How To Train picking "endurance"

[farhanians]

Hi all ..currently im playing master of puppets and
DAMN my hand gets tired and cannot tahan till the sliding part..
so how do you maintain ? weightlifting? or playing everyday till hand comes off

hah.. about me.. im 15 and quite small BUT ABLE BODIED
btw.. im downpicking all the way as i really likeed the chugga chugga when i plam mute it then alternate picking.. hmm any ideas to train?

btw. haha do tell me the pedals taht can take up to this kinda of distortion.
Heres my "can" list who can meet up to the master of puppets tone. anymore?

Uber Metal.
Marshall jh-1.

whats the closest?

 

[tuttifrutti]

its either your picking style or you are too tense

 

[mus]

Here are some tips when I started to learn Master of Puppets,
- Start slow then gradually increase your speed.
- Relax your picking arm, don't tense. If you tense it, eventually you'll get tired.
- Use less movement when you downpick

 

[farhanians]

ouhh.. aite...
ive understant your
"less movement"
hmm.. how bout the angle of the pick?

 

[mus]

For me, I keep my pick angle about 45degrees. Like what Paul Gilbert teaches in this lesson,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-NOMn3P9AE

It's easier to pick and chunkier compared to the pick being parallel to the string.

 

[farhanians]

LOL YEAH>>> i love it when the pick slides with the strings.. it make the chugga MORE HeAVIER ....hmm.. but is that a problem?

 

[mus]

Yes yes, I agree with you about the chugga, more heavy part. Nope, I don't think that is a problem. Be comfortable with what you're doing.

 

[farhanians]

hah thanks man... gotta try...btw the pg instructional is really useful for my licks tho...

 

[mus]

Glad to hear that. Keep practicing!

 

[ryancrl]

Hey bro i have the same problem as you do!

But i've learnt some stuff here and there so i'll share.

1. Pick angle is really yr personal preference. No good or bad. Just do whatever is comfortable. The Paul Gilbert style is pretty cool!
2. The more distance yr hand travels, the more energy you waste. So try and minimise yr wrist movements. When James Hetfield plays, his hand moves so little its like his hand is vibrating!
3. Use a metronome to improve. START SLOW. Then slowly increase yr pace. In no time you'd be able to do it. I know its tempting to chiong to James Hetfield's standard. But trust me. Practice the riffs over and over SLOWLY. 100% improve haha.
4. Try to use mostly wrist muscles. You can switch to yr forearm and bicep muscles a little so that you don't tire out so easily. But its mostly the wrist.

Yeap thats my take on it. All the best man!

 

[farhanians]

Thanks for the super short tips! btw.. got ideas for the distoriton for the song?
the closest one.. i dont mind the trivium distortion cover tone tho.. its nice

 

[ryancrl]

Hmm.

Whats your equipment like? I can try to help haha.

 

[lucadia]

its like hitting the gym.. do a couple of sets (with the metronome of course) let the lactic acid build up.. rest and do somemore. After a while, you will realise it takes less and less effort to do it because your guitaring muscles have become strong.


cheers

 

[farhanians]

aha.. metronome.. ehk.. how do you guys relate the metronome with our playing.. lol.. i just dunot know how to use it.. its like.. hmm ive practice get out of my yard... then ive try to use my gfx metronome.. then ite like... tik tik tik.. i just dunno how to set it. btw. in tuxguitar. my tempo i tried to follow up is around 80..with some mistakes.. so how much to set on metronome?

btw the equipment is line6 15w
zoom gfx5. marshall jh-1.some modded overdrive.byang ds-7.

 

[Gr3y]

it's all in your mind...

 

[pianomankris]

There are a few ways of doing this.



If you think about what your hand is actually doing when you do consecutive downstrokes, it makes things easier.

Think of it this way - when you do a downstroke, your hand finishes on the opposite side of the string (ready for an upstroke). If you do two downstrokes in a row, you are actually doing a 'ghost' upstroke in between (i.e. when you pull your hand back to pick another downstroke).

So, the best way to practise it would be to pick semiquavers (4 notes per beat, down up down up), and practise increasing your speed at semiquaver picking.

Consecutive downstrokes are alternate picking with ghost upstrokes.




So, whatever speed you can pick 4 notes per beat at, you'll be able to pick 2 queaver dosnwtrokes at that speed (e.g. if you can pick 4 a beat, alternate picking at 150, you'll be able to do 2 downstrokes per beat at 150).

Try the opposite also. Try picking 4 per beat as up down up down, then try quavers, with the downstrokes as ghost picks - you'll be picking 2 upstrokes per beat if you do this.

The problem with consecutive downstrokes is how fast you can get your hand back in position to pick another downstroke - if you work on your upstroke picking, this will fix it.


The above probably seems strange, as it's the total opposite advice you probably expected - but in order to get good at picking downstrokes, ironically, you don't need to work on just downstrokes.




Try that for a few days and see how you get on.


So - in practise order:

semiquavers as 'down up down up'
quavers at the same speed as 'down down'

semiquavers as 'up down up down'
quavers at the same speed as 'up up'


Make sure all are at the same speed. You may need to work groupings that begin with an upstroke a lot to equalise your picking technique. The exercises should all be at the same speed - if one is slower, it shows a weakness in your playing. Don't see a weakness as a bad thing - just see it as an area you need to work on.




I have another way of building up the speed - if you struggle with that way, let me know and i'll explain the other way to you. The best way is a combination of both.

 

[pianomankris]

PS the song fires along as semiquavers (4 notes per beat) at about 106 BPM (beats per min), give or take a few beats.

If you can work your semiquaver picking up to about 140 BPM, the piece will actually sound slow, since you can think much faster than the speed of the song.

It's all relative. When I listen to the song, it sounds very slow, but to some of my pupils, it sounds ridiculously fast. The only reason it sounds fast to them is that they are not used to thinking at that speed.

Practising semiquaver picking speeds up how fast you can think, and this is where the difficulty is.

Your hands only do what your brain tells them to do.


Most people don't realise that point.

The best way to get fast is to train your thinking, rather than only working purely on technical issues.



PS I forgot to say - when you are practising picking, make sure you accent (play louder) the actual beat. Pick the beat slightly harder than the other notes. This shows that you understand where the beat is. If you get to a speed where you can't accent, it is because you can't think at that speed; best to slow it down a little if that happens.

 

[Liquidribs]

PS I forgot to say - when you are practising picking, make sure you accent (play louder) the actual beat.

probably the best advice here man.. one of the strong points for good mojo!