Guitar Speed Picking Exercises

Guitar Speed Picking Exercises

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Here's a couple of fun picking exercises, for guitar players of all levels, that will help you become faster guitar players.

Practicing these exercises on a daily basis, just 5 minutes a day will do wonders to your playing.

In this lesson, master fast switches between 2 strings, sweep pick between 2 strings better, and negotiate harder solos.

These picking exercises, will improve your picking technique regardless of if you use economy picking or alternate picking. Once these become second nature, you'll be able to alternate or economy pick on the spot whenever is necessary.

Let' s go!

Speed Picking Exercise #1

This picking exercise is built around the 3 notes per string G major scale.
However we' re going to play it on the B string Fret #8.
The goal here is to teach you to alternate pick between 2 strings.
Notice how we are starting by picking UP.

And make sure you use this fingerings:
-Index finger for fret 8.
-Middle finger for fret 10.
-Ring Finger for fret 12.

Keep repeating that sequence to master switching between both strings fast.

Check out min @2:10 for a quick demonstration.
 

Speed Picking Exercise #2

For this speed exercise we're still playing on the G major scale on the B string.
However, we're starting by picking down this time around.

Notice how for this speed picking exercise, we have 2 Down articulations happening back to back when we switch between the B (string 2) to the high E string (string 1).

And same thing happens on the way back, we have 2 Up articulations back to back.

IMPORTANT: You need address these with a single single Up/Down motion. 

Check min @3:29 for a more comprehensive tutorial.

So we're basically learning how to sweep pick between 2 strings.

If you feel like any of those speed picking exercises are getting repetitive all you need to do is move the same sequences diatonically (within the same scale) using a different pair of strings.

Example: The E minor shape.
Check out min @4:38 for a quick demonstration.

Speed Picking Exercise #3

In this picking exercise we are playing the A minor pentatonic position 1 scale's B and G strings.
And here we're also going for an economy picking sequence where we will sweep pick when switching strings.
Check out min @5:26 for the picking direction breakdown.

It' s also worth mentioning that if you know all your minor pentatonic shapes you can apply this concept and sweep pick all over the fretboard.

Check out this other lesson on how to ''Improvise all over the guitar fretboard using the minor pentatonic scale'' for more creative freedom on the guitar.
Final words
So as I mentioned, if you want to build speed on guitar, make sure you add these speed picking exercises to your daily practice routine, your playing speed will thank you for it.

Once you get comfortable playing them, make sure to practice with a metronome, this will help you build speed over time.

If you want to experience breakthroughs in your guitar playing speed make sure you check out this lesson on ''Guitar Speed-Building Strategies''.

If you're a guitar player looking to take your guitar playing to the next level, or if you're feeling stuck and in need of some expert guidance to help you navigate your guitar learning journey better.

Then you need to check out our premium guitar training program "guitar elevation'', and unlock your full potential as a guitar player!

Author: Jack Haddad
Jack Haddad is an expert Guitar educator and teacher and has been helping guitarists, through his innovative methods, get incredible results on the guitar, whether they want to jam with friends or rock out on the big stage.

You can find out more about Jack Haddad's teaching here: http://www.jhguitarschool.com
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