Comparing Alternate, Economy & Directional Picking Sound... On An Unplugged Guitar

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[@antonyung1690]

Thanks so much for this video. Just like you, I self-taught myself how to alternate pick in the most logical way and found out that I was actually directional picking. I have done that for nearly a year alongside some guitar lessons, and when my tutor realised (only last week lol) that I was not doing it "right", he asked me to change my technique to strict alternate picking only. I have tried that for a week but couldn't convince myself that this was most efficient way. It didn't make much sense. So I'm glad I came across your video. Thanks again!!

[@Beulzabob]

Some teachers are obsessed about the "right way" without delving into the subject in detail. Individual human physiology always plays a a part as well.

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

I love how people are telling you to not push directional picking... on YOUR CHANNEL :-))) that was a great video. If I heard a difference it's only because: 1. I was actively paying attention to it and 2. I can play both ways like you (but I prefer directional) and so I can pick on these little clues. But in a 'real' playing situation, the difference would be negligible.

[@miikayak]

Awww man you almost got me there when you said naked! :(

[@861markus]

Hi Mike, I really apreciate your Work. And its also fun to read the comments to this topic. To me it was really helpful, to rethink my Picking completely, even after 30 years playing strict alternate Picking, because i considered sweeping as a kind of cheating. But today Im really Happy with the Advantages, I could get of completely getting rid from outside string changes. Thx for teaching that👍🏻

[@Kriegter]

cheating just means more efficient

[@bradsims5116]

I have never accepted , jumping over a string to do a pick stroke. I'll stick to directional type alternative picking. Thanks for a great video , mike.

[@forelectricstring8833]

It's totally unacceptable. There is only a way to pick: in the direction from the current lick position to the next string. And you don't need a name for that.

[@sigiligus]

There are some licks that can only really be played with alternate picking, though. Unless you want to resort to hammer-from-nowhere playing, but at that point you have given up on the articulation of picking every note and might as well just be a legato player.

[@vinsingh1619]

Thank you for the demonstration. I could tell the difference. The alternate picking has a more pronounced and tighter downbeat accent. Whether this is audible with distortion and in the final mix is another question.

[@justadudebrowsin5807]

I'm a PhD physicist and I approve this video

[@user-lb8qx8yl8k]

Me too

[@psycofdo]

The biggest argument in favor of alternate picking, at least for me, is inertia. Once you get the hand flowing at certain speed you benefit from the motion and get your alternate going. Granted, it consumes more energy and moves more than economy or directional. In favor of economy, i find it a great solution for jumping across strings. Jumping from one string to another adjacent string calls for economy, but when it comes to string skipping alternate comes to the rescue. One caveat I found on economy is the turnaround and the somewhat rigid way of thinking in terms of even and uneven numbers of notes on a string (for example, forcing yourself to patterns of 3 notes per string and turnarounds of even notes, 2 or 4) as Frank Gambale does. I get it, reduces greatly the mechanics and takes less attention from you, but seems a bit rigid sometimes. In directional, I rather try to jump following the right hand going up or down using the same momentum, and not over complicate it. Maybe i'm not getting right directional, but i'm well aware of the caveats of the different types of picking, particularly at high speed. Long story short, and as Gambale does himself, alternate, economy or directional should be tools for a different intention. The sound of each one of them has some differences since they affect the weight of the attack you use, but they are subtle. Think about a concrete example: dream theater's Glass Prison arpeggios. I've seen Petrucci play them both ways: using alternate and using sweep. There's a difference. Alternate uses more weight, more energy, so the attack is a bit more aggressive. Sweeps sound more mellow, but in the end of the day is something more noticeable to a guitar player than a regular audience. I'm all up for efficiency, but i also believe all this picking styles are tools that can fit better certain phrases, and that's the end of it. If it sound good, sounds good. The rest is guitar player nitpicking. As a rule of thumb, I go for clarity and efficiency, and move to more energetic picking only if needed (James Hetfield downpicking sounds good, but is not the only way to play what he does, and in a 2 hour show it takes a lot of stamina. The same can be extrapolated to solo playing).

