How I Got My Picking Speed Really Fast

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

I realize the audio is a little weird. There's like a slight fuzzy sound when I talk. Trying a new mic, and it has this going on. Really bothers me, but i couldn't fix it in post. Is it gonna affect the shred? No. So, don't worry about it

[@youztuber5000]

AI BOT CONFIRMED

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

Whaaa

[@deathmetalglenn]

Sounds like the mic is picking up electrical interference, id get this alot in my apartment, a cheap power conditioner sorted it out for me

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

Yea, I have to get one of those!!

[@deathmetalglenn]

@@ZachAdkinsGuitar i got the Black Lion Audio PG-P type F cheap off thomann for less than 100euro, the electricity in Spanish apartments means overwhelming electrical interference and my DI tracks were essentially unusable until i got the conditioner and the difference is night and day

[@MainPrism]

"You wanna look like you're not doin' anything". Proceeds to look like he's taking a massive 💩. 💀💀💀

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

Hahaha. My wife said the same thing 🤣🤣🤣

[@alanpang8223]

Yeah I don't really want to bag the guy cause he obviously has some impressive speed but I thought exactly the same thing...

[@danielconrad764]

Dude, your practical tips and insights here are much appreciated. The push with your elbow tip in particular changed the game for me.

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

Keep me posted on how you're improving, and if you had some other tips to add!

[@TruthSurge]

With arms the size of my legs, I'm sure it's easy to push a pick across a string. :) So many concepts regarding speed but yep, keep the picking distance as small as possible and stay as relaxed as possible w/o dropping the pick. Keep an angle so the pick glides over the string and try to practice slow with the same motions as you'll need fast. But FINDING the exact motions/technique that will work at blazing speeds is sometimes hard for people to do. I always asked myself "am I playing this the correct way?" and mostly you never get a definitive answer because there's so many people with speed but different ways of achieving it. Shawn Lane picked with his pick at a reverse angle which most players don't do. Also every scale and every arpeggio and every line will need to be practiced for speed. Another idea is to play always faster than you think you can play and just keep pushing that boundary. Anticipate in your mind the feeling of how it feels to play it that fast and then just try to speed up the entire movement of your arm/hands/fingers. Low action helps, small string gauges do not. godz... economy picking.... I find that so difficult. Nice vid.

[@ytsertd333]

This is a good instructional vid. Thank you! Another way of becoming a speed picker is to train under the tutelage of Emmanuel Aguilar for a year.

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

Not sure who that is. But, he must be pretty sick 💪💪

[@sole__doubt]

Ive been trying to improve my tremolo picking lately and economy of motion certainly helps. It helps keep it clean and fluid. My main issue is staying loose and not tensing up too much. Good stuff brother. \m/

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

That's a common thing. You need to slow it way down and bump it by 5 bpm, and the second you start tensing up, you stay at that tempo for awhile until you can relax at that speed. Then push it up by 5bpm. Rinse repeat

[@Fretfeeler]

Basically be as efficient as possible with your picking hand. Got it. I actually realized this doing Slayer rhythms. I figured out that when they're doing the fast reverse gallops, they're letting the string do most of the work and barely moving the pick. Interesting topic.

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

Yup! Trying to get that mind muscle connection, and make sure you control the effort

[@joshavery1829]

I feel like I have the opposite issue. My right hand can play super fast, then my left hand doesn’t move across the fretboard as fast as I can pick.

[@anthonyhaga7559]

Using the “stylus pick” helped me with this problem. When you use a conical tip pick, you REALLY get a feel for how much travel you have verses how much you need. Great video as normal 🤙🏽 cheers

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

I will have to check out the stylus pick!

[@jfo3000]

I also used it. Gave one to all my students as well.

[@owlperchedsilo3745]

use a thicker pick.

[@davidlawson7786]

Actually there’s a guy I saw about a week ago on a crazy technique and speed video, guy was using a super thick pick, looked like huge width pick. I don’t know maybe he’s on to something?

[@DMDvideo10]

It's really about whatever works for you and your style.

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

I've used thicker picks, thinner picks, floppy picks, different material picks. It all comes down to the technique and making sure you push with your elbow and lock that wrist in place. I use Swiss picks, they are great quality and the material is super dense which is nice. Definitely recommend

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

I would agree with this!

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

Yea I know who you're talking about, but he can play just as fast with a thinner pick too. Watch his technique and notice how his wrist is locked, he pushes with his elbow, and he is relaxed.

[@maynardtrendle820]

Truly some of the best advice I've seen. Nice job, dude.⚔️

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

Much appreciated! Keep me posted on the progress, in invested now

[@cunjoz]

I don't believe a word you said. Your skill is entirely in that Majesty. John Petrucci's spirit that lives in the guitar lends you his power.

