THIS Is The Secret To Mastering Alternate Picking!

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[@beanleyhallsworth]

I hope you guys found this helpful! You can find other FREE lessons like this one over at my Guitar School 👉www.patreon.com/bradleyhallguitar Edit: sorry for the audio blip at 6:16!

[@Blah-ok8ow]

Thanks man, my pick did always get stuck 👍

[@marcelkawentel2777]

This was EXACTLY what I needed! Thanks a lot for this lesson!

[@oftenshawn2677]

a great technique. thank ya beanley. good chap

[@AidanArmstrong04]

This couldn’t have come at a better time, literally just got done practicing and was having this issue, gonna start warming up again lol

[@FoodBodyHeal]

0:19 so up is down and down is up got it. That was quick thanks ")

[@parcyman3050]

I like how you just became one of those serious yt teachers for this vid, also thnx this was very helpfull.

[@onthestrings]

This was like watching the person who took a shit in the bathroom sink at the party last night give a serious presentation at work the next day. Class act!

[@albinobangz9182]

​@onthestrings Indeed. Beanley's got a wonderful fun side, and an equally wonderful work side 👌🏻

[@beanleyhallsworth]

@@onthestrings hahahaha

[@MBBGun14]

Very useful video, thank you!

[@rustinpeace770]

He does it very often, are you guys new here?

[@troygrady]

Nice work! The slanted appearance of the pick is "pickslanting", and the diagonal path of the motion to get over the strings is what we now call "escape motion". They're both important, but they're separate things, and they don't always correlate the way you might expect. For example, for alternate picking and upstroke string changes, some downward pickslanting is typically necessary to ensmoothen the attack, and you will almost always see some in the techniques of good USX players. However... this is not equally true for the most popular DSX techniques. By comparison, the wrist motion used by John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, Jeff Loomis, and Andy Wood on guitar, Chris Squire on bass, and even Mike Marshall on mandolin is one of the most common picking motions in the world. It's a DSX wrist motion, so it moves along a diagonal where downstrokes go up in the air. But it is typically performed with a zero-degree or vertical pickslant, not upward pickslanting. It was in fact when we filmed Andy that we first noticed this. Anyone copying his form will achieve the same setup, even with their forearm tilted slightly toward the floor. You might expect this arm position to produce DWPS but when this technique is done correctly, it does not. In fact, if you tilt your arm even *more* toward the floor, and use a middle-finger pick grip, you can *still* have a zero-degree pickslant, the same as Hetfield and EVH. This is also correct. So the arm tilt != pickslanting. In fact, the motion you make at :08 *is* the McLaughlin motion, and you have essentially no upward pickslant there either. But you're doing it correctly! I'm sure for upstroke sweeping you'll pronate to UWPS. But that's because UWPS is necessary in that case. For pure alternate lines, with a McLaughlin style motion specifically, no UWPS is necessary nor recommended if you'd like to also do more complicated arpeggio picking with double escape motion. And don't get me started on trailing edge grip, where all bets are off. Welcome to the rabbit hole!

[@t3hgir]

the man himself!!!!

[@AR-qn9mq]

Never even mentioned you!!!

[@alexspencer7170]

The GOAT

[@chrississon5954]

Nice!! Glad to see this contribution to the discussion

[@fastabyss]

This man id a whole expert on alternate picking and STILL stays researching it. You are a gift to all guitarist.

[@BarrySwords]

I've been playing guitar for over 20 years and this is the first time I've heard such emphasis being put on the pick angle. Thanks for the great video Beanley!

[@markozdravkovic9392]

You can look up Troy Grady who did a video on 2-way pick slanting with Michael Angelo Batio

[@anthonyfaiell3263]

Because you can play 98% of music without this. But if you want to really take your playing to that top level, these little things are important.

[@Lorenzo-cr1cw]

Where did you live before? On Mars?😂

[@anthonyfaiell3263]

@@Lorenzo-cr1cw Not really sure where this comment came from. But you realize that roughly 70-80% of people who play guitar can only play open chords, along with a few bar chords and a pop song or two. . And apparently Fender ran a poll that resulted in about 10% of the population having some access to and claiming they can play guitar. . That leaves us with roughly 2-3% of the population that would even have an interest in technical mastery of this level. And that's not taking into account that not all of these guitarists use alternate picking in the music they play. Many trained guitarists use finger style, or perhaps don't learn music that requires high speed alternate picking with string switches that require pick slanting. . So please explain how not being familiar with information that 2-3% of the population would even have a remote use for equals not living on earth... . Good for you that you are part of that 2-3%, but it's pretty ignorant to assume that everyone should possess the exact knowledge you possess.

