[Guest]

Hey, I'm kinda wondering how you should shred real fast, do most people pick every single note? or mostly played with hammer-ons and pull-offs?

 

[mab8485]

All depends on the player. Guys like Steve Morse pick almost every note.

 

[Guest]

If your playing like 3 note per string patterns, is it ok to just pick the first note?

 

[Mr Crumb]

If your playing like 3 note per string patterns, is it ok to just pick the first note?

I don't think it matters. It's up to you. :bannana_g

 

[ChipShank]

It's totally up to you man.
Myself, I tend to be a picker most of the time...but it's just how I learned...it's not the "Right" way or anything. Listen to different players and see what sorta sound appeals to you the most. Guys like Steve Morse, Vinnie Moore, Al Di Meola, Zakk Wylde, etc., tend to pick most all of their notes. Dudes like Allan Holdsworth, Richie Kotzen, Eddie Van Halen, Brett Garsed, Dimebag Darrell, etc., tend to be more legato. Picking fewer notes and making extensive use of hammer ons & pull offs.
Some dudes like Jason Becker, Paul Gilbert, George Lynch, Tony MacAlpine and Darren Householder, to name a few, would pretty much do equal parts of each.
Warren Di Martini used to employ a method where he would pick two notes and hammer on the third when he was doing an ascending run and pick the first note & pull off the next two on descending runs...mainly because that's what felt most natural to him.
Shawn Lane would sometimes use hammer ons, across the strings. He'd pick a note on the high E string, then hammer notes on the B and G strings. He would run those patterns up/down & across the neck...and he could absolutely fly doing that sorta thing.
This one dude (One That Taps) that used to hang out at the old Guitar Battle site...never even uses a pick. He does it all just by tapping and he could flatout rip.

So it's really up to you to find your own voice. There is no right or wrong way. As you go along, you'll probably find that one particular method comes more naturally to you than others do...At that point, you've just gotta decide, if it's giving you all that you really want...or if you really need to hunker down and tighten up your other techniques as well. You've got to figure that out for yourself and if it's right for you...it's right.
EVH didn't become EVH by feeling that he had to cop Malmsteen licks...
..and Steve Morse didn't become Steve Morse by worrying that his legato was not as good as Holdsworth's.

Try'em all & build'em up slowly and cleanly...then focus on finding what makes your playing "your own". In the long run, that'll serve you better than worrying about mastering the art of the shred. LOL :rock:

Don

 

[nroberts]

My cousin was showing me a technique he developed in which he picks the first and third note. You can't really hear the difference between that and picking all of them unless you are looking for it.

 

[rocker_71]

Well spoken chipshank!

 

[strat78]

Use the pick to color and punctuate your phrasing. To my ears when a player insists on picking every note, they have nowhere els to go dynamically. -it becomes midi like. Its fun to shift around the accents on particular runs: attack the first three notes or the middle three or really dig into the last four notes. Mix it up!

 

[Guest]

or you could sweep pick, its a faster way of picking everynote and conserving energy, one way you can do it is in an alternate picking motion, say for 3-note-per-string patterns, down-up-down-down-up-down-down
on those down-down parts, thats whee you change strings, if you work on it, it can sound really smooth and build good speed. the other way uses arpeggios, i cant exactly explain it off th top of my head, but there are a bunch of sections on that around the forum.

 

[CanyonCarver]

If your playing like 3 note per string patterns, is it ok to just pick the first note?

I don't believe there's any rule. If you have enough gain, you might sound good picking the first note.

I like to pick every single note of 3-note-per-string runs when practicing. While playing, I will instinctively start hammer-ons when the speed is too much for my picking abilities. Otherwise I recommend picking for the sound and tone I like.

Listen to Zakk Wylde, who picks every note. It's pretty impressive in its own way.

 

[CanyonCarver]

By the way, I see you are a new member. welcome aboard!

 

[Guest]

ty for your replies, I always use to alternate pick, but now im trying to economy pick since most people says its better. I think it sounds good when I pick every note so im gunna try and stick to that for now. :jam:

 

[ChipShank]

ty for your replies, I always use to alternate pick, but now im trying to economy pick since most people says its better. I think it sounds good when I pick every note so im gunna try and stick to that for now. :jam:

"Better" is always a relative term in regards to music.
Whether or not it produces the results that you're looking for is by far the more important factor.
Every tech has it's strong and weak points....which is why most players don't just use one.
But...with that said, learning to econo pick fluently should give you plenty of versatility.
There's definitely no shortage of good exercises out there for building up your picking skills...that's for sure! LOL
Best of luck!

Don