[@RotterStudios]

THANKS! I needed this. I do directional with legato naturally. I just hate alternate.

[@tigranayvazyan5974]

The difference, given the essence of the techniques, is, surprise, surprise, when you move from one string to another: there - if you do directional picking - with those two consecutive downstrokes (or upstrokes) is where you can clearly hear the difference; it's that interwoven "one into the next" sound which gives it its fluid character that you can't unheard, and which you can't get if you go alternate, given the nature of the technique.

[@jamesmaxwell5415]

You Win :)

[@Free_Falastin2024]

It's interesting that you can make out which is directional and which is alternate from the click-click of the sweep. I can only tell a difference in the cadence, but the amplitude of each note has the same approximate range for both techniques.

[@Beulzabob]

An audience member would definitely not hear it, especially through cranked amps or PAs.

[@user-ng2xx6df4j]

The first sets of picking sounds like me picking, the other doesnt. So yea, I heard the difference clearly. Its to late for me to learn strickt alternate... 😀

[@howtoalternatepickandmuchm660]

I spotted every alternate picking version because some of your accents are very heavy and prohibiting movement to the next note. This creates a timing stagger between these notes. You are correct, the non alternate versions sound much better but I believe the alt version accents are the reason why. If I were you, I would try doing these accents much softer, still slightly louder than the other notes but more as a subtle target note rather than a loud accent. It's worth a try and I hope this cleans up these alt patterns for you. Your picking is great BTW. I'll be posting loads of videos this year so I'll keep you in mind. The couple of videos of me on you tube were at a time I had tennis elbow and I was compensating my right hand to be able to play at all, ( early 90s ) but there are some cool non alternate picking examples you might like.

[@Funkrocker81]

Hello! Something I was not able to find an answer about was “how works directional picking in combination with string skipping?” When searching the web, the only results talk about “skipping” in terms of switching to an neighboring string with alternate picking. What I mean is going from the g-string to the e-string or the other way round, for example. What picking strategies uses an experienced directional picker in that scenario? Greets Manu

[@jaimomo65]

I do not consider myself to have exceptional hearing, but I have guessed all right. In alternate picking all the notes sound strong, while with directional picking there are some notes that sound less loud than others ... There is not an excessive difference, but it is audible. I guess with distortion the difference will be negligible.

[@ManuelPassarella1]

Honestly you can hear, especially in example 2 the regular pick attack. I think because of the lick's metric. Directional picking is the fifth gear in terms of sheer speed and fluidity. To me this is fact. If I can express a musical idea with less effort, more articulation and more fluidity at any speed I will choose that path. Directional picking is the way to go but somehow I think that developing a good alternate picking technique is key to then switch to directional picking. I mean developing good hand synchronisation.

[@JereToikka]

@@naegleriafowleri2230 Well how good of a teacher would he be if he belived directional picking was better and then DIDN'T want others to swtich over? 🤔

[@user-ng2xx6df4j]

😅

[@alexlewis8468]

I can get with most of this - any picking technique can be aggressive.... but most things aren't equal in peoples playing and I do think that most economy players do tend to sound smoother, but there are also stylistic choices at play. I'm not sure why you are saying at the end that an upstroke has less articulation etc than a downstroke - I think angle at which the pick attacks the string has more to do with it. A lot of past and aggressive sounding players aren't hitting the strings that hard. I can't economy pick well at all, I have tried (and will still attempt), but quite frankly, I'm getting better results with alternate picking and I enjoy my playing all the more for it. I don't know why anyone feels the need to say one is better than the other (that includes teachers). Try them all and go with what works best!