[@Lorenzo-cr1cw]

@@anthonyfaiell3263 Look, if we talk about ignorance, the only ignorant ones are you. These things were covered more than 10 years ago by Troy Grady with videos that have hundreds of thousands of views. If you, in 20 years of guitar playing, only know how to play open chords and never got into the more technical aspect of the guitar, that's your problem.

[@lukejakoinao209]

Bro despite your goofy personality in your other channel, you are a really good teacher and I am so glad you made this channel so that people like me can improve their playing, you are really a gem to the guitar community

[@andreyofdoom]

Haha this video is actually on the goofy channel

[@Skullzofreine]

OMG 13years of practice and never hear about it... Gonna mastering this!!! A BIG thank you, Bradley!!

[@beanleyhallsworth]

Good luck!

[@jimshunamon2512]

Dud, you just completely changed my picking approach!!! This eliminates the roadblock I have had with alternate picking for many years. Finally a video clearly showing how to correctly slant the pick. Time for me to get back to the woodshed! Thank you so much Beanley. 😎

[@MartinMaat]

I don't think I ever did any such thing. I just hold the pick angled to the strings (not slanted but rather rotated a bit so the string will slide off the side of the pick rather than of the flat side). I think this is the most common way to play. You can then still make the decision to either angle clockwise or counter clockwise. Paul Gilbert has a video up somewhere telling he started out playing with the pick rotated counter clockwise, but he didn't get enough bite that way so he switched to angling clockwise early in his development. Anyway, you seem to be doing quite well with your method.

[@Kriegter]

That is edge picking and can be come alongside pickslanting. Pickslanting is not done to facilitate smoother picking motion, but rather more efficient string changes. Say you are playing 3 note per strinfg through the low E to the D. Because you are playing an odd nu ber of notes on each string, your pick becomes trapped from the A string to the D string due to this being an upstroke, unable to move. However, if you employ two-way pickslanting, the final upstroke on the A string is played with the pick facing downwards, which mean the general direction of your pick goes slightly up and above the strings. This way it is a lot easier to now play the D string on a downstroke. Of course, you can also just use economy picking instead, but for most people it would be easier to maintain a consistent attack and rhythm by alternate picking.

[@sigiligus]

Pickslanting follows your escape motion. If you can alternate pick anything without trouble at high speed, congratulations, you don’t use a pick slant and are using a double escape motion. Otherwise? You simply don’t understand the concept and are deluding yourself. Paul Gilbert who you mentioned uses a primarily downward escape motion that creates an upwards pickslant, but he also uses other motions to facilitate his playing style. The other motions change the pickslant.

[@paulyoung4781]

Thanks mate really needed this. Sick of not knowing how to practice right thanks for sharing mate.

[@xliquidflames]

What a great video. I think this is something I was doing instinctually. It just kind of happened intuitively when I tried some alternate picking exercises for the first time. But now that you've called attention to it and explained it, I can be more aware of it and get even better at it. I never would've noticed this on my own without someone pointing it out. So now I can focus on it and get even faster.

[@leaphchausew7277]

OMGWTFBBQ THANK YOU! The explicit breakdown you gave in the first 2 minutes of what up and down slanting is relative to which part of the pick just totally fixed this for me. Thanks!

[@jasonmelo9379]

I've been searching picking techniques for years now and this is the video that I was wanting to see the whole time! Thanks man!

[@petealba707]

Pick slanting is a game changer!

[@beanleyhallsworth]

Sure is!

[@m310grass]

@@beanleyhallsworthI was just watching your sweep video and it looks like the pick is slanted up on upstrokes and down on downstrokes, why is it the other way around for alternate picking?

[@fitnessmusicandtravel9529]

Great alternate picking lesson. I have always used economy picking and struggled with alternate picking. These exercises and the understanding of slanting really brought things together for me. Thanks! Subscribed and looking forward to trying more of your examples in the future!

