Hi Guys,

So I've only just found Pebber brown and his awesome videos. I'm just getting started with some of the right hand picking technique videos.

Now I've been playing for more than 10 years but watching these videos I see Pebber suggests angling the pick FORWARD. I've been playing by angling my pick BACKWARDS for the entire time I've been picking (10 years or so, off and on) i.e. the front/neck side of the plectrum goes up). This works for me as I've been using my wrist to pick, but now I try the moving thumb technique I feel it might have more benefits in the long run. My aim right now is to be able to pick faster and more accurately.

I was wondering what people's reasons are for angling the pick either forward or backwards and what benefits have you found in each method? I'm used to angling it Backwards, which like Pebber says, locks up my thumb a lot. Do people think it a good use of my time right now to re-learn my picking technique?

Cheers

It's worth it if you feel it will give you better control.

I've been working on scalpel and sarod picking using Pebber's techniques for about two years now. It gives me great control when I'm trying to play individual notes quickly and effortlessly.

But when I'm using other play styles I find myself altering my wrist angle and locking the thumb more to give myself more rigidity and a more full-arm motion. I just noted this over last weekend.

It's a constant exercise to improve technique. I think Pebber would say to do whatever works best for you. But don't ignore his technique if you can't improve using your own.

He'd probably throw in some more f-bombs in his answer though. :D

You can pretty much pick however you want, and you will get good as long as you put the time in.
Pebber teaches the way he does as he has seen a lot of students have success with it,

Got to say i was stuck for years with terrible picking until i came across pebber transformed my playing.

maybe if you could put up a video of your pick angle, would help.And a link to the pebber video where he demonstrates tilting the pick forward.

I too only recently came upon Pebber B's technique. The angular picking I took an early liking to. Seems to soften the stroke without losing velocity or tone and moves you quickly on to the next note or stroke. Might be a little scuffle sound on the wound strings but unless your listening for it you probably won't have anyone pick up on that. Wrist roll is key for me. Keeps me from stubbing my pick on a string and BOINKING a note needlessly.

Suffer up a vid for PB to chew apart just like the rest of us. We ALL suck if only by a matter of degree.

Want to get better, NO PAIN and EMBARRASSMENT, NO GAIN. NOT THAT FINGER MAN!!!!

Awesome, thanks pebber i hear what you're saying. Actually after trying the scalpel picking for a bit longer now, I'm finding i quite like it for different things. Also, like you say its encouraged me to start experimenting with different ways of picking so onwards and upwards, I'm going to keep working at the scalpel picking as i think it has some advantages and I don't think my ability to angle the pick backwards is ever going to go away now!

Thanks for the responses everyone, I appreciate your time and advice.

Yeah - I will stick at it if I'm going to do it. Right now it seems as though there are so many techniques to learn so I'm trying to focus on techniques that will I have an idea of how I will apply it in my music. I'm focusing on the classical left hand (or in my case right hand!) and the scalpel picking, as well as directional picking. The sarod technique really interests me but I'd rather nail one thing at a time, so I can actually use the techniques in my bands and studio work. Maybe in a year or two once i've got the scalpel and directional stuff down I'll focus on the sarod picking.

Thanks for giving your time to write the responses, much appreciated.

Quote: Adam wrote in post #8

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From my own experience, it took me at least 6 months of working on my picking to even be able to implement it comfortably (KEY WORD) in a live setting,,,and at least 1 year for me to be able to pick like that without thinking. I'm talking about the scalpel picking.

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Thanks Adam, I'm sticking at it! Slowly working my way through the daily practice routine exercises, one at a time. I'm learning one exercise at a time, so I can be sure to learn them properly. There is so much material to cover!

I'm now practicing Picking exercises on each string and on adjacent strings. I'm also interested in sweeping a lot so I adapted the adjacent string exercise to practice sweeping - doing 1 - 8 notes per beat but always sweeping across the strings. I've covered the classical form, spider and ladder exercises for the left hand and I'm doing those daily.

The next few modules is where it gets tricky, there aren't any links in the practice routine PDF or web page for chords or scales modules and finding the videos that go with each exercise isn't easy.

After watching some of the videos of the other guys on the forum I've discovered how to practice chord scales but couldn't find a pebber video on the subject. So I'm doing major chord scales, using triads, then 7th chords and just getting onto learning some 9th chord shapes. I've created a worksheet based on this (Oh, I'm not allowed to post any links, sorry!)(Its some rad guitarist chord worksheet - google it)
And I'm working through it, filling it out as I work through the different chords. Once I'm done with C I'll move on to G... I'm applying the chord memorisation technique as I go.

For my scales I'm starting from scratch, I'm creating maps of the neck as I learn the major scales along each string. Then practicing a 1234-2345-3456-4567 pattern to the metronome. I'll figure out some other patterns soon and practice those too. Again, I plan to work through all the strings in all the keys before moving on to the major pentatonics exercises. I've also added in the diatonic CAGED scales to this module to get those memorised in each key. Again, there are no links to any lessons or videos in the pdf or webpage for the scales module so I'm just picking up bits and pieces from whatever Pebber videos I can find - but the whole thing feels very un-structured and a bit haphazard , the names of the videos don't correspond with the names on the practice routine and I'm have to watch the videos all the way through to figure out which one goes with which bit on the practice routine - as a result I've started to put together my own practice routine with some things like sweeping that webber doesn't teach much.

What do you think of this?

How do you others manage to find the right lessons etc for the things which aren't linked in the practice routine? I'm scouring you tube everyday searching. and putting the pieces of the puzzle into some order I can make sense of. Some lessons cover several things which are on the routine, other lessons cover things which are not on there at all and many don't seem to exist yet? I've also noticed that the PDF and web page practice routines are different so I though it best that I just try to pick up what I can and start putting my own routine together...

Anyway, I'm noticing small improvements when jamming with the bands already, I get the feeling that if I keep this up indefinitely then I'll be flying in a few years :) Of course there is always more to learn and more improvements to be had. I do recording and production for bands too, and actually moving forwards with the guitar once again is also helping my musical work in general.

Found them thanks Pebber. I was looking for chord scales, not searching for scale sequences. That what I meant about the names not always matching up... I just hadn't thought to search for that term.

Pebber, my apologies. I do really appreciate the fact that so much of your material is available for free, and that you are taking the time to respond here without being paid. As a struggling musician paid lessons might have to wait until I can bring in more money! I feel I have a lot to be getting on with in the meantime!

Adam, thanks for the encouragement, I am learning a lot watching Pebbers videos. Hopefully, I'll have watched them all within a year! There is a ton of stuff there, and if I watch too much too quickly I find I' not actually taking it all in.

Thanks again for your responses.

...Now time to practice!

Nice Pebber. Thanks for the information.