improving picking accuracy

[sonicsamurai]

not something that is discussed every day. But as i.m looking to do an hnd or maybe a degree in music i feel i out to address this particular aspect of my playing as concerns me a lot. My problem is not matching up my picking hand with my fretting hand. It is making the right connection between pick and string particularly when it comes to picking across or moving between strings and especially on upstrokes. My mind and my left hand knows where its going, my right had sort of does but not quite and i either miss the string or hit the wrong string at times. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Bert]

Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar by Troy Stetina has a bunch of exercises & tips for addressing stuff like this. It helped me a bunch anyway.

[Erez]

Practice with a metronome, start with simple riffs (could be chromatic riffs too) and at very slow speed, everyday when you play the riffs perfect, increase the speed a bit. Eventually you will play fast with no mistakes at all. You must learn to crawl before you walk, and to walk before you run

[Newc]

Practice.

If you practice your picking and still can't get it, you're thinking too hard about it.

[thetroy]

Yeah practice at an excruciatingly slow tempo and gradually increase it making sure your picking is up to whatever standard you're aiming for.

Also make sure to do it without watching your hands - if you want to get serious and get a music degree you will have to sight-read so you can't be looking at your hands.

[Soap]

Practice.

If you practice your picking and still can't get it, you're thinking too hard about it.

Bingo.

[Trem]

I found out-
thing that really affects how accuratley i can pick parts like this is the guitar i use. If i use a guitar with an R3 nut 1 11/16 and Floyd the strings are slightly to far apart, (for me), even tho it's a miniscule difference, i can play these parts much easier on my strat spec neck or 1 5/8 nut guitars and helps more with a standard bridge, but even on my floyded guitars with R2 nut, it's different feeling than an R3 nut. I really makes a difference to me, as my right hand is accustomed to just moving "that" much, and i don't have to "reach" for the strings with my right wrist movement.

Same with my fretting hand as well, the room afforded by my jacksons is "nice" but it's more of a chore to play and i have to "reach" for notes going across the strings more verticaly, i miss strings by undershoot, it bums me cause i love em but what's the point.
so the verticle needs to be tight for me to not stress my left hand and move my picking hand so wide, and i connect.

Also try different ways of playing the same patterns, some will be more "comfortable" than others, adjust your playing style, i had to, but i still work on those things that are harder, but honstly some are never going to work for me well, so instead of beating my self up, i find a way to play the exact same thing, another way.

Really try out a different guitar with different neck radius and where the strings are closer together, or farther apart? for that matter (if your overshooting strings), see if it makes any difference.
You might be playing the wrong guitar - for you.

And if you find something where the string distance relationship is perfect, but the "feel" of the neck isn't thin enough or something, you can change that with sand paper, if you have too.

This is what i have experienced and have done after analyzing what works for me.

[Danno]

Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar by Troy Stetina has a bunch of exercises & tips for addressing stuff like this. It helped me a bunch anyway.

I'm working on that book right now and I agree that it's excellent for developing disciplined picking. Head to the chapter called The Right Hand and take it from there. Take his advice, too, of speeding up 2, slowing down 1 when using the metronome. So when you feel comfortable at one tempo, move up two on the metronome. Then when you're comfortable there, slow the metronome down one, then up two...etc. It really makes you learn how to control your right hand. It also has a lot of string skipping stuff, too. Good luck.

[sonicsamurai]

i probably am thinking to hard about it. Currently i.m playing an rg550 and a fender strat. Both play equally well but in different ways. My strat is probably harder to alternate pick but part of that is the singlecoil factor. My rg is better on the legato but thats because the neck is thinner... Just over half that of the fender it looks sometimes.my strat maybe feels slightly better when sweeping so its heads or tails really. I can adapt to either fairly quickly. Maybe its just something i never really did bedford that's just developed through my improvisation...

[Soap]

Thats why I prefer an ebony fretboard, stainless steel frets, rounded fret board edges and an oiled neck. For me, its all about comfort and ease playability.
A spec'd neck like mentioned makes playing alot easier and comfortable.
So yeah, imo a neck can make make a difference in overall comfort and playability.

[slash]

Speed Mechanics is a good one.... another is Metal Method. It is absolutly the best course for the money and may just be the best one period.