[@KhanArtist97]

These licks are actually fun to play too. Making a bit of progress thanks to you 🙏

[@nlprelated4375]

I've been searching for so long how to fix this problem and your video was the solution. Thanks!

[@ukguitarnoodle]

Excellent old Bean . I struggle with Troy Grady as I didn't want to mount a protractor to my Strat .

[@freddylive4181]

Your explanation of Two Way Pick Slanting is excellent Beanley .. it is super helpful to me .. Thank You!!

[@charles-davidcorbin3341]

Thanks Bradley, its an awesome lesson. I definitly need to work pick slanting next time I grab my guitar.

[@monsterzero1965]

Beanley

[@producer2123]

This is one of the clearest tutorials on pick slanting that I have seen. Thank you so very much!

[@stephbarbershop2518]

What's up with Marty Friedman picking? Looks like he does mostly up strokes.

[@Incog2k6]

Thank you so much, Bradley! I already knew about pick slanting, but you made me ACTUALLY realize how to utilize it. I thought that I just had to always slant my pick downwards when ascending through a scale/lick, and upwards when descending. In fact, I got frustrated at times and wondered what I had done incorrectly. Well, you just opened my eyes, lmao. Turns out that I ACTUALLY HAVE TO ADJUST the slant according to the overall "trajectory" of a lick, and I can even combine the angles. How didn't I notice that earlier? Thanks, lol.

[@Chrono205]

The neck pickup sounds great! I love this type of sound.

[@SynfulSoundStudios]

This is such a game changer for my picking technique. Thanks for the video!

[@rickschneider3887]

Awesome riffing and great explanation of the focus on the pick slanting technique rather than the type of pick you use. So many players attribute good picking technique as a result of the type of pick you use instead of the pick stroke angle and pick motion as being essential! Very well explained!

[@ChrisShredGuitar]

Great video! It is insane how difficult it is to play a simple 3 notes per string lick from low E to high E, considering how simple and easy it is on the piano haha.

[@JDGuitar82]

Finally, a good explanation of this technique.

[@vovamorkova9700]

Thank you so much Beanley. That's totally what I needed

[@razor2010m]

One thing that I'd like to mention, even though you are lightyears ahead of me in terms of picking technique, for two way slanting licks, I prefer to do the up slant, and instead of switching the slant (mainly because I find downward slant very uncomfortable for alt picking), I prefer to instead use the other axis of wrist rotating to slightly lift the pick above the strings, which allows me escape either downstrokes or upstrokes, no matter the slant. I didn't realize this until literally just now, because immediately upon watching the first few minutes of this video I started thinking about two way slant licks, and remembered that I don't have much trouble playing them at what I consider to be high tempos (somewhere in the region of 150-180), and I really tried to pay attention to what my hand is doing in those cases. I think that the technique that I use probably has a lower speed limit than two way slanting, but it's something worth noting because it can be useful in some cases. If I remember correctly I think Bernth recently talked about this technique.

[@bliss_gore5194]

Ngl, first time i actually wanted to learn the licks in the video. You made it really simple to rationalise and explain

[@beanleyhallsworth]

Thanks man, I'm happy to hear it

[@dandalee]

My mind just got blown. Thank you so much for this excellent video!!!

[@eze698]

one of the best lessons on the internet, congratulations !

[@kalmath_]

It feels so strange to hear you so calm and serious ! So cool :D

[@ricuzzom9269]

Great lesson man. Very profesional!!!

[@DemonIgnis]

Dear sir, you are a genius. Thank you so much for this video.

[@petermuller161]

Troy Grady broke serious ground on the fine details of shred. And now look at the ridiculous talent out there!

[@sigiligus]

Unfortunately Mr Grady also created a bit of misinformation. Pickslanting is not the technique you need to focus on, it’s escape motions. Pickslanting follows the escape motions, not the other way around. Even Mr Grady admits to this if you check in on his forum-he discourages people from using “Pickslanting” and promotes “escape motions.”

[@t3hgir]

@@sigiligus interesting, appreciate your comment

[@kris_kwas]

Hey Bradley, I’ve been watching you for a few years now and have also been a relatively mediocre player throughout those same years. Just want to let you know how much you inspire me. Seeing this makes me want to really hunker down and practice so I can better myself and feel good about my playing. Thanks!

