What I'd Do To Develop My Alternate Picking Technique Again

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The picking routine I used:
• How I Developed My Alt...

[@msnrc]

I am very glad that you appeared on the Solar Guitars channel so I found about you and now I can watch your very valuable videos!

[@JonBjork]

Thank you!

[@imacashew.]

I too learned about you because of Ola 👍🏻 Very glad

[@thedfroster]

This is like THE exact thing I’ve been looking for and needed. Struggling so much discovering my fast picking technique especially with switching strings. Thank you! I absolutely love your content 🙌🏼

[@JonBjork]

Thank you, really appreciate it! If you haven't already check out this video to find your way of picking: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gHWogayJhLeaqdk Let me know if you need any help:)

[@thedfroster]

Thanks so much, Jon. Will do!

[@ts8lemonade]

Thanks for another awesome video Jon! I'm definitely going to add this 20min to my daily practice routine and see where it takes me! If you don't mind my asking, just curious if you've ever played professionally in any bands?

[@JonBjork]

Thanks! I played in several cover bands doing pub gigs in my late teens into my twenties. After that I was in a band where we played shows and made a demo, I was not that into the style though (powermetal) so I ended up quitting after a couple of years. Other than that I've played on some quite big projects (film and tv) that I can't divulge since I technically wasn't allowed to play (you had to be part of the musicians union in LA to do it) on these projects. The producer was a friend of mine and didn't care about that union stuff, only thing was that I wouldn't get credited. I got into composing in my mid twenties and spent almost 10 years learning to write orchestral music and composing a lot of pieces for Epidemic Sound. I didn't play much guitar at all during that period. So the whole band thing wasn't anything I ever pursued after that. I also came to the conclusion that the time on stage after lugging all the gear and traveling wasn't worth it for me personally. I know a lot of people who just love being on stage and would do anything to do it. I didn't dislike it but it wasn't anything that special either, so very happy being a bedroom guitarist now since it's actually a viable career path:D

[@olafburgermann806]

Gteat lesson as always thanks Jon. Would you recommend sticking with the same guitar each time you practice technique? Just thinking it might help with building muscle memory?

[@JonBjork]

Thanks! No, according to some studies they’ve found it’s actually beneficial to introduce slight changes so I wouldn’t worry about it.

[@olafburgermann806]

@@JonBjork great thanks. That's interesting, I have a few different guitars but only tend to play one as I am afraid that changing might adversely affect progress. I will try not to worry about it now.

[@sebastiantittel5513]

Hey Jon, thanks for your ongoing effort. ❤ I've got a short question. Is there a reason this exercise stays on a single fret? It could be a modification to move the fret every 2 reps. Or is it to keep the focus on this single aspect? 😀

[@JonBjork]

Thanks! As I say in the video, staying in one position for the full 5 minutes will help you really focus on every little detail. Moving your things around is a good complementary exercise but both have their benefits.

[@danmcp9389]

Great video! Would you speed this up gradually over a few months as you improve?

[@JonBjork]

Thanks! Not really, it’s more about really nailing the synchronisation. Especially if you only spend 20 minutes on it. There’s not a rock guitarist alive you’ll need to tell to try things faster anyway. So use the time allotted to focus on accuracy and the use other strategies like rhythmic variations and speed bursts to build speed.

[@thedfroster]

Hey Jon! Been doing this for a few days and already seeing massive improvements. Wondering if you have any videos on pick slanting and if it makes sense to practice this same exercise with upward or downward pick slants to help develop those techniques as they feel different from my normal technique, especially downward pick slanting since I use my palm as my anchor I can’t get the right angle on the lower strings without a significant adjustment. Also, as my fast picking technique is starting to develop, I feel like my left hand now is too slow. What are the best ways to increase left hand speed/dexterity?

[@JonBjork]

Great to hear man! I don't really bother too much with the pickslanting way of thinking, if you practice things starting on both pick strokes you'll develop the string crossing with enough practice. Having to think about yet another thing can make things even harder. This lesson among others on my channel can help you with your left hand technique: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g5CwdaidmLCmqNE Hope this helps!