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

🤣🤣🤣

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

I'll sell it to ya 😋😋

[@cunjoz]

@@ZachAdkinsGuitar I'd love to buy it but I come from a place where the amount of money that's needed to just casually buy a majesty, even a used one, is really hard to come by 😂

[@latemnf]

One thing that i have found really helped my speed over all was just practicing scales left hand only and build up your legato speed, once you sync that up with your picking speed, alternate picked speed bursts feel very effortless. * I should say fretting hand only since not everyone plays the same way lol.

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

I would agree that the right hand can really mess stuff up. The big thing is making sure both hands are perfectly in sync. People can legato really quickly, but when they add the pick they fail. Everything should be brought up together

[@latemnf]

Yes synchronization is everything. It's sometimes beneficial to look at the hands separately to identify quickly where the problems are.

[@ivyboymusic]

dude this is awesome and i am subscribed.

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

Thank you for the sub! Glad it helped. Keep me posted on the updates 💪💪

[@matthiassoellner]

Thank you Zach! Your Video will help me a lot to build up speed!

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

Definitely keep me posted! Which tip did you like the most?

[@jazzcat1056]

I got to 320 BPM for 16th notes tremolo which I was happy about. My issue comes with synchronization particularly on sextuplets.

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

Slow it down as painfully slow as you can. And don't move on until it's perfect. Then increase by 5bpm only. And until you can do it with no effort or strain, then increase by 5bpm. Repeat repeat repeat.

[@tymanngruter1808]

Also try a Fender model 358 heavy pick, its tiny but has lots off tone! ♨️

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

Those are nice! I use the Swiss picks 1.3 jazz plus

[@bigsauce1116]

I can do ascending economy picking pretty fast but sort of struggle with descending. not sure if anyone else can relate

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

You have to treat it like a sweep pick. Jeff Loomis called me about this exact thing. He was struggling with the descending economy picking. You literally have to drag the pick with your elbow upward.

[@bigsauce1116]

@@ZachAdkinsGuitar I'll give it my best shot. Thanks man

[@thought1212]

i used to teach very similar techniques way back when. also if you sharpen your pick it cuts movement and gives a better attack to the sound.

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

Yup. Pick has a lot to do with it once you have the technique down, you can really hone in the other stuff!

[@maynardtrendle820]

A VERY good video.⚔️

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

Thank you!

[@Godmil]

Some solid tips there! I liked the one about picking closer to the bridge, that makes a lot of sense and I've never heard anyone say it before.

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

That one changed the game for me a long while ago. I was like, why didn't I do this before?? The extra tension really helps the rebound of the string and keeps your pick tighter

[@seanmiller7889]

I'll second this I've watched hundreds of videos and never heard this tip.

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

Glad to hear it is singing new to try. Keep me posted on how it's affecting your playing!

[@ThunderFalcon333]

Great lesson...lot of good advice

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

Much appreciated! Hopefully it helps people reach their speed need

[@Carlosdamiano]

Thanks for this video. Instantly suscribed!

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

Glad you dig it! Thanks for the sub 💪💪

[@anthonystark5412]

This is my first time here. Subscribed!

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

Thank you! Hope it helped and gets you shredding 👍👍👍

[@anthonystark5412]

@@ZachAdkinsGuitar It's already made a significant difference. Not only am I able to pick faster, I'm also able to "listen" faster. In the past, I'd struggle to keep time when trying to play fast. Today, I was able to change from 1/8 notes to triplets to 1/16 notes while picking faster than ever before.

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

@anthonystark5412 hell yes!!! Keep it up. Use a metronome

[@anthonystark5412]

@ZachAdkinsGuitar Indeed, a metronome is crucial. Now, I need to start putting some effort into changing time signatures to 5/4 and back. Do you have any tips or videos on quintuplets and other challenging meters? Thanks again. This lesson has pretty much been a game-changer for me. It shouldn't take much longer for me to finally nail the verse in Slipknot's "Duality".

[@tokk3n-hj4xg]

How long did it take for you to get that good?

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

I'm 32 now, started when I was 12. So, about 20 years. But, I would say my peak was about 2 years ago because I was playing more. So, let's say 16-18 years?

[@danteonkhu1669]

I guess COVID helped many guitarists to improve their playing.

[@paimon6897]

What type and guage of pick do you use ?

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

These are the Swiss picks 1.3 jazz plus. Badass picks!

[@tjm9565]

That's a weird artifact on your vocal mic.

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

Yes, it's annoying. But I got it fixed going forward

[@dontuateytu2557]

Why all the delay?

[@davidlawson7786]

Yeah I agree delay not good when demonstrating picking exercise. Still really good info though

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

It's just the default neutral dsp John Petrucci setting.

[@marLamaDeo]

@@ZachAdkinsGuitarwhat do you think of that plug-in compared to others? I’m tempted to buy it but it seems polarising

[@tuffgonggbUNCTION]

RiFFAGE

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

Hell yea

[@APK-pn4qh]

I have an idea. Learn to write a melody before you learn to pick really fast.

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

Nah that's lame

[@APK-pn4qh]

@@ZachAdkinsGuitar haha fair enough bro!

[@ZachAdkinsGuitar]

@APK-pn4qh 💪💪💪😎