[@jamesmoore6752]

Many thanks to the foremost British ambassador to shred.

[@beanleyhallsworth]

🧐🧐🧐

[@kiillabytez]

Somebody quickly, send this video to James Hatfield ASAP!

[@Willjrockstar]

39 year schooled player that plays about the way you do. I never gave it much thought but this helped me after evaluating the vid. Your mechanics are a little better since this isnt exactly the sound i go for but i WAS getting a little loose in my technique and was getting a bit hung up, and had to make an adjust. Good for all ages i guess :D

[@monsterzero1965]

Not only informative but MELODIC speed picking! Brazos! Also I mix pick slant with hopping and I'm pretty fast and accurate as it eliminates the 2 way pick slant thing which I DO NOT understand how to do AT ALL

[@Therstholgolf]

This is so great! I am going to try this! Unwanted stringnoice everytime I play, now I know why! Thank you Beanley! So glad I found out about your yt channel ❤

[@iamdirectlybehindyou]

thank you so much. great lesson huge help. been playing forever and never knew about this and already see results

[@BeatSyncBytes]

Sometimes it's all about feel and sometimes it's all about techniques. This is one of the most important video ever made for a guitar player.

[@adriatic.vineyards]

Technique informs feel

[@timkryworuka1196]

Great lesson thanx dudey

[@Kriegter]

I tried to copy Jason Becker's upward pickslanting with the pinkie anchoring on the body and it made picking a lot smoother snd consistent for me.

[@zozozouave2994]

What do you think : do we need to focus on pick slanting if we adopte the "directional picking" as Tom Hess showed ? It seems to me that with that technic we don't need to pick slant to escape ! I wonder what do you think ?

[@sigiligus]

Tom Hess is not a scam artist, but he’s close. “Directional picking” is just economy picking, a technique anyone can teach you. But he’s rebranded it as a special technique only he can teach to sell you courses.

[@t3hgir]

@@sigiligus "Tom Hess is not a scam artist, but he’s close " lol

[@guitarvorous]

Very clean explanation. Not confusing like Troy Grady.

[@MikeArpeggio345]

This is something I have been subconsciously doing my whole time playing. I was doing it here and was like "Wait...I already do this"

[@PeteDabbs]

I haven't played for years (more than ten after an injury) and am trying to get back into it. I know after watching things like this and Troy's series that I had a very flat picking technique but I did used to economy pick so with that last exercise I'd be down up down down up down down but I could still never do full neck runs quickly despite blazing two string speed. I have a feeling it was something with my left hand slowing me down but I'm going to practice pick slanting while I get back into playing as it does seem to make the most sense.

[@hawu2979]

thx alot, this helped a ton with my frustration.

[@vibeoinktunes8396]

Super helpful and informative - thank you and God bless!! Happy Easter/Resurrection Day !!🙌✝👑

[@ancientgalaxy7697]

Thank you so much beanley, you just improved my playing by a ton!

[@TranceSFX]

You have some dangerous chops. The comedy persona is amazing haha.

[@Mento_Mori]

Great video man! Really helped me with my guitar playing, now i just need to learn how to do everything else correctly (i'm just learning scales).

[@DavidSpong-p6w]

Thanks Brad Confidence was at a low will practice more now for sure Set myself a goal to work to Hopefully playing mixture of slow sustained notes to fast Where I need to be 😊

[@professsorendy3274]

Great vid! would love to see one about tapping in the future

[@shredmaster1049]

Dude thank you so much lately I have been feeling stuck on guitar i thought i couldnt do well runs because my guitar (Kramer special) didnt have a neck pickup but i didnt realize it was about the pick angle up and down i know a few runs and i play them with the edge of my pick for less effort but this just changes everything thanks

[@DubyaW111]

I was stuck on going from string to string for a long time. But I finnaly got. It.. Lol.. 3 notes per string all the way down then up 💖🙏🏻

[@minkorrh]

While you were makling hilarious videos, Troy Grady told everyone some time ago. That being said, another thing I discovered personally, is that rounded picks as oppsed to the pointy jazz ones were holding me back speed-wise. The less point contact to the string the better and more accurate imho. I've analyzed my own playing and the slant just sort of evolved as I realized it allows you to essential 'sweep downward' if you play a lot of legato, only hitting the string once for descending run.

