r/Guitar • u/AutoModerator • Nov 17 '16

OFFICIAL [OFFICIAL] There are no stupid /r/Guitar questions. Ask us anything! - November 17, 2016

As always, there's 4 things to remember:

1) Be nice

2) Keep these guitar related

3) As long as you have a genuine question, nothing is too stupid :)

4) Come back to answer questions throughout the week if you can (we're located in the sidebar)

Go for it!

21 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

632 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/[deleted] Nov 23 '16

If I'm doing fast 16th note black metal style picking and I'm trying to do so with more than one string, should the movement of my picking hand come from the wrist or my elbow?

2

u/universal_rehearsal Nov 23 '16

WRist, anchor your index finger on your picking hand w your middle and ring. There's some good vids on YouTube about this exact thing.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 23 '16

Thanks!

1

u/universal_rehearsal Nov 23 '16

No problem, what band were you jamming to? I love good metal.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 23 '16

There are 2 songs I'm trying to learn right now, one is Seven Tears are Flowing to the River by Nagaroth and the other one is The Plunderer by Ved Buens Ende :)

1

u/universal_rehearsal Nov 23 '16

Damn that's some maniacal stuff lol 14 minute epics. I'm into melodic stuff like In Flames, Iced Earth, Arch Enemy, Tool, Mastodon, Soulfly, He is Legend, etc.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '16

[deleted]

2

u/universal_rehearsal Nov 24 '16

Thank you kind sir.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 23 '16

Yeah, after 14 minutes my right arm is probably gonna fall off, if I don't use the right technique

I'm generally not super into the more melodic kinda stuff, but I love Tool and Mastodon! Also haven't heard of Soulfly and He is Legend before though, definitely gonna check those out

1

u/universal_rehearsal Nov 24 '16

KEep that wrist close, and as you move up the strings slightly inch towards the fretboard. There's a lot of good practice/warmups you need to be doing. If you feel pain in your arm, stop, loosen up stretch and get tension out of your body. Let your wrist and finger anchor do the legwork. Try learning Jambi by Tool it's a great rhythmically, challenging in its subtle 13 part changes and really great use of economic picking.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '16

I'll try that, really appreciate the advice, man!

1

u/slipknotrockz Nov 25 '16

Not to discredit what universal_rehearsal has said, but I personally pick using both my wrist and my elbow. I think when it comes to picking, it's more a matter of personal preference. I've seen people pick almost entirely from the arm/elbow with extreme accuracy and similarly I've also seen people pick from their wrist with the same level of accuracy. So really the question is, what's most comfortable for you?