[@stanphillips7277]

Directional or Economy picking of course is going to be the more practical way of picking faster , it's just basic physics. In my case though I've been alternate picking for so long that it slows me down and makes me sloppy and confused. It's a new concept to me so as with everything else about playing it's a matter of practicing until you get it right, and continuing to practice until you can't get it wrong right? 😂 I'm much more comfortable alternative picking which I suppose is less efficient. It's better than all down strokes though huh? 😂 🎸🎶✌️🙏

[@kyougou3275]

the main difference between alternate picking and directional picking is that once you master string skipping mechanics you can pretty much alternate pick everything without thinking about your right hand because the pattern of strokes is always the same and it makes it easier to improvise. I personally use directional picking or enconomy picking when there's a transition from sweep picking or the lick feels more natural to play it that way.

[@NigraXXL]

I agree that mastering string skipping lets you play "anything" with alternate picking, but I wouldn't say that is the difference between alternate and directional. With directional picking you must also learn string skipping, you just use it on different situations. With alternate you must skip strings when going for 2 strokes on the same direction (as demonstrated by Mike at the end) which doesn't happen with directional. With directional picking, instead, you must string skip when you change directions, since if you do 2 downstrokes and have to go back to the string above, you have to skip the lowest string. The difference really lies on the efficiency of each technique. Directional picking is, simply, inherently more efficient. Because with directional picking you alternate pick notes when they are on the same string, and then you do the shortest path to the next string after that, regardless of what your last stroke direction was. Doing alternate picking means you have to string skip a lot more, simply because you're forcing yourself to go up and down every time. Then, you switch to either directional or economy picking when doing sweeping or specific phrases. You don't need to do this with directional picking, it is inherently consistent and a sweep with directional picking is simply directional picking on multiple strings in a sequence as opposed to a specific thing you had to learn separately.

[@JereToikka]

When you master directional picking you dont need to think about your picking hand either.

[@tigranayvazyan5974]

@@NigraXXL "with directional picking you alternate pick notes when they are on the same string, and then you do the shortest path to the next string after that, regardless of what your last stroke direction was." Quite the opposite: it is in directional picking where the (last) pickstroke on the string you're playin' matters. If you'[re goin' to move from a lower string to a higher one, the only way you can do this using directional picking is for your last stroke to be a downstroke - you basically continue that motion until you land on (and play) the next, higher string; that is, the pickstroke "direction" matches the direction you're movin' - hence, the term "directional" picking. It's faster, it's (probably) more efficient on the transitions but there is one BIG disadvantage - you have to prearrange your right-hand patterns. Yes, if you focus (almost) exclusively on directional picking, over the years it becomes a second nature, so, at this point, you don't consciously "prearrange" your picking patterns, but it's still there; it's just happenin' subconsciously. Think about this, no directional/economy picker can do a three-note per string ascending run, startin' off with an upstroke: there should be a reason behind it..

[@CommodoreGrayum]

@@tigranayvazyan5974 "no directional/economy picker can do a three-note per string ascending run" They can, it's just that the very first string change will be "alternate" (but they will still be moving to the next string by the most direct route). It's not really a problem given that you're presumably gonna be using downward pickslanting for ascending directional picking anyway. Same goes for descending 3nps starting with a downstroke, where you'd be using upward pickslanting. By your argument, directional pickers can't play 2nps pentatonic scales at all lol, because you have to play them "alternate". I think you're maybe just getting confused about what directional picking is. It uses alternate picking whenever it has to, and doesn't whenever it doesn't.

[@tigranayvazyan5974]

@@CommodoreGrayum "It uses alternate picking whenever it has to, and doesn't whenever it doesn't" - yeah, we obviously are talkin' about two different things. I'm talkin' about strict 3-note vertical runs: if you wanna move from a string to the next using a directional approach, the only way to do it is to start the ascending run with a downstroke (down-up-down - down-up-down... ), and the descending run with an upstroke (for the same reason). Otherwise, at least, on one transition you're gonna violate the "rule." What is basically known as "economy picking." Still, I totally get what you describe: I myself play like that, especially when a bit lazy with the right hand...)) Regarding the two-notes-per-string stuff, everyone can do it. Everyone who has learned to do. You can have both techniques at (nearly) the same level.

