Dude I’m seeing results after watching 3 of your shorts and 2 hours of practice. It’s crazy how just thinking about how to use my hand differently all of a sudden made it make sense. Thank you!
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOU BROTHER. I've tested diffrent picking techniques for months now and the simple answer was to move the fingers with the wrist. I've heard people say use the wrist but i didn't fully understand. THANKS!!
I’ve stumbled on this on my own and it felt wild. Was learning some older Metallica solos in an effort to build up my speed. There’s a couple pentatonic style runs in Ride the Lightning I was struggling with. As I struggled with it I started to naturally change my picking to more of a “full hand” motion and less of a smaller picking motion. Man it made all the difference.
I’ve been suffering of upstroke or inside picking for almost 20 years, I will try this later and I think this shorts will help me.. thank you for this video sir, Mabuhay ka❤️🇵🇭
what really helped me improve my picking speed was learning tremolo picking, and then I don't mean short 1 b eat sections, I mean stuff like knights of cydonia. That forces you to absolutely not put tension on anything in your right arm because you will burn yourself up.
I completely agree. The exercises never made click it for me but some black/death metal where you have to hold the tremolo for bars on end forced me to change technique or it wasn’t happening
After a dozen years of struggling to get any speed into my playing, I changed the way I hold the pick so my hand is almost in a fist. This did three things. 1) It changed the angle of my wrist and allowed it to flex the right way, and 2) stabilised my grip so the pick isn't moved around by the strings - it's much more reliably in the right place for the next pluck all the time. This had the 3rd effect of almost instantly increasing my speed at least 20%.
Damn I used to do this intuitively but at some point started practicing the wrong way because I saw some youtubers say you should always have a flat wrist. My speed has never been the same and I kept wondering how much more practice I'd need to get to the old speeds of my supposedly wrong technique. Thanks for clarifying!
Even if you have great picking technique, it wont matter shit if your left hand cant keep up which is the case for 95% of people. Hand synchronization is life
@@mikewelch3747i don't care what you say, you absolutely do not have to be born with it. that's just a sorry ass excuse when you don't bother to practice enough. i started only at 26 years old without ANY hand coordination, two years later i can do moderate speeds accurately. in next two years i'm at those shredding speeds with my hand coordination. practice is everything, nothing is given as a freebie.
@@mikewelch3747 yeah well gotta admit, it is easily the toughest thing i have tried this far. i just thought your comment was some based on nothing mumbo jumbo but you have experience on matter so i respectfully apologize my previous bad attitude. guess i'm kinda jaded because i've always picked things up quite quickly. that's why i never had the discipline to learn the instrument as a kid because i wanted and expected results now, not sometime next year. got always discouraged immediately when i tried my step dad's guitar. well i did learn G and C and Em chords :D some more of my journey if interested. now as an adult with little more understanding of everything and some capability to look ahead of time, i finally have gotten over the first hump with guitar where you just stumble on and sound like a damn child. took about a year for me, and my mate said i have learned more in a year than he learned in 4 years as a teenager when he started haha. well that's just because of my lucky situation where i have time to practice for hours, basically every day, and eager attitude towards learning. and pretty high iq paired with autism works quite well for my advantage too :D so i'm the odd one out here most likely. btw i still sound like fucking shit but atleast i've got the major and minor scales down across 5 positions, pentatonic and full scales. two sets of shapes and you know 4 scales, it's quite awesome haha. and the fingers are starting to go faster all the time, but the progress is slow and takes so much work. but atleast now i can say i can play the damn thing even though i sound like shit. but i can play it. can make most sounds out of it like pinch harmonics and have my muting and tension in hands pretty much sorted and just gaining miles by playing. some minor technical stuff to learn and some 5 years more practicing and playing, until i can dream of sounding any good haha! luckily i learned from the start with correct technique so no need to relearn and no obstacles going forward. but yeah it's damn hard that's for sure. sorry for the long post, hope you got it one day, just keep practicing, and i do too! we'll both shred one day for sure!! >:) cheers from finland brother!
Hi Ben 👋☺️ i used to be able to play really fast 10 years back but sadly got diagnosed with osteoarthritis and its not feasible for me to play like Yngwie for example anymore so ive switched to doing what Paul Gilbert has done ij his older years and now focus on blues and classic rock and i enjoy it just as much 🤫👍 but yeah i do miss not having speed but i play with more emotion now if that makes sense? Anyway great tutorial video
Do you have any exercises to help break out of this specific bad technique? Looking to add some stuff to my daily practice without slipping back into old habits
Hello Sir. Sometimes my right hand gets fatigued after playing some speed solos or riffs. Can you suggest some exercises to gain consistency without any tired right hand.
The wrist motion is crucial. I can play fastest that way but for me it’s an almost underhanded motion which doesn’t allow much muting. So i don’t always use that motion for riffs.
Take it easy, experiment with different pick angles and with different ways to hold your guitar even. After that its just repetition. It took me a while but in the end it will feel natural
I've been playing guitar for over 20 years and was using all thumb and index finger like that. I saw this last night and I really wish I knew this when I started. I saw an IMMEDIATE improvement in both my speed and accuracy. Even parts I thought I did well sounds a lot more clean now. Thank you for this video! I'll definitely be subscribing and watching more!
I’m having a problem with hitting the right strings when I’m not looking at my picking hand for example, if I want to pick the G string but then instead of that, I’m picking the B string I’m having that problem. What am I doing guys?
Start applying the picking exercise in this free course. If you have to look at your picking hand whilst you get used to it, no problem. You will get better at gauging how far to move your pick without looking at it after a while. Trust in the process 👍 courses.benhigginsofficial.com/the-warm-up
Playing slow tempos is no problem, playing fast is neither a problem but the tempo inbetween walking and running is something I struggle alot with. The tempo where you are "jogging" is my biggest struggle for some reason. "Walking" and "Running" works just fine, how to solve the problem?😅
It's very individual thing you know. And you don't even understand biomechanics underlying beneath speed. You learned your one only way to do it and now you dare to teach someone that your way is only right.
Metal guitarplayer comments: I noticed Ace Frehley moves his entire arm up and down when he wants to sound speedy. I like the Spaceman but that isn't the best looking leadguitar habit from such a famous guitarplayer.
ReplyThe Complete Guitarist is THE place for Rock/Metal/Shred Guitarists to improve their skills. Includes Daily Practice Plan! bit.ly/3Jq8jmf
Thank you.
Dude I’m seeing results after watching 3 of your shorts and 2 hours of practice. It’s crazy how just thinking about how to use my hand differently all of a sudden made it make sense. Thank you!
That's brilliant, man... well done for applying it!
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOU BROTHER. I've tested diffrent picking techniques for months now and the simple answer was to move the fingers with the wrist. I've heard people say use the wrist but i didn't fully understand. THANKS!!
That's awesome, man 👍👍🍩🍩
Same here.
Ah shit, I've been using my big toe all this time.
Lol
I’ve stumbled on this on my own and it felt wild. Was learning some older Metallica solos in an effort to build up my speed. There’s a couple pentatonic style runs in Ride the Lightning I was struggling with. As I struggled with it I started to naturally change my picking to more of a “full hand” motion and less of a smaller picking motion. Man it made all the difference.
I’ve been suffering of upstroke or inside picking for almost 20 years, I will try this later and I think this shorts will help me.. thank you for this video sir, Mabuhay ka❤️🇵🇭
Good video. Forearm rotation is the real power-house behind the picking technique of many of the greats.
Makes sense
My teacher made me focus on forearm rotation and subtle wrist movement and my speed jumped massively in one week
what is Forearm rotation ?
But the "Greats" aren't the fastest
what really helped me improve my picking speed was learning tremolo picking, and then I don't mean short 1 b eat sections, I mean stuff like knights of cydonia. That forces you to absolutely not put tension on anything in your right arm because you will burn yourself up.
I completely agree. The exercises never made click it for me but some black/death metal where you have to hold the tremolo for bars on end forced me to change technique or it wasn’t happening
@@itsfratalbert6645 CTS was gonna be what was happening!
Very beneficial... outstanding !!!
After a dozen years of struggling to get any speed into my playing, I changed the way I hold the pick so my hand is almost in a fist. This did three things. 1) It changed the angle of my wrist and allowed it to flex the right way, and 2) stabilised my grip so the pick isn't moved around by the strings - it's much more reliably in the right place for the next pluck all the time. This had the 3rd effect of almost instantly increasing my speed at least 20%.
