Alternate VS Economy Picking

[Jake Young]

For the first 15 years of my playing, I focused on mainly alternate picking the speedy type licks. It wasn’t until about 3 years ago when I watched Syn’s masterclass that I learned about the economy technique. Once I got it down my speed increased 10 fold. It’s tricky now to do strict alternate picking. Should I go back and revisit the alternate style and use a nice mix of both?
I think the obvious answer would be yes, to be well versed in both. But I’m curious what others think

 

[idssdi]

Personally I in some weird way have always used economy picking. Ithe camera Pretty naturally to me especially when i have to go to the next string. So i would say since i always thought economy picking is kind of a way to mix sweep picking and alternate picking you can Just keep at it

 

[Ireneusz Skorupa]

I’m not sure if sticking just to economy is a good idea. Some players tend to say that entering the school of economy picking is a trap, and one day you might want to alt-pick and just won’t be able to do it as fast as you want because you’ve got so addicted to economy. And there definitely is reason to sometimes choose alternate picking above economy! Alternate picking is much more aggressive in it’s sound and strikes your ear, while economy is softer, kind of flowing, unless you’re just capable of playing economy and make it sound as striking as alt. I recommend you watching this video by Rick Graham on how to utilize both techniques and switch between them whenever you want: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU01A7rNMRI
Tension control is pure gold.

 

[Jake Young]

Rick Graham is a fucking madman!! His speed always just looks effortless! Thanks for the tips you two

 

[Filip Tomiša]

Have you guys heard of “swybrid” picking? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LUu36SiErA You should definitely check it out. It’s pretty cool.

 

[Jake Young]

Never have before now! That’s pretty interesting and crazy sounding

 

[Donnie Keeney]

Tosin’s swybrid stuff is nuts! Rick Graham is a madman. I wish I could play as effortlessly as he does. His legato workout did a lot of progress my legato playing.

 

[Jake Young]

I appreciate everyone’s advice! But I’ve noticed a lot of new faces around here and I’m curious of some other opinions..so I’m bumping this back up!