[@sauerkrautoneverything7807]

My brain won't let me do stricked alternate picking, too many uninterupted years of "sweeping into inside picking" (made Paul Gilbert's "Intense Rock" super easy in my mind). The only thing I could say that was a struggle was starting on an upstroke and accenting upstrokes cause gravity, but I literally practiced that twice as much untill it was a non-issue, didn't take long, just took focus. That's my two cents.

[@MrTubularBalls]

Wow, the first 40 seconds are really a hot take.. good way to catch the viewer's attention though. Will definitely watch the whole thing later.

[@Raghav_Sachdeva]

The issue with economy/directional is the lack of control of pick attack. You prove nothing as your pick attack is uncontrolled on string switches so both sound more similar.

[@nicemutant]

Lol 1:30.... but seriously i found alternate picking practice helps build better left hand coordination and timing as it's more metronomic with alternate picking... but then when you need to fly you pick however the situation suits. When left hand fingers can go where you want and when... the right hand picking can be adjusted to give whatever accent or feeling is needed.

[@IvoSousa]

i can't really tell there is any difference between technics when you play fast, just slow

[@miotubo839]

What type of pick do you use?

[@deeforty]

Can you do a video on 2 note per string pentatonics? Im finding it really hard to synch up at speed, feels more natural for me to start on an upstroke and alternate pick. 4 notes across 2 strings repeatedly, or any advice, cheers.

[@sauerkrautoneverything7807]

Research "two way pick slanting". Tons of people explaining exactly why you're getting caught up on strings. There's a simple video called "Two Way Pickslanting Exercises | Upward, Downward, Double" on KZbin that might solve your exact problem. Once this becomes muscle memory, you'll forget that you had this problem.

[@user-ng2xx6df4j]

👍👍👍

[@phosforos]

How does this affect tremolo picking? I´m a beginner trying to play fast metal tremolo.. :)=

[@YuriLifeLove]

For some reason I associate alternate picking with the sloppiness (Idk why, that just what my brain decided), so my guess is 1 and 5 are alternate plus 4 as maybe alternate? Turns out the 2 and 3 which is the cleanest are the alternate picking, lol...

[@zacharyhoyle7613]

Can you please make a video demonstrating examples showing the difference between economy and directional picking? There still seems to be a lot of confusion here based on the comments on your videos. Trying to understand how you don't have to plan out the # of notes you play before switching strings.

[@MrBX5]

Easy. With alternate picking, as the name indicates, you keep alternating from up and down strokes, no matter what; while with directional/economy/dynamic picking you always do the most direct stroke to the string you need to play your next note on.

[@iganpparamarta8813]

Here kzbin.info/www/bejne/bGKtkpaelptpg5Y Not a spam, it’s a video from Mike himself.

[@iganpparamarta8813]

I don’t think Mike would answer your question. So let me do that for you. The terms alternate economy directional are not a strict naming system unlike giving names to a newly discovered animal species, for example. But in general it means : Alternate : pretty obvious Economy : basically to describe ‘economy’ of movement, when you cross to other string you literally push your pick to the next. While in alternate there’s a set rule that upstroke will always be followed by downstroke when crossing strings, and vise versa. In economy, you’ll always need to end the last note of a string with downstroke to continue pushing the pick down (wound to plain strings) and the other way around. Directional : this is when sh*t’s just got real. It uses same principle like economy but you don’t need to care whether the last stroke is up or down. Pick like economy, and when crossing string you only need to follow the ‘direction’ of the pick regardless the last pickstroke on that string. I think the naming system, being not set in stone, confuse people because their guitar idols would name it as they please. In that video link I put above is a clear explanation from Mike.

[@HowToPracticeGuitar]

Exactly.

[@zacharyhoyle7613]

@@iganpparamarta8813 This is the video I was referring to. "Pick like economy, and when crossing string you only need to follow the ‘direction’ of the pick regardless the last pickstroke on that string". Sooo, the guitarist needs to get an intuitive (automatic) sense of when they are about to go to another string and naturally either alternate pick or economy pick based on what direction you are going?

