A Simplified Model for Alternate Picking the Guitar

The guitar is surely one of the most widely played instruments in human history, and many techniques have been developed to play it, where probably every possible combination of fingers and picks has been tried at one time or another.

However, if one plays with just one pick, it can be argued that the evolution of guitar is such that the most remarkable players use alternate picking for general passages of music, switching to a specialized technique called "sweep picking" for arpeggios.

Alternate picking can provide such an exceptionally uniform picking rhythm that its practitioners sound "different" than ordinary players, and this effect can be heard in the playing of Paul Gilbert, Steve Morse, Al di Meola, and some others.

Unfortunately, alternate picking apparently takes thousands of hours of practice to master: Michael Angelo Batio, a veritable showcase of exquisite guitar technique and an expert in alternate picking, reported that it took him two years to master this technique (and he was apparently practicing at a rate that was at least equivalent to a full-time job; we can do the math, so two thousand hours per year of practice over two years is equal to four thousand hours of pratice).

So if one has become serious about learning how to alternate pick and eventually try to become a master, it might make sense to look extremely carefully at the necessary movements in excruciating detail in the hope that one will practice and ultimately memorize optimal, efficient and perfectly correct picking movements, which ultimately result in a wonderful and uniform picking technique.

I read a lot of literature on alternate picking, but I feel that none of it went into sufficient depth to really explain what is going on (at the level of detail where you could, for example, write a computer program that decided exactly where to position the pick, and when). So, I considered the problem for a while and came up with the model that is described on this page, which will hopefully help one's practice to go in favorable directions. I am trying these ideas as an experiment on myself right now (July of 2008), but it will be at least a year until I know if they work (probably more), so nothing here has been proven, and you should not just blindly believe me! However, if you are investing the time to improve your picking, it might be interesting to follow the arguments and see if they are actually correct, or if you can think of something even better (if so, please write and tell me about what you came up with).

Executive Summary

1. The metronome decides when the pick flips from one side of a given string to the other, either to (a) pluck a note, (b) pluck a rest, or (c) wait for a previously plucked note or rest to finish.
2. You decide when to move the pick from one string to another, but you are FORBIDDEN to (a) change the side of the string the pick is on, (b) pluck a note, or (c) change strings at a time when the metronome will want the pick to flip sides.

(I am tempted to add a third rule about left- and right-hand interaction [or the lack thereof], but I will put that on a separate page.)

These rules might not make sense at first, but I derive them here in the following sections.

Please note that one need not think about these rules when performing or playing at full speed, as all of the motions will have been memorized over the course of practice.

Notation and Mental Model of the Pick and Hand

In this section we define the necessary notation to talk about the strings, the pick, and the hand.

Strings

Let us label the guitar strings after piano keys, so we have E2, A2, D3, G3, B3, E4 for most guitars. (So E2 is the second E key that one finds on a piano, going from the left. [You can just ignore the number if you wish, it is not important for purposes of this document.])

Hand

The picking hand will always be thought of as being "on top" of exactly one string. So, one can say, for example, "the hand is at string G3." If the hand is at G3, I will also call G3 the "current string."

Pick

The pick can only be thought of as being in one of two places around the current string, I will call these locations "plus" and "minus." For example, "plus" might be the side of the current string that happens after a "down-stroke," and "minus" is the side of the current string that happens after an "up-stroke." (Any convention is fine providing that it is uniform, i.e., the same for every string.)

The motion to go between plus and minus is very small, only a few millimeters. So the motion when plucking a single string very small and easily fits between the intra-string spacing.

Full Hand/Pick Notation Examples

• E2+ means that the hand is on string E2 and that the pick is on the plus side of said string.
• G3- means that the hand is on string G3 and that the pick is on the minus side of said string.

So, you can see that we are proving two pieces of information as a pair composing

• the current string,
• the pick's current side.

Physical Considerations

In this section we talk about the physical considerations that would impact a human picking a guitar.

Physical Sensation

I postulate that the musician must feel that some part of their body (their forearm or wrist, for example) that controls the pick moves like a pendulum, and it goes

+ - + - + - + - ....

with very tight integration with the metronome, where the motion is very small. Indeed, metronome ticks signify the transitions from + to - or - to +, i.e., strokes.

Changing Strings

When the pendulum is moved to a new string, the positioning unit (the elbow, for example) must think "+ to +, - to -," i.e., pendulum must always be moved in a way that + or - is not changed, as only the pendulum is allowed to change + or -.

Feeling a complete stroke....

