Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Tips for alternate picking “against the grain”

#1

Hi all, new-ish member here, loving the lessons so far and have already seen a lot of progress trying to unlearn some long-standing bad habits.

One thing I’m still struggling with is getting a clean alternate pick stroke when I’m moving to another string and the previous pick stroke is in the opposite direction of the string I’m moving to (I’ve heard this referred to as “picking against the grain”).

So for instance say Im trying to play a note on the 4th string on an upbeat (picking up) followed by a note on the 3rd string on the next downbeat (picking down). Because the first pick stroke (up) on the fourth string is going in the direction of the fifth string, I have trouble going all the way back down to the third string for the next pick stroke and connecting cleanly, consistently. What will often happen is that I’ll make contact with the third string but won’t have enough juice left in the pick stroke to actually push through it and get it to ring. If I exaggerate the pick stroke it’ll ring but it’ll often be too loud and I’ll lose fluidity. As with so much else, this problem arises more at faster tempos.

Does anyone have any tips for working on this?
I’ve heard some advice that one should visualize picking through the string rather than just hitting it, but am wondering if there are other recommendations.

Thanks in advance, hope this isn’t too unclear.

#2

Welcome @PickerDave!

See if this helps… Discuss the Guitar lesson: Crosspicking Rhythm - Discuss Lessons - Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

I think your problem is you rotate along the roll axis when you pick. Your roll should tend to be 0. So, as long as you get it in your head what you want to achieve, i.e. (0,0,0) for (pitch, roll, yaw), you will get there quickly from practice.

This is really helping me, and hope to you too!

#3

You bet! And also know that what you’re struggling with is normal and part of the process. The struggle will always be there, by the way (this is why everyone has a certain speed limit), but your limit will increase and it won’t consume you as time goes on. Try these lessons:

https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/pick-hand-exercise-guitar-beginner

https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/wildwood-flower-straight-and-crosspicking-guitar-intermediate

https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/intro-to-crosspicking-forward-roll-study-guitar-intermediate

https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/g-major-scale-study-guitar

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#4

Thanks a lot Ben, that’s very reassuring to hear and I’ll be sure to have those lessons in my rotation.

JohnM, that’s an interesting way to look at it, though I do think I pick more fluidly with a slight “roll” angle.

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#5

I teach that there are 2 dimensions at work, both a vertical movement but coupled with a roll. I love this video of my friend Carl: https://youtu.be/kMGwH5As72g

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#6

Now that Ben is not against it, you should stick with the slight angle! :+1: It is difficult for me to understand the slight “yaw” angle Ben’s friend has though in that video.

#7

That’s a great video. I’ll try to un-see that most of those guys seem to anchor their pinkies :exploding_head: