Don't "Work Up" To Picking Speed — Start With It!

When I try this exercise of picking fast at around 160bpm I experience some pain in my right elbow. Any tips on how to prevent that?

Really shot myself in the foot learning to fret with my dominant left huh

Dear Troy, would you recommend using the same technique on the acoustic guitar? Thank you for another AWESOME video!

Thank God! What I thought and have seen was to play it slow until you had the muscle memory then “magically” that would translate to doing it fast. I always believed what you are teaching go fast and let yourself learn it naturally and it will happen. So I’m going back to what I knew instinctively what would work. Go fast and let it self fix cuz it will!! Thanks.

What should we work on after we have this motion on one string and we can’t control how many times we strike it?

I simply cannot string cross effectively. I can most definitely achieve 16th notes at 150 - 170 (and more) but somehow I can't intuitively figure out consistency of string crossings. It really bugs me.

I’ve been playing for 22 years. I struggled to build any kind of technique or speed for at least the first 15 years. I finally took some lessons from a really good player I met, and he taught me how to practice in bursts - where you play a passage slowly, then fast, alternating and mixing it up, being sure to get the hands used to the motions that they use when they play fast. That was the missing key for me, which playing slow and gradually increasing the tempo did not do. This changed everything for me. That, and practicing accenting. When I would ask my teacher to slow down something he was playing fast, it was difficult for him to do, just like what Troy talks about. Now I’m playing stuff that I never imagined I’d be able to do and also often can’t play something slow that I improvised fast. It just kinda “comes out” like magic lol. It sure feels good after all these years. This stuff works.

Diagonal escape trajectory, sounds like prog rock band name

For the past few weeks I've watched hundreds of speed picking videos. This seems like the only one that actually describes the truth of the journey for acquiring speed.

How long should you be able to to tremolo pick before tensing up?

“I can’t get me fingers to move as fast as those other blokes”

I've been playing for 20 years now, always kind of avoiding alternate picking. in the last year and through your videos i realized, that string hopping is the culprit. the problem is now, that its completely burnt into my muscle memory and no matter which approach i try (i tried many) i can't seem to get rid of it. as soon as i get close to 100-110bpm 16th notes, my wrist starts heavily twitching up and down instead of left-right. this applies to "flooring it" as well as more controlled approaches. this is soo frustrating. does anyone have any experiences or tips to get rid of it?

even you explain things and demonstrade very good but still too hard to figure out. 2 days ago I felt like yes I found my technique and be able to play fast in one string but today that feeling all gone I couldn't play and not feel very comfortable I record myself and see my technique the way I hold pick etc is looking really good alternate picking stringhopping but still not feel comfortable at all. I was using parelel hold and I tried that again it feels good but I know if I continue with that I will not be able to play fast lines but I really have questions even the correct one feels Awkward should I still try to get used to it or find another ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh why is that so hard

It took me wayyy too long to figure out the thing around the neck was a phone mount..😂 great concept.

Can you sell your guitar phone clamp? I see it hasn’t been successful on kickstarter but I would like one.

awesome thoughts and exploration you have done mate , i agree with a lot you say with picking , thankyou for the ideas , rock on

Shawn lane always said to go as fast as you can. Then slow it up a bit to clean it up. Fast, Slow, Clean! Start over!

What is that red thing on your guitar neck? A industrial capo..lol!

Couldn't agree more. You cannot build up to playing really fast if you never actually play fast. Playing slow and working up is the tried and true method but if your goal, for instance, is to play death metal, you won't be playing death metal for a long long time with that method.

Yes but what about the left hand?

This is based through and through

Is it just me or do Troy's movements seem wide and sloppy? He's picking the g string and bumping the d string every time. That doesn't seem efficient?

Given that the plectrum is at an angle with this picking motion would this not make it a bit less efficient than if the plectrum was completely square to the string? As more of the plectrum has to travel through the string with this motion?

seems easier on open stings 🤔

I just can’t get my fretting hand to catch up with my picking hand.

Interesting ideas. Thank You!

I've been string hopping for more than 50 years and I want to change that. Of the many methods of fast picking you have discussed, which method do you think I should attempt to learn?

terrible advice my guy.