1. The pick starts at + or - of the correct string and the pendulum eventually swings, plucking the string on the transition to - or + (i.e., the pick flips side on the current string);
2. The hand is moved to a different string, if necessary, where the pick is placed on the correct side (the + or - is preserved) of said upcoming string.

That's it, just pick, move, pick, move, pick, move, pick... the pendulum motion is small, so the overall amount of movement is not very much more than what is required by people who enjoy "economy picking."

Of course with much practice the pick/move pairs will become "fused" and very effectively executed in a smooth and flowing motion, and this optimization is critical if one would ever want to play very fast, but there is an incredible underlying simplicity and uniformity of alternate picking that is very pleasing to understand.

Physical Implementation

I believe that to alternate pick correctly one must basically make the pick move as a "pendulum," going between plus and minus, under the strict control of the metronome. This pick movement is very small, only going a few millimeters.

The pendulum is dropped down on the appropriate (plus or minus) side of a string as needed, and later lifted off, but this movement of the pendulum should not change its beat.

Some choices of pendulums and their positioning units might be as follows, where the nature of the pendulum depends on the preferences of the player, and perhaps the choices should be made with consideration of avoiding long-term injury from RSI; perhaps this would mean that one would need to pick a style that is comfortable, relaxed, etc.:

Example: The pendulum is the wrist, the positioning of the pendulum is done with the elbow.

Example: The pendulum is the elbow, the positioning of the pendulum is done with the shoulder.

Example: The pendulum is the forearm (the motion is as if one is turning a key back-and-forth in a lock), the positioning of the pendulum is done with the elbow.

Example: The pendulum is the fingers, the positioning of the pendulum is done with the wrist.

Example: The pendulum is the wrist (as if you're tapping a desk with your knuckles), the positioning of the pendulum is done with the shoulder.

Theoretical Considerations

In this section we break alternate picking down to simple rules so one can study the movements of a pick and know it is correct before fully memorizing.

The Laws of Alternate Picking

Significant thought has led me to conclude (hopefully correctly) that there are four "laws" to alternate picking:

• You can only pick the current string, where your pick will be at either the plus or minus position.
• The only way to change from plus to minus is by picking either a note or rest on the current string.
• The metronome dictates transitions between plus and minus.
• The only way to change the current string is by keeping on the same side of the string, so the plus or minus cannot change.

Example: Let's say that you want to alternate pick an arpeggio, with one note per string on E2, A2, D3, G3, B3, E4; it would go as follows, if you start on E2-:

1. E2- to E2+ (pick).
2. E2+ to A2+ (move).
3. A2+ to A2- (pick).
4. A2- to D3- (move).
5. D3- to D3+ (pick).
6. D3+ to G3+ (move).
7. G3+ to G3- (pick).
8. G3- to B3- (move).
9. B3- to B3+ (pick).
10. B3+ to E3+ (move).
11. E3+ to E3- (pick).

I think that after much practice the "(move)" would start immediately after the "(pick)" was done (there is no reason to wait), so the description would start to look more like this:

1. E2- to E2+ (pick), E2+ to A2+ (move).
2. A2+ to A2- (pick), A2- to D3- (move).
3. D3- to D3+ (pick), D3+ to G3+ (move).
4. G3+ to G3- (pick), G3- to B3- (move).
5. B3- to B3+ (pick), B3+ to E3+ (move).
6. E3+ to E3- (pick).

So the polished player would look like they pick and then quickly move to the next string, getting there nice and early before the pendulum decides to swing!

Pick then move (correct) vs. move then pick (incorrect)

I think it is very important to have "one-note look-ahead," so each note starts where the pick is next to the string of interest; next, you jump over to the upcoming string and prepare for next note, by placing the pick on the correct side (either + or -).

The Purpose of the Metronome

The metronome has absolutely nothing to do with the details of crossing strings, although naturally the pick must be in position by the time the note must be plucked (which is indicated by a transition of the pendulum from plus to minus, or from minus to plus); instead, the metronome only serves to control the pendulum, indicating when the transitions from + to - or - to + must occur.

Advanced Considerations

When somebody plays at a slow enough metronome rate, it will always be possible to switch strings where the pendulum stays on the same side (plus or minus). However, some very advanced players will start to operate the pendulum at speeds that are so high that the pick will be unable to reach a distant string in time before the pendulum decides that it has to flip sides. So we can look at the cases here, where T is the period of the pendulum:

Case 0: Simple Case, Traversal time is less than T

In this (the common case), + goes to +, and - goes to -.

Case 1: Traversal time is greater than T but less than 2T

In this case the pendulum has to be placed on the flipped side (+ goes to - and - goes to +), and one note is lost: This note was "picked" (as a rest) while the pick was traveling between strings. In order to cover this missed note (if necessary) a hammer-on or pull-off motion is required.