[@Berry_the_Fruit]

That reminds me of how Marty holds his pick, it's basically that but on extreme

[@bojingly6759]

I gave up on downward pickslanting, I just start those types of licks with an upstroke to get my downward pick escape lmao.

[@kennyboy6325]

Dude, thank you for sharing so many tips and applicable riffs to work with. These videos are great, and I'm just starting to check out your Guitar School. I have one small suggestion, especially for videos that highlight picking. Could you use a contrasting color of pick? On my phone screen, your matching green pick and guitar made it a bit hard to decipher your movements. Rock on, my friend! 6:16 totally broke my immersion! 😂

[@beanleyhallsworth]

Noted!

[@msnrc]

Well, now I know why the intro riff from 'Glasgow Kiss' by John Petrucci is so hard to play!

[@alexgmcm]

This was really helpful. Thanks so much!

[@dorianponcela9680]

Great video about picking techniques, but this is so broad that sometimes I get a bit confused. For example, I watched a video of Cesario Filho about this subject, and he uses downward slanting all the time (going up and down the scale). That's what I'm using right now, and I think it improved my picking. However, Alex Hutchings is the opposite and always uses upward slanting, and it works for him very well. Your way of using both picking techniques works great (we can tell watching your videos), so I think it also depends on the guitar player (maybe something genetic). Thank you for this lesson!

[@alienautopsy9326]

Game changer. This is brilliant.

[@anthonywalker-browning4432]

If you check your channel this video isn’t there. Had to click the link from the community post in case there’s an issue

[@beanleyhallsworth]

That's because this is a different channel man! All of my serious guitar stuff is all on here now

[@obsidiumtitan]

I really appriciate these kind of videos, it shows us you're not complete bonkers.

[@MorswinCzcigodny]

No mention of Troy Grady?

[@steve852011]

thanks for the tip, really love your guitar.

[@Moozart]

All hail Troy Grady!

[@lucaskopke6886]

The first upward slant lick sounds like the silent hill theme if played with a different rhythm lol. great video :)

[@Zebros483]

great picking, but you talk about downward pickslanting, but as soon as you start playing fast you switch to upward pickslanting

[@TheTimeProphet]

Good explanation, but I get a bit foggy as to which one I should be using. I have tried it, but always go back to old faithful muddling through LOL. Will try again.

[@guitaratfourty]

I use downward slant only. I just practice a lot starting with a downstroke and then with a upstroke. Works for me. And many players get stuck between strings because the pick is too deep between them.

[@xavierlx]

I guess I tend to hold my pick somewhat loosely and it naturally angles forward and backward while picking different directions. Or choke up for really fast picking then their is not enough of a pick to really be slanted and makes hitting screamers easier.

[@Matthew_Klepadlo]

When I want to play a 3nps scale line (like Lydian or something), it feels kind of awkward to use strict alternate picking. It’s so much easier I think to economy pick the whole thing. Or if I play two notes on one string, then two on the one above it, then two notes back on the first string, back to two notes on the second string… Economy picking just feels more fluid than strict alternate picking. I don’t see why my articulation or timing has to suffer when I’m economy picking vs alternate picking, so is there really any benefit towards alternate picking?

[@snackdaddystudios]

Alternate picking go brrrr

[@snackdaddystudios]

In my opinion, your best bet would be to always use a combination of techniques to achieve your goals. There's no sense in limiting yourself to just a single technique.

[@Matthew_Klepadlo]

@@snackdaddystudios that makes sense when you think about it at first, but… Wouldn’t it be easier to just practice one thing? It seems to me like there’s a big difference between being able to alternate pick and sweep pick vs. being able to alternate pick and economy pick. What’s the point of practicing alternate picking if economy picking is better every time? Why not have economy picking go brr?

