Hey everyone,

I was working on my speed picking today and just can't decide on whether to use my wrist or forearm/elbow. I think most p_layer_s who are new to speed picking tend to use the forearm more often cuz it is easier but since this affects accuracy ive decided to use my wrist.

what are you views on the topic? should i switch back to forearm movement? forearm morvement does come more naturally but i think i'll just use it for single string runs cuz switcing strings is pretty hard while using forearm movement.

i do however have a feeling im not built for speed picking. i started practicing chromatic scales using my wrist and i could only reach 120bpm (ive only bin practicing for 2 days though). im hoping my wrist can get faster.... we'll see

That is a good question. I have a few comments for you. First, I can let you know that I discovered that "speed picking" is not for me. I spent some time trying to work on it and discoverd I was not fit for it. I instead moved onto legato technique.

As I worked on speed picking I could make the observation that I wanted to use my wrist to avoid muscle tension in my wrist. If you use your forearm to speed pick you will notice that you tense up your muscles to keep your wrist still to try and be more accurate. This can damage the muscles in your wrist.

This is a technique that can take some time. Keep working on it and I am sure you will notice an improvement in your technique.

Jeremy Laursen

i agree with Jeremy, that most people pick from the wrist. however, i've seen some great jazz p_layer_s who play with forearm and from the elbow, while floating their hand above the strings, and they can shred your face off with highly technical runs and arpeggios.

personally, i prefer to anchor my hand to the guitar for accuracy and then use my wrist.

there's an exercise i like to use to work up my single string speed. set the metronome to a very slow tempo, maybe 60 or 70 bpm. start by playing quarter notes (you can use one note, or a scale or even a chord shape if you want to practice crossing the strings), then shift to 8ths, followed by 8th triplets, followed by 16ths, followed by quintuplets, then 16th triplets, septuplets, and finally 32nd notes. so what you're doing is playing 1 note per beat, then 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and finally 8.

i'll probably post a vid of this soon, but i hope you get the idea.

my main piece of advice regarding this is that however you pick when you're picking slow, you should maintain that hand position/relaxation/etc when you pick fast. don't tense up whatever you do.

Could you name a couple guitarists who use the elbow while they float the hand above the strings? I'll check out their videos.
Also, are there any rock guitarists who use the elbow?

the main one i'm thinking of is Jimmy Bruno. When he gets really burnin', it's almost all forearm.

Joe Pass does it a bit too. Both those guys float their hand above the strings.

I'm not sure any rock p_layer_s do it, but a great picker who you should check out is Steve Morse. He has his own technique of holding the pick with 3 fingers, and anchoring with his pinky. I do that a bit too - anchor my pinky and then close the rest of the fingers. It's a happy medium between floating and anchoring.

Petrucci is another one, who floats when he gets super fast, and it's a combo of forearm and wrist.

To each his own, I guess. I would say find what works best for you and is comfortable at any speed and stick with it.