I do this sometimes for faster runs but palm muting like this is weird for me so I don’t use this for rhythms / all the time
Damn I used to do this intuitively but at some point started practicing the wrong way because I saw some youtubers say you should always have a flat wrist. My speed has never been the same and I kept wondering how much more practice I'd need to get to the old speeds of my supposedly wrong technique. Thanks for clarifying!
Definitely this is a part of my problem. Also worth trying to move your arm up and down when you change strings instead of just pivoting your wrist
Thats something that sounds counter intuitive but definitelly helps a lot!
I like the video, and I also like how you use your pinky as a fulcrum, too.
Glad you mentioned/showed circle picking cause I was about to say...
That lick at the beginning 😵
Even if you have great picking technique, it wont matter shit if your left hand cant keep up which is the case for 95% of people. Hand synchronization is life
@@mikewelch3747i don't care what you say, you absolutely do not have to be born with it. that's just a sorry ass excuse when you don't bother to practice enough. i started only at 26 years old without ANY hand coordination, two years later i can do moderate speeds accurately. in next two years i'm at those shredding speeds with my hand coordination. practice is everything, nothing is given as a freebie.
@@mikewelch3747 yeah well gotta admit, it is easily the toughest thing i have tried this far. i just thought your comment was some based on nothing mumbo jumbo but you have experience on matter so i respectfully apologize my previous bad attitude. guess i'm kinda jaded because i've always picked things up quite quickly. that's why i never had the discipline to learn the instrument as a kid because i wanted and expected results now, not sometime next year. got always discouraged immediately when i tried my step dad's guitar. well i did learn G and C and Em chords :D
some more of my journey if interested.
now as an adult with little more understanding of everything and some capability to look ahead of time, i finally have gotten over the first hump with guitar where you just stumble on and sound like a damn child. took about a year for me, and my mate said i have learned more in a year than he learned in 4 years as a teenager when he started haha. well that's just because of my lucky situation where i have time to practice for hours, basically every day, and eager attitude towards learning. and pretty high iq paired with autism works quite well for my advantage too :D so i'm the odd one out here most likely. btw i still sound like fucking shit but atleast i've got the major and minor scales down across 5 positions, pentatonic and full scales. two sets of shapes and you know 4 scales, it's quite awesome haha. and the fingers are starting to go faster all the time, but the progress is slow and takes so much work. but atleast now i can say i can play the damn thing even though i sound like shit. but i can play it. can make most sounds out of it like pinch harmonics and have my muting and tension in hands pretty much sorted and just gaining miles by playing. some minor technical stuff to learn and some 5 years more practicing and playing, until i can dream of sounding any good haha! luckily i learned from the start with correct technique so no need to relearn and no obstacles going forward. but yeah it's damn hard that's for sure. sorry for the long post, hope you got it one day, just keep practicing, and i do too! we'll both shred one day for sure!! >:) cheers from finland brother!
@@Nakkiteline when is the book coming out.
Do you have a tab for what you played or is it some scale
With God all thing are posible by our practice❤❤thank you brother nice guitar work nice fingering❤❤❤
Thank you
Is that a PS-4 Performer?? I have the same guitar! Same color as well!! Awesome!
Hi Ben 👋☺️ i used to be able to play really fast 10 years back but sadly got diagnosed with osteoarthritis and its not feasible for me to play like Yngwie for example anymore so ive switched to doing what Paul Gilbert has done ij his older years and now focus on blues and classic rock and i enjoy it just as much 🤫👍 but yeah i do miss not having speed but i play with more emotion now if that makes sense? Anyway great tutorial video
Do you have any exercises to help break out of this specific bad technique?
Looking to add some stuff to my daily practice without slipping back into old habits
Yes, try doing this ruclips.net/user/shortsrlTpnEq3DQg?feature=share4
Hey Ben what's that lick you play at the beginning?!? It sound killer I'd love a tab for it!
Thanks, it's based off the ideas I talk about in this video ruclips.net/user/shorts9NGoNpya7uE?feature=share4
I choke up on the pick and use a key turning motion and its really helped my speed on faster runs.
