Building Picking Independance -by Drew Peterson This is a series of drills that focus on not improving your picking *speed,* but rather your picking dexterity- practicing these licks, patterns, and excersizes will help you pick even the most awkward passages. Don't even to try to play most of this stuff fast at first, just focus on playing them slowly and evenly. Soon, you'll be able to make fretboard jumps that willmake lesser players weep. Part 1: "Chromatic"-inspired drills. I got bored practicing your typical 4-note chromatic motif picking drill one night. I started doing sick and twisted things to it. This is what i came up with. Practice these for a small amount of time each day in your practice routine and you WILL notice drastic changes in your fretboard agility. They're arranged in order from easier to harder, and they make sense to practice them in that order- get "warmed up" on the sane ones before you go with the wilder ones. First, go up the neck as far as you're comfortabe (i'd at least get up to the 14th fret or so, if not higher) doing a straight chromatic picking drill. You know this one, so i won't tab it. Then, when you get to the topof your fretboard (ideally, you do want to get your pinkie up to that last fret), work your way back down. This is your "warm-up" for the stuff to follow. Do it easily, at a slow enough tempo soyour hands are relaxed and you're hitting each note cleanly. 2.) Vary the order of notes. This will feel harder than the previous one because it's a fingering you're not used to. That's good, it means you're getting somewhere. |-----------------------------------------1-3-2-4---------| |---------------------------------1-3-2-4---------2-4-3-5-| |-------------------------1-3-2-4-------------------------| |-----------------1-3-2-4---------------------------------| |---------1-3-2-4-----------------------------------------| |-1-3-2-4-------------------------------------------------| |-----------------------------------------| |-----------------------------------------| |-2-4-3-5---------------------------------| |---------2-4-3-5-------------------------| |-----------------2-4-3-5---------3-5-4-6-| |-------------------------2-4-3-5---------| etc. 3.) Reverse it. (i'll only tab the first ascent here for the rest) |-----------------------------------------4-2-3-1---------| |---------------------------------4-2-3-1---------5-3-4-2-| |-------------------------4-2-3-1-------------------------| |-----------------4-2-3-1---------------------------------| |---------4-2-3-1-----------------------------------------| |-4-2-3-1-------------------------------------------------| etc. 4.) Stop for a minute or so and shake out your hands. Play a few loos legato risks. Give your tendons a break. you don't want to hurt yourself with these. 5.) Now we're going to start skiping strings, alternating notes between two adjascent strings. Once again, play it until your run out of frets, then work back down. This is actually easier than it looks- the tab is downright scary here. |-----------------------------------2---4---------| |---------------------------2---4-1---3-----3---5-| |-------------------2---4-1---3-----------2---4---| |-----------2---4-1---3---------------------------| |---2---4-1---3-----------------------------------| |-1---3-------------------------------------------| etc. 6.) Reverse the order of the string skipping- start on the higher string this time. all the way up, all the way back. |---------------------------------1---3-----------| |-------------------------1---3-----2---4-2---4---| |-----------------1---3-----2---4-----------3---5-| |---------1---3-----2---4-------------------------| |-1---3-----2---4---------------------------------| |---2---4-----------------------------------------| etc. 7.) Stretch out your hands again. Maybe get a glass of water or something. You can never have too much water. Water is crucial for tendon repair, water deprivation is the leading cause of a feeling of exaustion and sleepiness during the day, and 9 times out of ten when you think you're hungry, you're actually thirsty. A friend of mine memorized all this stuff and used togo around spouting facts out. i only remember a tiny bit of it all, but it was enough so i decided to drink more water. ;o) 8.) Now do it backwards. |-----------------------------------3---1---------| |---------------------------3---1-4---2-----4---2-| |-------------------3---1-4---2-----------5---3---| |-----------3---1-4---2---------------------------| |---3---1-4---2-----------------------------------| |-4---2-------------------------------------------| etc. 9.) And with the string order reversed. |---------------------------------4---2-----------| |-------------------------4---2-----3---1-5---3---| |-----------------4---2-----3---1-----------4---2-| |---------4---2-----3---1-------------------------| |-4---2-----3---1---------------------------------| |---3---1-----------------------------------------| etc. 10.) Yup, you guessed it. Time to stretch. You gotta be real careful with those hands of yours. You only get one set. 11.) Now we go nuts with the "string skipping" idea. 4 notes, four non-adjacent strings. First, something pretty straight-forward- a Steve Vai inspired exercise. Consider it a sweep-picking "time out" in this workout, as it's better for sweeping than alternate picking, although it certiantly wouldn't hurt to practice it both ways. Practice this on the lower strings, too. |-1-------------5-3---...-21-------------------23-19----| |---2---------4-----4-...----22-------------22-------20-| |-----3-----3---------...-------23-------21-------------| |-------4-2-----------...----------24-20----------------| |---------------------...-------------------------------| |---------------------...