I economy pick on my guitar solos and have developed some speed.Do you have to strictly alternate pick to be?

Question

as fast as the greats?

Answer 1

if you're talking strictly in terms of speed, and you're talking about solos or lead playing (not things like slayer style rhythms), then yes, you'll need to do a lot of alternate picking.

one good thing to remember (and this is coming from a fellow speed demon, lol) is that even though your speed is important to you, and you'll do your best pick everything nice and clean and crisp, not everyone hears your playing the same as you do. to a guitar player who has learned to play as fast as you do, he might hear every note and pick attack, but the average person might not hear it all, and eventually might get bored with it.

its like watching figure skating for me. now, i could never do what they're doing, and i'm sure its very hard and takes skill, but honestly..... i couldnt care less. after seeing any of it for 40 seconds i'm like "ok, lets find something else to watch". there are those who feel the same about super fast playing. i'm a guitar instructor, and i get a lot of kids lately that want to learn sweeps and stuff, but after you do it for more than 10 seconds (actually count out ten seconds), it can start to sound too noodley.

but, if you want to gain speed, check out frank gambale's sweepy jazz technique, dimebag darrell's legato (huge rhoads influences there), and if you're not familiar, check out Paul Gilbert. that guy can do absolutely anything, its just maddening.