Case 2: Traversal time is greater than 2T but less than 3T

In this case the pendulum has to be placed on the same side, but two notes are lost: This means that two notes were "picked" while the pick was traveling between strings. In order to cover these two missed notes (if necessary) hammer-ons or pull-offs will be required.

Case 3: ....

I think that very advanced players will know roughly how many notes will be "unreachable" during the transitions between strings, and they will be able to compensate accordingly.

Some Simple Questions and Answers

Q: So what is "Alternate Picking" in one sentence?

The "real" purpose of alternate picking is to make sure that the process of picking (going from one side of a string to another) is completely disconnected from the process of changing strings, resulting in extremely uniform picking.

Q: Why is alternate picking so uniform?

I postulate that the uniformity of alternate picking comes from the fact that only one mechanism can play the note, and this is the pendulum. If one permits "almost" alternate picking (with two down-strokes in a row, for example), a pendulum cannot play both notes: Instead, various mechanisms are being mixed together to get the notes, and the resulting rhythm will probably be imperfect.

Q: What is the "cost" of alternate picking?

The "cost" of alternate picking is paid when it is time to change strings, and the laws state that the pick must stay on the same side, i.e., plus to plus and minus to minus. In order to be able to accomplish this without hitting any accidental notes the pick must rise up, clear the required number of strings, and then lower down next to the string that it is about to hit. So, there is a motion where one goes above and then back below the plane of the strings whenever one changes between one string and another. So, one might wonder, is this necessary in/out (of the plane of the strings) motion "expensive," in the sense that it slows the player down?

The careful experiments that are required to solve the question of if the in/out motion slows down the player will probably never be conducted, but some advanced players clearly think that the in/out motion is expensive (Frank Gambale being one example, as his sweep-picking technique is designed so his pick does not have to go above the plane of the strings).

However, it might be the case that very regular practice might make it so the in/out movement can be done so efficiently that it does not add any time to the transit time of the pick, and then there would be no speed cost to alternate picking, but the benefit of very uniform timing that the pendulum provides... there is a reason it takes tens of thousands of hours to become a wonderful guitar player.

Q: But what about "up-stroke, down-stroke, up-stroke, down-stroke," isn't that "alternate picking?"

A lot of musicians define alternate picking to be an "up-stroke" followed by a "down-stroke." I could be wrong, but it seems to me that if one tries to really understand what this means that model starts to become extremely complicated (to describe certain corner cases), and I believe that ultimately it breaks down and makes no sense at all. To give you a simple example, consider the arpeggio example provided above: Under the "up-stroke then down-stroke" interpretation of alternate picking, the required movement would be (?):

"Stroke"	Required actions
down	E2- to E2+ (pick) to A2+ (move).
up	A2+ to A2- (pick).
down	A2- to D3- (skip) to D3+ (pick) to G3+ (skip).
up	G3+ to G3- (pick).
down	G3- to B3- (skip) to B3+ (pick) to E4+ (skip).
up	E4+ to E4- (up).

I find the complexity of the second and fourth "down-strokes" to be overwhelming. (Indeed, it is easily possible to come up with very perverse orders for picking of strings that make the "up-stroke and then down-stroke" interpretation even worse, where one must skip some number of strings, pluck a string, and then skip even more strings, all in one movement, resulting in very difficult [and error-prone] movements.)

I think the basic flaw to the up-stroke/down-stroke/up-stroke model is that it confuses two motions that should not be related, i.e., it confuses the pendulum motion with the motion of the arm that places the pendulum upon the correct string. I postulate that each one of these two motions can and should be developed separately, where string placement is always done "quickly" and the pendulum is always a slave to the metronome. So, there is an "alternate" feeling, but this is not tied to the hand's overall up/down movement, but to the pendulum. At the time of this writing I have the best luck "feeling" this motion with the pendulum being my forearm (it twists to +, then twists to -, etc.) and my elbow providing positioning to the correct string.

Q: "But isn't Efficiency Picking is better than Alternate Picking?"

People who advocate "efficiency picking" (also called economy picking) are not interested in the exquisite uniformity of alternate picking, so they basically pick however they want, using a style that they view as both comfortable and intuitive. However, the cost is that they will rarely be able to pick with great uniformity; depending on the style of music, uniform picking might not even be an advantage, so each person must decide according to his or her needs.

While I do not approve of efficiency picking (because it lacks the elegance of alternate picking), there are some great guitarists who use it, and there are some enjoyable articles that champion it, including Alternate vs. Directional Picking.

Kleanthes Koniaris, email.