[@snackdaddystudios]

@Matthew_Klepadlo Economy picking is just a combination of alternate and sweep picking, so to understand the economy, you should understand the fundamentals of both alternate and sweep. Alternate picking to stay on one string and sweep to the next. You should decide on whether you want to downstroke on a string change when traveling up the scale (technique from sweeping) or you could stay true to alternate picking technique and do an upstoke even though your pick will have a farther traveling distance. This is why it's economy picking because it's the shortest possible distance to travel to play the next note. I'm just trying to argue that they're not completely different things. I would use alternate/economy picking with scales and sweeps for arpeggios. To actually answer your question, strict alternate picking would be used to play tremolo.

[@beanleyhallsworth]

Alt picking and economy picking are just 2 different approaches, there isn't a right way or wrong way. I agree that alternate picking 3 note per string runs is way more awkward with alt picking and I usually prefer to economy pick them! But there's no harm in practicing both approaches

[@chrisking6695]

You know none of the shredders we love and respect ever thought about their playing like this. They just do it and everything falls into place. IMO, the more you worry about pick slant and all the technical difficulties (ha see what I did there 😂) the worse your technique becomes. At least in my case that’s what happened. You need to play and focus on the music. Let go and enjoy and your body will do what’s necessary.

[@macmusica]

Nah. Just angle the pick to use the curve to ride over easier plus use a 1mm or 1.5mm pick to add all the attack at the tip. Then adjust to be more refined around any string like rubbing them and remove all that irratic over movement which is why you use Medium Picks. Less work is more efficient.

[@bitznpiecez9747]

Dude… thank you.

[@wearedrstein]

Doesn't work for me at all. (

[@keovongvilaykeo4799]

Great lesson thank you is helpful 😊

[@อนุวัฒน์ใจเอิบอิ่ม]

Many thanks

[@lucapesci5800]

Great!may be this time i can learn how to pick in the right way.super creare exploit and great exemple.Thanx man!!!

[@JoonKimDMD]

I think I feel more comfortable just sticking with upward stroke slanting all the time except one time switch to downward stroke if needed. So basically 99% upward stroke except 1% downward stroke. That way, I don't have to worry about changing the position constantly.

[@NeuroApathy]

When it comes to two way pick slanting with 3 notes per string, wouldn’t it be easier to pick through the string and keep picking with a down up down - down up down - down up down. Then the other way up down up - up down up - up down up?

[@beanleyhallsworth]

That's called economy picking, which is a different technique!

[@NeuroApathy]

@@beanleyhallsworth I actually didn’t know thats what economy picking is, thanks for the info my good sir!

[@t3hgir]

@@NeuroApathy the fact you stumbled upon economy picking "by accident" is impressive!

[@perpsuite]

Man, five years I've been trying to do downward pick slanting with no success. I just don't get how to make my wrist and arm work in that fashion. Is driving me mad.

[@t3hgir]

Shout-out to Troy Grady!!!

[@beanleyhallsworth]

Troy's the man!

[@NPC-fl3gq]

I think you should have credited Troy Grady from the outset. He put a huge amount of effort into describing it in detail in his vids with Frank Gambale and Michaelangelo Batio.

[@IdkIdkmybad]

Fabuluos vidio mate!!

[@beanleyhallsworth]

Cheers man!

[@murilodude]

troy grady - cracking the code Great series about the topic. Great video, Bradley.

[@INVICTOR]

loving this educational content :)

[@mhoff7722]

I must have adopted this technique unknowingly back in the day. When all of the Shrapnel shred player instructional videos came out I was learning all of the Paul Gilbert 3 note per string licks etc and never had a problem crossing strings with strict alternate picking. After examining my technique I do have a slight angle change that gets me over the string each time I get into that "tapped between strings" position. Huh learn something new everyday 😎😎🤘🤘🤘

[@imjustvibing2018]

Dude…I have watched Troy Grady, Ben Eller and a few others teach this. All are great teachers. But I finally understand the concept thanks to you. Those examples were on point. CHEERS MATE!

[@elguitarTom]

But your hand / wrist angle is totally different when you show it slow vs when you play it fast

[@mtus647]

Man this sounds so counter intuitive for my usual type of playing, and that's why I'm still slow 😂 Thank you so much for this very informative video

[@demonlust75]

I think this might be the main problem Kerry king has.. it’s his picking hand mostly

[@Tomoko8885]

I like that man

[@wonjigang]

Super helpful video. Thanks!!