Hi this is Andy James for licklibrary.com. In this tutorial we are going to be looking at the mechanics behind ultimate picking and there is no really example for this but I am just going to be talking and show you the right hand technique and in the last hand we are just going to be playing any note you like on the G string and I am going to use the 7th fret and then I am just going to speed up and slow it down on my right hand just so you can see what it is doing and I will be explaining what is going on. So here it is.
Okay a couple of things that I want to talk about, the angle of the pick. I think for efficient ultimate picking is very important and if you got to pick totally flat against the string, it is not going to glide through this string very easily. And it is also a very harsh time. What I like to do is a lot, so just get the pick and angle it forward like that. So then you are using the beveled edge of the pick to glide over the string and we are still going to get the attack of the pick against the string but it is just going to glide a little bit better over the string.
Okay if you are doing anything like that slow, you can almost use your fingers to push through this string like that, so you just bending some in and out like that. So that I am pushing through the string at the same time, so here it goes. Or if you want to get it really fast, you just use your wrist.
So listen very well for using one note and actually the other thing I want to say just before we carry on is that for me I find it easier to anchor when I am picking. Now what that means is that you are using a finger on your right hand and sometimes it could be a 3rd or 4th finger or some people used both. When you steady your hand on the guitar and then you actually use your forearm and your wrist as well. So it is a combination between using your forearm and your wrist. I will use this technique just because I find it steadies my hand and I am just practicing now where I am with it. Some people, they do not do that, so they actually just kind of rest their hand on the string just to keep it very still, often neat, so there is no use of horrible sounds coming from the lower strings that you are not using. And do not use the anchoring technique and so it just depends really.
Examples I could think of is someone like Paul Gilbert, he does not anchor too. And then someone like John Petrucci, he uses the body a lot under the bridge pick up to kind of help him get the speed and efficiency for ultimate picking.
Couple of things that you can do with your left hand and you can start on one string just to keep it simple. But just get look at a simple pattern and we could pick notes 9, 10, and 12 on the G string and just start with a downstroke and each note gets one pick and ultimate picking means that you do something different from the last time so you start with the downstroke and you do not strike downstroke, upstroke and so on and so forth. So for the lick that I am going to do I will just play it slow and then try and pay attention to my right hand.
You know you are doing ultimate picking because that is a group of three licks and when you stop on the first note every other time it will be on an upstroke. So you have down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down. Now that same thing will occur when you are actually changing between strings. So if I will play a C major I will start in the lower A and for eight then play 10 then 12 and I am starting with the downstroke. When I get to the A string I will then be going to an upstroke then mix with the D string, you are on the downstroke again. Then G string upstroke down, up and then it just stay there between the two. Now, what I use to do, when I was really kind of hardening in on this technique was just to tight like I am griping with two strings and just play up and down and one of the lecture is to practice with this.
And you start of really slow, just keeping it normal and simple keeping it in time. Preferably it is a metronome because that is going to help you keep time if doing it on your own. It is a bit difficult and then just kind of gradually speed it up. I mean, they are obvious in doing it so much and I am just doing it naturally but you cannot chop the metronome and then just kind of monitor your progress. So that is one lick.
The next lick is basically outlearning a more difficult side of ultimate picking which is the upstroke when it turns to the next string and the note on the beginning of the G string is fret nine but we are going to play a nine, 10, and 12 on a day and then just practice the upstroke to the G string and then we are going to go back down again, so we have got this.
So I mean, it might look really easy but if you are not really familiar with this technique then these are a couple of things that you can do to really improve your ultimate picking. Okay, and then once you get more comfortable with it, just kind of try to expand it over a how scale and more often than not, people kind of gravitates the first position of different excursion. I am a pentatonic, so I am just go on ultimate picking, it is a bit easy to play three, it is not to be when the strings is tough especially on the guitar. So if I just play a C major chords but with lock up on slow tempo and then I will speed it up and then, basically I will just focusing on the right hand and see what is going on.
Okay, very simple pattern. Just a six-note pattern up and then down, and then up again, and then you start on the next string and do the same pattern. And then you can just actually build that up and up and up and see you get quicker and quicker. On each time you do it, you should feel quite comfortable and the more you do it, the easier it is going to become. So just bear with the move and do the right hand techniques and just remember those lessons that we are going to look on is really going to help your ultimate picking.
So that is the end of the tutorial anyway, so hopefully you are going to have fun leaning how to overturn that pick and until next time. I will see you later.
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