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Author Topic: Picking speed  (Read 21541 times)

Dakine

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Picking speed
« Reply #45 on: March 29, 2006, 08:48:54 PM »
I most DEFINATELY advocate anchoring in one form or another.
But I have tried this song (Sweet Child...) every way, on every guitar I have and can only get timing 100% correct by floating.
Now I anchor (sloppy palm rest on hardtails, pinky anchor on trems) on everything else thus far. But for this one, dunno, weird.
My teacher was actually not worried/impressed as he pointed out it a.dos'nt matter as long as it is played correctly and b. he reckons it showed right hand dexterity.
I am not convinced either way but it's all I can do with this song.
Now, strange to me, it seem's after playing it this way for awhile it has become "memory" with the whole movement (fingers/wrist/hand) and is NO problem at all.
I was that confused I got my teacher to measure his wrist/fingers against mine (thinking it may be uncomfortable for me hence my playing) but a length difference was not enough to actually say one way or another.
Bit of a connundrum actually.
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sambo

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Picking speed
« Reply #46 on: March 29, 2006, 09:17:03 PM »
i cant anchor at all.... feels really weird to me ..

and i hate trying to palm mute/anchor on trems.... sucks.... especially with small teenager hands like mine  :lol:
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Searcher

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Picking speed
« Reply #47 on: March 29, 2006, 09:42:48 PM »
Quote from: sambo
and i hate trying to palm mute/anchor on trems.... sucks.... especially with small teenager hands like mine  :lol:


You can't have smaller hands than me.  I had pre-teen students with bigger fingers.  It was depressing.  So when I anchor with my pinky on the guitar I can't reach the low E string without tilting the tip of the pick up towards it and stretching my fingers out.  So I have to move my hand up and anchor on the strings themselves or rest my hand on the bridge.

I just measured my left hand and I have just under 7 inches from the heel of my palm to the tip of my longest finger.  If I stretch my fingers out as wide as they go I get less than 5½ inches from the tip of my first finger to the tip of my little finger, measuring from the centre of each tip. And the palm is only about 3 inches across at the knuckles.
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Dakine

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Picking speed
« Reply #48 on: March 29, 2006, 09:46:23 PM »
Darn Searcher
just measured mine (never done it, may be interesting if more reply).
Palm to tip is 8.2 inches
Stretch first to pinky is 7.5 inches
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sambo

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Picking speed
« Reply #49 on: March 29, 2006, 10:08:46 PM »
^ mine are tiny compared to that! lol both nicks and searchers.... cant measure them but guesstimation = bout 5/6 from tip of middle finger to heel of palm....  :lol:
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Muzzzz

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Picking speed
« Reply #50 on: March 10, 2007, 10:09:43 AM »
I am very very lucky to have a bloody big span - I'm 15 and have a thumb to ring finger span of 25-and-a-half centimetres, and can play a twelfth on the piano (octave+4).

As for picking, you just have to be patient, and if you stick to your metronome, you'll see results real quick. I started a Paul Gilbert exercise:

--------------------
--8-5-7-8-7-5-----
------------------o-
------------------o- etc
--------------------
--------------------

and after a week and a half of metronome, could cleanly do it at 140 BPM, 6 notes a click (sextuplets). You just have to keep at it, and try to vent your frustration (if any) into excitement about how good you'll be if you persist.
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maverickf1jockey

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Picking speed
« Reply #51 on: March 10, 2007, 05:34:31 PM »
Doing a John Petrucci exercise I could work consistently to 208BPM SQs because my metronome wouldn't go any faster :( .
SDQs I got to around 145BPM. After that my right hand lost all of its control and would fall off of the track.
I have recently modified the exercise so it goes 1324 instead of 1234 and I can get up to about 160BPM.
after that my left hand gets confused because of doing the other exercise for so long.
On a septuplet exercise I created I can get up to about 170BPM
A Petrucci exercise on sweeping yielded a slightly slower speed than the chromatic exercise.

And on the hand debate I can fret a Diminished 21st from a low F# diagonally across the fretboard. That's:

[--8- ]
[-----]
[-----]
[-----]
[-----]
[--2- ]
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Muzzzz

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Picking speed
« Reply #52 on: March 11, 2007, 05:25:53 AM »
^ Holy cr@p. You darn freak!
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maverickf1jockey

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Picking speed
« Reply #53 on: March 11, 2007, 09:15:27 AM »
Yeah but that stretch is more like:

[-8-]
[----]
[-6-]
[-4-]
[----]
[-2-]

 PDT_045 MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

Oh and Muzzzzzz, I'm about the same age as you and my hands aren't all that big (23cm Thumb-Pinky) it's just a case of stretching every time you practice.
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I too use chicken as a measurement.

BloodMountain

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Picking speed
« Reply #54 on: March 11, 2007, 10:11:23 AM »
my left hand speed sucks for lead/shred. i can barely do it.

my right hand is VERY fast, and my left hand can keep up for riffs, but not shred. i use my speed for fast riffs, like thrash classics such as Creeping Death, Master of Puppets, Raining Blood etc. and my hands play in perfect synchronization, but when it comes to soloing, i just physically can't do it. in fact, i gave up the other day, and decided i was going to be an uber rhythm guitarist. it's just what i'm wayyy best at.

BM
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Manji

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Picking speed
« Reply #55 on: March 11, 2007, 02:16:36 PM »
Yeah, I'm kinda the same- my right hand can pick very, very fast, but my left hand often has trouble keeping up.

Still, it means I can play black metal pretty easily.  Tremolo picking ftw! :D
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MDV

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Picking speed
« Reply #56 on: March 11, 2007, 09:55:41 PM »
I just clocked myself playing 16ths @ 250bpm quite comfortably (first tempo I picked). I was faster (up to 280) when I had access to a quick and simple click (weird metronome, its great) but my new audio hardware jinxed that so I havent been practicing to a click as regularly. I used cubases click to clock that.
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samoth2

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Picking speed
« Reply #57 on: March 12, 2007, 07:27:27 AM »
:o  :o
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BloodMountain

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Picking speed
« Reply #58 on: March 12, 2007, 09:17:43 PM »
Quote from: MDV
I just clocked myself playing 16ths @ 250bpm quite comfortably (first tempo I picked). I was faster (up to 280) when I had access to a quick and simple click (weird metronome, its great) but my new audio hardware jinxed that so I havent been practicing to a click as regularly. I used cubases click to clock that.


that's unearthly. do your hand glow when you play? it's a sign of godliness, you know.
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MDV

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Picking speed
« Reply #59 on: March 12, 2007, 09:27:57 PM »
he he, cheers guys :drink:
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