Playing Sean’s speed and stamina exercise 1

@Sean Conklin 6472 wrote:

Rohan,

I love it man! Awesome job on that exercise. Thanks so much for sharing your progress with us! 🙂

I have one suggestion, however it really just depends on what works for you. Your right thumb is fully extended while you hold your pick. I’d recommend holding your pick at the very end of your thumb and letting your thumb bend a little to where it isn’t fully extended, just completely relaxed. For me, when I extend my thumb all the way it takes extra energy and I can’t fully relax my picking hand. But when it’s bent a little I can relax and also angle the pick a bit better against the strings. Anyway, just my personal preference, but definitely do whatever feels most comfortable to you.

Awesome job bro!
Sean

Hey Rohan, 🙂

I forgot to mention that Sean’s advice could work for you, but as he said, the important thing is to be comfortable and relaxed! 😉 One benefit to holding the pick the way you currently do is that it seems to eliminate any unwanted “finger-motion” in your mechanics. Before I started overhauling my own picking technique, I had the problem of having too many moving parts (especially the finger joint movements, along with the wrist and forearm motion.:eek:) From what I can see in your technique, holding the pick further down your thunb (closer to your wrist ultimately) seems to minimize any extraneous finger movements and instead isolates the motion to your wrist (which I believe is a good thing!) I think when Sean holds his pick close to the end of his thumb, he then bends that thumb knuckle which does two good things for his picking:

1. Creates the “Paul Gilbert-approved” forward pick-angle – reducing string drag/resistance.
2. Locks his fingers OUT of the picking motion, and isolates it to the wrist. (All good!)

Anways, that’s my take on things! 😎

~Bill Meehan~ 😀

@arc_of_descent 6486 wrote:

Hi,

Bill, thanks for your suggestions. I spent yesterday researching loads of videos on YouTube! 🙂 What Sean suggests, I could definitely see Paul Gilbert handling the pick and wrist in a similar way, and he can really pick fast and clean! I also noticed Frank Gambale has quite a lot of thumb out, which IMO helps out in his sweep picking as more of the pick juts out.

I feel this is a really good time to concentrate on my left hand now, and let the right hand take its own course. 😀 Paul Gilbert mentions in one of his videos that he had built his left hand strength much before he concentrated on his right hand and I’m going to believe him. 🙂

Thanks,
Rohan

Hi Rohan, 🙂

One thing that you should know about Paul Gilbert’s development (if you don’t already know this) is that when he says that he developed his left-hand technique before his right, that is a byproduct of his COMPLETE “right-hand-picking technique mechanics-overhaul” that he self-imposed when he went out to California, USA to attend the G.I.T. school. Prior to arriving in California to attend G.I.T., he used to hold the pick between his thumb and the “figerprint” portion of his index-finger. (This is a VERY important distinction between what he did pre-G.I.T. and what he changed to AT G.I.T.!!! – Also, I’ve researched this extensively, because I used to pick EXACTLY the way he used to pick – only NOT NEARLY as well…LOL!) The only way to make that OLD “pick-grip” he had work, is tobend the thumb BACKWARDS, and then create a BACKWARD angle for the pick to strike the strings (to reduce resistance.) This is obviously the OPPOSITE of what he changed to and continues to do now! Once he started holding the pick bewteen the thumb and the SIDE of his index finger, the (bad) extra finger-motion got “LOCKED-OUT” and his pick-angle became the more typical “forward-angle.” There are plenty of YouTube clips where Paul Gilbert explains that major change to his pick-grip and technique. In these clips, he usually stresses the importance of bending the thumb-knuckle, which in turn creates a larger forward pic-angle, thus reducing string-resistance even more! He also describes his affinity for the “timbre/tone” that this extra pick-angle produces (He comically refers to it as a “cello-like swoosh!”) Anyways, the point I’m making here is that his right-hand development coming after his left-hand development, was simply a byproduct of his desire to overhaul/improve his picking mechanics when he went out to G.I.T.! Furthermore, that old picking technique that he had, IS embraced by some excellent players, so it’s NOT as if one CANNOT play good guitar whilst picking that way! (Neal Schon, Vernon Reid, and Shawn Lane come to mind! – although I haven’t quite figured out Shawn Lane’s exact pick-grip, but I know for a FACT that he used and enbraced the “backwards pick-angle” that I spoke of earlier!) 😉

Whatever you decide to do, (or NOT do) be DECISIVE and remain consistent in your approach! Try not to get stuck “BETWEEN” two opposing approaches in other words. I say this from personal experience, as I’ve worked VERY hard over the last 15 months (approximately) to make these major picking changes. There’s an old saying that goes:

“YOU CAN’T TEACH AN OLD-DOG NEW TRICKS!!!”

I would be “The OLD DOG! (LOL!) 😮

Best of Luck Rohan! 😎

~Bill Meehan~ 😀

@arc_of_descent 6492 wrote:

Hello,

I guess what really inspired me about mentioning Paul Gilbert’s picking is one of his quotes/comments in some video “The left had is the executor, the right is the steerer”. I’m sure I’ve got that horribly wrong, so don’t sue me!

Ah! I’ve been studying Marc Sfogli’s tune on the Larry Carlton based backing track available on YouTube. What an awesome solo! His picking is awesome and I can definitely see a thumb-knuckle there! 😀

I’m guilty of repeating myself. Time for more left hand exercises!

—
Rohan

Hey Rohan, 🙂

Thanks for referring me to that GREAT jam by Marco Sfogli (“Larry Carlton Style” BluesJamtracks.) OMFG! 😮 That would be a MAJOR undertaking for me to learn, I can tell you that much! 😮 😮 (LOL!)

Best-of-luck Ro! 😉

~Bill Meehan~ 😎