# Right hand picking technique



## whammybar (May 7, 2008)

I didn't want to hijack the 'Alternate Picking' thread where deffjeff wrote: "...and am getting frustrated because I can't do the alternate picking."

I am having the opposite problem.

I am a blues player that was born alternate picking. But has any other alternate picker out there noticed that to play what some other blues players are playing, it requires a fairly concentrated change in right hand technique?

I've been playing some Joe Bonamassa stuff and getting frustrated at the number of times I run into a relatively uncomplicated riff I simply cannot play because of my alternate picking habit. I have an example. In the song "Long Distance Blues" (CD version) when he goes into his lead break, the second riff, which is fast but not ridiculously fast, it requires a change in technique for me to play.

So has anyone else come across this and what did you do and is it a simple case of, after all these years, relearning technique?


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

i was/am the opposite. king of the down-stroke. it's surprising how much you can get by this way. because of that, some of the weirder rhythms come right away, but i have to really concentrate to alternate pick in time.


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## camo1902 (Jun 6, 2011)

Hearing you. I have spent years playing all alt picking (trying to mimick Gilbert and Petrucci for me though, so not blues). 

Recently learned Electric Gypsy by Andy Timmons and I really struggled to get fluidity with some of the bluesy phrases.

Also started working on incorporating some economy picking into my playing. Painfully frustrating as my hand naturally wants to alt pick. 

I have had to go completely back to basics and slow it down to excruciatingly slow speeds.


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