[@elkuervojuarez1890]

Broooo I can't tell one for. The other .. still .. I am so sure you my friend are not of this earth .. did you go to area 51 for your guitar lessons . As soon as I get out of Venezuela I am getting lessons with you ...

[@DavidRavenMoon]

I don’t think there’s a difference in how it sounds. There’s a difference between picking every note or doing a lot of hammer ons and pull offs. I think most people mix techniques when they play. I know I do. There was no such thing as “sweep” picking when I started playing. And no one said “economy” picking either. Skipping strings is usually called “cross picking.” I chose to try and pick every note because I like that percussive tone that people like Steve Howe gets. He picks hard and you can hear it. Economy picking doesn’t work well for me because I’ve been doing it my way too long. But as in your example of switching from the D string to the G string, the way I do it is I pick the D on an up stroke, and the G on a down stroke. Now I’m directionally alternate picking the two notes. I almost always start on an up stroke. I came upon that myself, but apparently Robert Fripp does the same thing. I find it’s easier to skip strings that way, especially skipping over two or three strings. The other thing is don’t strictly alternate your picking. I might do two ups or two downs in a row. It just depends on what I’m playing. I don’t think about it. So I suppose that’s mixing alternate and economy picking? I’ve never been good at sweeping by doing all the same direction picking across several strings. The timing just never works out. I’m too used to alternating for arpeggios and stuff. And at this point I don’t have the patience to sit there and practice it. Lol. I agree about not practicing runs slow. That has never worked for me. I play differently slow than fast, so I have to get my hand movements down for a fast part. I don’t think it’s a good idea for people to think you have to strictly do one thing or another. Mix up your techniques. It adds flavor.

[@Oi-mj6dv]

Whatever you do, It Will l not hurt you knowing more techniques. The main difference is that, yes alternate picking is hard but once you get the groove and intrrnally get the pick escape, there will not be anyhting that cant be alternate picked be It: 2nps 3nps 4nps.. Lines with mixed number of notes per string, whatever you like. Obviously there are licks where directional picking is the obvious choice, and as you point out, if the reason to pick a technique over another is due to uncontrolled attacks (AKA sound quality or whatever) then you obviously need to work on that particular technique. Having said all this, i wouldnt shun alternate picking from my toolbox. Unless you construct lines in order for them to work with directional picking (im which case you are not making the greatest of choices in my opinion, you are letting technique limitations influence your art, thus being restrictive) there is absolutely no way youll escape some sort of alternate picking that you will encounter naturally with some lines and in your playing. Lastly if you wanna go purely based off efficiency dont bother with picking technique lmao, hammer ons from nowhere go BRRRRRR (thank you Alan holdsworth)

[@peterachilles9908]

I got a piece of paper ready to note my answers. I couldn't answer any... But whatever, directional or alternate, none of them solve the problem for inside/outside picking. Playing three notes on two strings for me works better with alternative picking.

[@peterachilles9908]

Wanted to add that I prefer alternate picking when playing three notes on two adjacent strings. When I have to skip a string, directional picking works better for me.

[@JereToikka]

Directional picking solves the outside picking - By avoiding it in all forms. :)

[@timsaisaler1286]

Dude, what point is there in comparing technique on an unplugged electric guitar? I get that it maybe doesnt sound different, but this comparison is shortsighted at best.

[@StefanKrunic]

6:25, You are saying that 'you lose momentum when you have to stop and then do an upstroke on the G string' - with alternate picking, but you don't mention having to stop, before having to downpick for the second time with economy picking. There's alternate picking involved when you economy-pick too, I wish I started off with alternate picking, I'm an economy picker myself, and I hate myself for going down that road without even knowing the differences before I started.

[@HowToPracticeGuitar]

I don't mention it, because that's not what you are supposed to do. If you stop before the second downstroke, you are doing it wrong.

[@NigraXXL]

You are supposed to keep momentum and carry it through the second stroke as if you were mini-sweep picking. It's the same idea behind a big sweep. One fluid motion, not separate downstrokes.

