Finding out the picking pattern took a long time for this song. It has a fast solo with all picked notes so you must be able to fly through it. I have 39 (!) revisions of the tab where I changed the picking pattern. Sometimes radically but towards the end just small changes. Once I found a picking pattern that worked it was a great relief. I tried everything (really) but in the end I prioritized uniformity of motion over economy of motion. A picking pattern can have less moves than another but if it has more different phrases it is still more switching between phrases and that catches up with you. Practice this pattern at a low speed as usual. I used 110 to 120 to 130 BPM and than tried to play along with the record which is at about 150 BPM. Let me know if you want help. When I could play the solo flawlessly every session I went into recording. I took my time at the end because it was fun to finally be able to play the solo. The solo is at the end of the song so I really had to have it down to be able to record the whole song in one take. For this song I also completely changed my technique after seeing a video of Troy Grady where he demonstrates ‘reverse dart thrower’ picking. Basically this is picking everything with the other edge of the pick. It is also called trailing edge picking. This was a revelation to me. Finally, I did not feel like I was fighting my guitar anymore because this motion felt like a motion my wrist wanted to make naturally… at that time… Then I again turned my pick around but this time so that I was picking with the shoulder of the pick. I learned this from Tom Bukovac. This style looks a lot like gypsy picking like e.g. Joscho Stephan does. It gives a bit of a warmer and more solid sound. I felt more connected to the music like this… at that time… And then… I went back to normal, just holding the pick like normally. Basically like you hold a pen. Got that from Ben Eller. It works just fine now and feels comfortable. I use the John Petrucci dark red picks. The final key to get the technique I needed for this song was to make sure that I was picking the strings relaxed and shallow, not having the pick in a death grip and not sticking the pick too deep in between the strings. Almost casually slapping the strings with the pick. In particular the fast part at the beginning of the solo (bending the 2 and alternating between the 5 and the 1) is a lot easier when picked very relaxed. Besides the technique there was of course also the usual tone hunt and just life getting in the way of my practice time. So it was a journey… again… but I am in a much better place with my technique. On to the next song 🤘
Finding out the picking pattern took a long time for this song. It has a fast solo with all picked notes so you must be able to fly through it. I have 39 (!) revisions of the tab where I changed the picking pattern. Sometimes radically but towards the end just small changes. Once I found a picking pattern that worked it was a great relief. I tried everything (really) but in the end I prioritized uniformity of motion over economy of motion. A picking pattern can have less moves than another but if it has more different phrases it is still more switching between phrases and that catches up with you.
Practice this pattern at a low speed as usual. I used 110 to 120 to 130 BPM and than tried to play along with the record which is at about 150 BPM. Let me know if you want help.
When I could play the solo flawlessly every session I went into recording. I took my time at the end because it was fun to finally be able to play the solo. The solo is at the end of the song so I really had to have it down to be able to record the whole song in one take.
For this song I also completely changed my technique after seeing a video of Troy Grady where he demonstrates ‘reverse dart thrower’ picking. Basically this is picking everything with the other edge of the pick. It is also called trailing edge picking. This was a revelation to me. Finally, I did not feel like I was fighting my guitar anymore because this motion felt like a motion my wrist wanted to make naturally… at that time…
Then I again turned my pick around but this time so that I was picking with the shoulder of the pick. I learned this from Tom Bukovac. This style looks a lot like gypsy picking like e.g. Joscho Stephan does. It gives a bit of a warmer and more solid sound. I felt more connected to the music like this… at that time…
And then… I went back to normal, just holding the pick like normally. Basically like you hold a pen. Got that from Ben Eller. It works just fine now and feels comfortable. I use the John Petrucci dark red picks.
The final key to get the technique I needed for this song was to make sure that I was picking the strings relaxed and shallow, not having the pick in a death grip and not sticking the pick too deep in between the strings. Almost casually slapping the strings with the pick. In particular the fast part at the beginning of the solo (bending the 2 and alternating between the 5 and the 1) is a lot easier when picked very relaxed.
Besides the technique there was of course also the usual tone hunt and just life getting in the way of my practice time.
So it was a journey… again… but I am in a much better place with my technique.
On to the next song 🤘
Good job, sounds clean, nice playing.