No, Troy. I can’t do 150 to 160 bpm 16th notes. Lol. I’m currently relaxed at 125 bpm. there’s no choice other than practicing to play them comfortably.

Fantastic vid! 🤓

This is great. Thank you!

Well we finally know the truth. If you can play it FAST, you can play it SLOW.

Ніколи так не тримайте медіатор і не грайте ))))))) бо буде каша без чіткої атаки! Дядя на гітарі грає, як початковий аматор!

hey troy. So I watched your recent video on the dart picking and came back to this video. I see here that your wrist is parallel to the guitar body as compared to the dart picking?

is he using flexion and extension during the fast picking??

For years I adhered to the Satch/Vai dictum, If you want to play really fast, start really slow. It's true that repeating mistakes is detrimental, and yet I found that by starting TOO slow it's like trying to ride a bike at 1 mile an hour. We guitarists are hampered by the need to pick the note with precise relation to its left-hand fingering, which I suppose you address elsewhere (your channel just came up on my feed, so I haven't explored it yet.) I'm 62, and I'm out to prove that old dogs can learn new tricks.

I feel like I hit a roadblock. I tend to practice a lot at my higher fast speed with 16th notes at 185 bpm where I tense up some. If I practice at my perfect medium fast speed which is 165 bpm for long periods of time with the metronome, will my medium fast speed increase overtime? I want to get to where I'm comfortable at 200 bpm. Trying to approach this with more patience.

By the way, as suggested in the video, I practice a lot without the metronome. But I do both. I have the feel down at 165 bpm. If I go without the metronome and decide to turn it on at some point, I will literally be playing at that tempo.

I subscribe to this approach. Start fast, then just work toward playing cleaner!

This is all well and good but I think being able to move a pick on a guitar string at blazing speeds means little if your fretting hand can’t keep up. If your picking hand is moving at 180 bpm and your fretting hand is moving at 140 bpm it going to sound like shit. If you don’t have hand synch you’ve got absolutely nothing.

I love these lessons but it is almost impossible to learn anything. Way to much talking and nothing to get you started with the technique. No actual good starting points. All so vague. Troy's playing draws you in and the lack of useful tips puts you off. If Troy could explain it in a good way he would have 5M+ subscribers

This man uncovered the secret. lol This is why Yngwies Lesson Videos are crap when he "slows it down"

Great stuff! Thanks!

This is how I learned. Sounded like shit for a long time then slowly refine

Love the channel and all of the precise breakdowns of these individual techniques. Let's hope this helps me finally play Everlong by Foo Fighters!

This guy breaks all the rules! He breaks the speed limit! If they ever catch up with him they're gonna give him the electric ch... uh... guitar 😃 🎵 He rollin' 🚀

I do not like playing slow.

It is a learning process for sure and each individual is different.There are multiple facets and stages to overcome before we can achieve the desired results. I have struggled with economy picking for years unable to even progress on daily basis while alternate picking was progressively rewarding.only after a thorough and honest self analysis one can eliminate the "errors' that led to the failure.Playing the motion slow will teach you what does not work and what it is you need to focus on like frethand smoothness ( maybe ring and pinky are not independent of one another), left hand is not in tempo and at a certain speed synchronization is failing. I still have problems with econo picking on the lower 3 strings while G B and E is fine. But remember that speed is a by product of accuracy and one must learn the pattern first before shredding it however i agree that once learn it is imperative to burst past the accuracy limit for a short while and go back down to the perfect execution tempo, somewhat like learning typing on a keyboard.
ie if you are comfortable at 100bpm then burst to 120-130 bpm and then go down to 100bpm in a short while 110bpm will be your new norm. Rinse and repeat.
Thank you Troy for all the hard work you have done, you are the man!

I also feel like there’s a weird sweet spot between slow and fast tempos where it’s really tricky because the hands don’t quite know if we’re going slow or fast. That the groove and time has to be spot on. Usually around 100 bpm.

You have to work on your picking hand separately every day. Teachers throw around "synchronization with both hands" all the time you'll never get your hands to work together unless you're picking hand is up to speed on it's own and playing slow only does so much you have to go for it. If you think you're going to just move the metronome from 100 -300 in 2 click increments it won't work you have to push beyond your limits all the time