I just up pick mostly
Nice trick... Please do share what you played there... Thanks
What's that " Funny Little Motion " ?? I have seen so many shredders doing this...
Hello Sir. Sometimes my right hand gets fatigued after playing some speed solos or riffs. Can you suggest some exercises to gain consistency without any tired right hand.
Yes, I recommend The Warm Up exercises. They're free 🤜 courses.benhigginsofficial.com/freecourses
@@BenHigginsOfficial Thank you sir.
Where can I get that guitar? 😍
Nuno Bettencourt is a prime example of whole wrist going
That’s basically what I was I doing. I was stuck at 96 bpm four notes per click and using my whole wrist helped tremendously
So good
The wrist motion is crucial. I can play fastest that way but for me it’s an almost underhanded motion which doesn’t allow much muting. So i don’t always use that motion for riffs.
Great!!! What jackson model is?
Cheers duder. It's a Jackson PS4
This is great advice!
ARM! Not just hand. BUT ARM! The video lol
I need to try this. I’ll update yall
So, have you seen any improvements?
@@LqFZoSo 100% I can finally play the song marigold by periphery. Just a lot more focus than I thought. And practice!!!
I had the same guitar once. Wish I had it back:(
YP 100%
Is that a Jackson Performer PS4. Love that guitar.
It is!
I am absolutely struggling with my pick hand. I try to stay close to the strings and alternate picking, but I miss notes.
Take it easy, experiment with different pick angles and with different ways to hold your guitar even. After that its just repetition. It took me a while but in the end it will feel natural
@@walterwallman3566 Thank you
I have those same pants
If I could get to even one tenth of your speed this year I'd be happy!
Hey man, grab the free material here and you'll be surprised what it can do 👍 courses.benhigginsofficial.com/freecourses
Keep on practicing brother; it gets better with time.
I do the ‘funny little motion’ but can work out if it’s hindering me or I just need to practice. Any tips?
👍👍👍👍👍👍
I've been playing guitar for over 20 years and was using all thumb and index finger like that. I saw this last night and I really wish I knew this when I started. I saw an IMMEDIATE improvement in both my speed and accuracy. Even parts I thought I did well sounds a lot more clean now. Thank you for this video! I'll definitely be subscribing and watching more!
That's excellent! 👍👍
It's my fretting hand that's the problem. I can't imagine ever moving my fingers individually, with accuracy and at speed.
“Quest” got that right ! But loving it
Yngwie Malmsteen says hold my pick
I’m having a problem with hitting the right strings when I’m not looking at my picking hand for example, if I want to pick the G string but then instead of that, I’m picking the B string I’m having that problem. What am I doing guys?
Start applying the picking exercise in this free course. If you have to look at your picking hand whilst you get used to it, no problem. You will get better at gauging how far to move your pick without looking at it after a while. Trust in the process 👍 courses.benhigginsofficial.com/the-warm-up
Playing slow tempos is no problem, playing fast is neither a problem but the tempo inbetween walking and running is something I struggle alot with. The tempo where you are "jogging" is my biggest struggle for some reason. "Walking" and "Running" works just fine, how to solve the problem?😅
@@arondahlberg5086 My latest longform video goes over that 👍
when you comfort using tremolo picking in a fast speed then thats it
My fingers cant even do the first thing you showed lmfao
The little things count.
You won’t believe it… but I knew it was Ben without looking at the name… and before he speaking…
So using ur elbow like I do is fine?
that's what she said
It's very individual thing you know. And you don't even understand biomechanics underlying beneath speed. You learned your one only way to do it and now you dare to teach someone that your way is only right.
Ah my hands have calcium deposits from being double jointed in my thumbs so i stick to ten bpm
Metal guitarplayer
comments:
I noticed Ace Frehley moves
his entire arm up and down
when he wants to sound
speedy. I like the Spaceman
but that isn't the best looking
leadguitar habit from such
a famous guitarplayer.
I use my whole arm oppose to my writer.
its all in the wrist!
Hilarious how he is able to play very fast with that wrong technique xD
Pick like Marty
👆
The wrong motion also looks very unhealthy to me
The pick is just outdated.
Steve Vai talked about this technique and said that it's part of his playing.
.