alternate picking?

Question

yea alternate picking is when yu pick up and down on the strings on the guitar to play faster. i've never been good at it and always end up playin 3 strings instead of the one im tryin to hit. any tips?

Answer 1

Try to isolate your picking technique, it sounds to me like you're moving your pick far too much when you try to alternate pick. Some people pick from the forearm, others pick from the wrist, both are viable techniques, but I've found that for alternate picking, picking from the wrist is a lot more precise.
Honestly, getting good at alternate picking is gonna be boring as all hell. Just sit there and alternate pick each string, I do it while I'm watching TV or something to take some of the monotony away. The excercise I usually do goes like this: fret 5-6-7-8 on the low E, alternate picking, then the same thing on the A, then the D and so on, tthen when you get to the high E go back up, and just do it over and over and over again. like I said, it's boring, but it'll help your alternate picking quite a bit.

Answer 2

I'm not a fast picker either, but a way around that is to choose the fingerstyle method. To fast pick a string hit it first with your thumb and immediately with your forefinger. That's the only way I can play "The Flight of the Bumblebee."

Answer 3

practice string by string. maybe try a few scales