Economy picking vs alternate when it comes to shredding

[Andreas Laich]

Hey Synners,
recently i startet doing shredding exercieses (i would consider myself a player somewhere between intermediate and advanced, but do not have much experience on that field. i always focused on other stuff, but now i think it is time to explore things in soloing that i haven’t explored before)
of course i have to focus on synching both hands up and keeping it slow (as everywhere), but espescially when practicing the slow stuff i always pay very much attention on how i play it with my right hand – for example ‘are there parts where i can economy-pick (if i can say that so ), am i better off with an up- or downstroke?’
i know alternate picking has its benefits, and of course i want to be able to play it both ways someday, but i would like to know what your experiences or advices are?
’cause i think economy picking is a very nice thing to learn, and i always thought that i should use it whenever i can (as long as the pattern allows it), because of it requiring less movement of the right hand, but is this really true?
or is it sometimes better to just stick with alternate picking?
just asking because most “shredders” just seem to alternate pick (hope to not spread lies here), and i was wondering if that was just because of economy picking not being that widely used, or for a technical reason?
looking forward to your responses, i hope i could make myself understood, sorry for the not-so-perfect english
Greetings from Austria!

 

[Jak Angelescu]

I would DEFINITELY encourage the use of economy picking. There are reasons for both though. Alternate picking and economy picking get different sounds when played. If you listen closely, they do. You can play the same passage but they’ll sound completely different. Alternate picking lends itself to a more chopped, shredded sound. It’s the sound that we hear that makes us say, “Damn, that guy can SHRED.” It’s far more aggressive on the ears than economy. Economy has a much more fluid sound. When I was learning Hail to the King, the solo was a nightmare because I didn’t even know economy picking existed. I practiced it for almost a half a year and I couldn’t improve. I DO believe that economy picking has its benefits because their are certain passages that are played a lot easier with it, and they (most importantly) SOUND more appropriate. If you were to play the economy picked parts in HTTK with alternate picking, it wouldn’t sound as smooth. It wouldn’t get the “dreamy” sound that Gates gets. It would be very chopped and “shredded” sounding.
There ARE players who can do 6 string arpeggios with alternate picking and VERY fast too. So yes, it can be done both ways for ANYTHING you want to learn or play But I think the most important thing to bear in mind is to make sure you’re proficient with both to make the sound you want. If you’re going to play a lulling ballad solo, economy may be more appropriate for you to be more favorable on the ear. Or if you’re going to do something like Sins of Omission by Testament, alternate may be in good standings

 

[idssdi]

I personally economy pick pretty much every 3 note per string thing and alternate pick pentatonics. I would definitely encourage to learn both of them. Not sure you want to start with economy picking because also involves a sweep.

 

[Andreas Laich]

Thank you very much guys, i guess i wasn’t that wrong with my former opinion.
I know what you mean considering the sound Jak, i’d rather prefer the economy picking sound, not just because of being a huge Syn Fan, but also because of that fluent sound you mentioned, while every single note is still clearly audible if you do it right.
The HTTK Solo was also for me the point where i first got in touch with economy picking, and i was surprised how nicely it worked out once you get it done, much more notes with much less effort.
Anyway, thank you for the fast responses, i will continue practicing both ways.
Glad to know that economy picking seems never to be out of place!

 

[Jake Young]

I’ve been playing for about 18 years now and always focused on “other stuff” as well…about 5 years ago I decided it was time to REALLY focus on speed. Of course I turned to Syn’s playing, then stumbled across his master class video and heard him talking about economy picking. Once I got that technique under my fingers, my speed increased sevenfold! (Ha see what I did there) and now it’s hard to do anything but economy..it’s like second nature now

 

[Dan Shipway]

Economy definitely feels way easier to me (It has gone down considerably due to my practice time being decreased)it just seems a lot easier continuing the stroke onto the next string.

 

[Matt Wildman]

I’m the same as Dan. Now that I now how to economy pick, I’m actually more comfortable using that method than alternate picking similar scales or whatever, because the sweeping aspect that’s involved with it just makes it a whole lot easier than alternate picking each string and then going to the next one and so on. I need to work more on alternate

 

[Sayonil Mitra]

I find economy picking much faster than than alternate one although alternate is my favourite. the speed you can reach with economy is ridiculous.

 

[Andreas Laich]

Thank you very much guys!

 

[Ed Seith]

I just started diving into economy yesterday. Let’s see where it leads me!