thinner strings.
This actually makes the strings harder to control. Of course, you “can” learn to play very fast with such a set up, but that type of set up by itself does NOT make you play any better.