[@user-ri8pz8de5n]

Jon, thanks for this exercise. One thing I wanted to clarify: when playing to metronome, shall I play the whole 6 notes phrase in one or two clicks? Technically, if we think in 4/4, playing 4 triplets would give us 2 rounds in one beat, or?

[@JonBjork]

It’s a good idea to vary it as well. Try 2/3/4 and 6 notes per beat. Adjust the tempo as needed to keep the accuracy 100%.

[@islovelynchannel2578]

Thumbs up...👍

[@JonBjork]

Thank you!

[@xOxsleepyheadxOx]

What string gauge do you use in your guitar? Thanks

[@JonBjork]

10-46

[@shaanrana3075]

hey what solar do you have? i wanted to buy a solar but there were no inlays

[@JonBjork]

I have several and I believe all of them have inlays? This is a pre-production model of the poplar.

[@shaanrana3075]

@@JonBjork thank you. i meant inlays for the 3rd, 5th fret ect. most that i’ve seen don’t have them

[@JonBjork]

@@shaanrana3075They all have dots on top of the fretboard though, I definitely prefer having it on the actual fretboard as well so I hear ya😊

[@shaanrana3075]

@@JonBjork thanks so much

[@korat10]

is there any reason you say do 1 2 4 but start on the 4 1 2?

[@JonBjork]

The pattern is the same, so the Yngwie pattern would be 312321 if you number the pitches from low to high on any string so me saying 124 or 134 is in relation to the left hand fingerings. You want to practice it with the 124 fingering and the 134 fingering. Reason being that those finger combinations will show up in the different scale patterns. Same goes with the Gilbert exercise. It's all written out in the tabs as well.

[@korat10]

@@JonBjork thank you for the quick response. Will definitely add these to my alternate picking routine 🙏

[@JonBjork]

@@korat10 Awesome! Let me know if you need any help:)

[@korat10]

@@JonBjork im planning on becoming a patreon do all levels include Guitar Pro tab?

[@JonBjork]

@@korat10 Yes, the only difference is that the higher tier gets you access to some courses as well. Every KZbin video is covered by the starting tier and I always include Guitar Pro among other formats.

[@xertiasstrat8957]

Me seing the title: Me be like: instead of playing 5 hours a day, i guess 8 hours a day? serious question here tho: did u have difficulty back then to knowing when to stop shredding? like, idk, over a backing track or smth, sometimes we all play fast for too long and we end up ruining the thing.. it s not that easy to keep control and say stop : go back to slow

[@JonBjork]

If you keep your technique practice super accurate it’ll give you a lot of leeway when just having fun trying different licks and improvising.

[@xertiasstrat8957]

right, but it s an everything, learning technnique , being patient enough to the right practice everyday, learning modes, new licks, arpeggios. "Shred" is not just fast right:)@@JonBjork

[@JonBjork]

You don't need to focus on everything every day though. This notion of having to fit everything into a practice schedule is not helpful for most people. When you're first starting out it's going to be great to spend 5-10 minutes on a lot of different things since it'll all lead to improvement since you're new to everything. Once you get more experience you'll find the need to focus more on one area for a period of time to really improve it. That area can be anything from technique to learning the modes and ear training etc. You can still put in a little bit of time on other areas to keep them fresh but you'll progress way quicker by having an area of focus where you pour 80-90% of your time. If you don't put in the work you can't really be sorry you're not progressing so patience is mandatory.

[@petrosp3466]

@@JonBjork hey, do you mean by that that I should focus 90% on one area for the day, or for weeks/months? So for example should i practice legato exclusively for months, and after feeling comfortable I should move to a different topic?

[@JonBjork]

@@petrosp3466 Depends on your goals but a few weeks at least in my experience. Either until you feel happy with the level and/or you’re tired of working on it and need to change. You can always get better at anything so leaving something for a while and coming back is not a bad thing.