[@monsterzero1965]

After all this I suck now. I use to be great but pick slanting DESTROYED my playing. Can I sue Troy Grady?

[@robflores5172]

If you think Tumeni Notes wouldn't sound completely different if it wasn't Alternate Picked than Idk what to tell you lol. Also DDU Cross picking sounds different than pure alternate.

[@GeneralTHC]

Look, I'm a big fan of economy and directional picking. But alternate picking does sound more aggressive and more machine line. It just does. And that's just down to the nature of reality. Two upstroke or two down strokes in a row just will never have the balanced gear like turning sound of alternate picking. It just won't But I do agree that well over 99 percent of ppl won't notice the difference. I mean, heck, most people don't know what they hear. I've long known this being a guitarist of 40 years. Many times I've spent major time learning something note for, pulling out every last subtly. But no one ever notices besides maybe the 1 guitarist in the front row with his arms crossed thinking, "I can do it better."

[@elkuervojuarez1890]

That horrific high action gives me anxiety

[@MarcoH72]

Jaco only needed 4 strings

[@glguitarman]

What's weird is that you think they sound the same. Your comments that if some one can hear the difference; they must be either in possession of "impossibly good ears", or aren't being intellectually honest; is a logical fallacy. Also strange, is that you and Mr. Hess cling to his term "Directional picking", which you assert is different than economy picking. However regardless of your assertion, there is no clear answer that I have heard or seen in several videos from you or him, as to what the real difference is between the two.

[@djdz999]

I think the terms are - economy picking uses hammer on and pull offs while alternate picking, directional picking is maintaining the direction flow of your hand where possible - if you can sweep the progression, do it, otherwise alternate and alternate string skip. The sound is affected more by the angle of the pick not how your hand is moving. Economy picking has less energy on some of the notes because of the hammer ons

[@Snowy0123]

A lot of words and said absolutely nothing of any value.. could you and your thesaurus expound on the subject?

[@HowToPracticeGuitar]

Your logical fallacy detector is borderline supernatural. You should be moderating presidential debates.

[@NigraXXL]

Directional picking isn't Hess's term nor his invention, please don't suggest that. And the difference, to my understanding, is pretty simple. Directional picking means the stroke when switching strings goes in the direction of the next string, and you alternate pick when there are multiple notes on individual strings. Economy picking, instead, means you optimize the picking pattern for what you play. This means that you have to learn your licks, phrases etc in a specific way beforehand, and then you put those phrases or variations together when playing.

[@fabrixzen]

Sorry but Directional Picking is really sloppy and hard to control when you have to do 3nps string skipping at higher tempos like 160 bpm

[@fabrixzen]

Upstrokes are ALWAYS going to feel stronger and controlled when you switch strings

[@fabrixzen]

alternate picking works better with string skipping than directional picking with string skipping

[@RotterStudios]

depends on the person

[@surethebest]

No one in any live audience at a gig nor the girls you wanna impress, witch I did quite often, will ever hear a difference or give a shit about what technique your using, or amp for that matter. It either sounds good or it doesn’t. No one cares besides guitar nerds. Just write good songs and licks, that’s what gets you to all the fun places in Rock heaven. And in a band situation with drums and bass ?- gimme a break.

[@tadejsusta]

My answers before you reveal the answers. Note: when you played fast, I couldn't hear the difference. Slow versions: 1. directional 2. alternate 3. alternate 4. directional 5. alternate

[@wilfred3751]

My goodness. This guy talks so damn fast, he gives me a headache.

[@stfwn]

Directional picking is just smoother since it requires less motion, it shouldn't be a debate to anyone who has half a brain

[@LeoBonnaGuitarrista]

So... I' now know that I have a better ear than any olther guiar player Mike knows in the entire world... Just got ALL of the exemples right just by hearing them at the first time... The ting is: Both techniques work differently in the HANDS of different people...

[@cris_horizons]

:S

[@Viperfitness]

I heard no difference at all in the sound.