-------------------------------| etc. 12.) Time to mess with the fingerings. ;o) |-1-------------5-3---| |---3---------3-----5-| |-----2-----4---------| |-------4-2-----------| |---------------------| |---------------------| etc. 13.) stop and stretch. this next one's a killer. ;o) 14.) The Chromatic Drill From Hell. This one and it's variations will drive you crazy, but even practicing it as infrequently as i have (I'm a lazy practicer), it's done wonders for my picking (You think it's bad now? you should have heard it before). Up and down the neck, as far as you can go before you run out of frets. It actually sounds pretty cool. |-----------------------4-------------------------------6-| |---------------4---2-----------5---------------6---4-----| |-------4---2---------3-----3-----------5---4---------5---| |---2---------3---1-----------4-----3---------5---3-------| |-----3---1---------------2-----------4---3---------------| |-1-------------------------------2-----------------------| etc. 15.) You guessed it, invert the skipping pattern. |-----------------1-------------------------------3-------| |---------1-----------2---2---------------3-----------4---| |-1-----------2-----3---------3---2-----------4-----5-----| |-----2-----3-----------4---4---------3-----5-----------6-| |---3-----------4---------------5---4-----------6---------| |-------4-------------------------------5-----------------| etc. 16.) And now, switch the order of your fingers. |-----------------------3-------------------------| |---------------3---4-----------4---------------5-| |-------3---4---------2-----5-----------4---6-----| |---4---------2---1-----------3-----5---------4---| |-----2---1---------------2-----------3---3-------| |-1-------------------------------2---------------| etc. 17.) And finally, reverse it. |-----------------1-------------------------------| |---------1-----------3---2---------------3-------| |-1-----------3-----4---------4---2-----------5---| |-----3-----4-----------2---5---------4-----6-----| |---4-----------2---------------3---5-----------4-| |-------2-------------------------------3---------| etc. congradulations, you've survived. Do that nice easy chromatic picking drill at the beginning as a cool down, shake out your hands a bit, and get ready for... Part 2: String Skipping. 1.) Pedal-point drill. hold the top note with your pinkie, and play all the way down an Em scale pedaling off it. This is the one time where it might not be a bad idea to turn up the gain when practicing- played clean, it doesn't matter if you let that high G ring out throughout. With some distortion, it'll sustain against all the other notes and make one big muddy mess. The distortion forces you to very slightly lift your pinkie to deaden the note when you play a note on a different string, and since if you were to ever play something like this in the real world it'd probably be with a distorted tone, now might be a good time to start practicing it. (This is a drill you can actually use in a solo- sort of a neo-classical cadenza) |-15-14-15-12-15----15----15----15----15----15----15----15----15----15----15----15-| |----------------15----13----12----------------------------------------------------| |----------------------------------14----12----11----------------------------------| |----------------------------------------------------14----12----------------------| |----------------------------------------------------------------15----14----12----| |----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |----15----15----15----15-----15----15----15----15-----15----15----15----15-| |---------------------------------------------------------------------------| |---------------------------------------------------------------11----12----| |--------------------------------------------------12-----14----------------| |--------------------------------12----14----15-----------------------------| |-15----14----12----14----15------------------------------------------------| etc. 2.) If you flip it around, themuting becomes easier but the fingerings become harder. It also sounds quite a bit different- more "minor" because you're now pedaling off the E. |----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |----------------------------------------------------------------12----13----15----| |----------------------------------------------------12----14----------------------| |----------------------------------12----14----16----------------------------------| |----------------12----14----15----------------------------------------------------| |-12-14-12-15-12----12----12----12----12----12----12----12----12----12----12----12-| |-12----14----15----14----12----------------------------------------------| |-------------------------------15----13----12----------------------------| |-------------------------------------------------14----12----------------| |-------------------------------------------------------------16----14----| |-------------------------------------------------------------------------| |----12----12----12----12----12----12----12----12----12----12----12----12-| etc. 3.) Back to the clean channel. This one's a scary little example of how far you can run with an idea- you're playing a descending line starting from the b3 and an ascending line from the root of an Em scale against each other, alternating notes. suggested fingerings on top, but experiment with others, they'll all help. 1 4 2 3 4 1 2 4 3 2 4 1 2 4 3 1 1 3 etc... |----15----14-----12-------------------------------|----------------------------12----14-| |-----------------------15----13----12-------------|----------12----13----15-------------| |-----------------------------------------14----12-|----14-------------------------------| |--------------------------------------12----14----|-12----------------------------------| |--------------------12----14----15----------------|-------15----14----12----------------| |-12----14-----15----------------------------------|-------------------------15----14----| Stretch out again, then on to the next page.