Killer Alternate Picking Workout!

Bernth, I have a question not related to guitar, but the video itself. I, probably like most of the other members download YouTube videos by means of some web sites for offline viewing or future reference. But this video, together with only a few more in 300 + posts is NOT hosted in YouTube but in some other platforms which I can not understand from the file right-click options. Is it possible to share information about how to download such non YouTube hosted video files?

Murat Halil Ozturk

Hey Dominik, danke dir für den Input - bei dem Thema Fingersatz scheiden sich die Geister, ich denke hier hat jeder ganz eigene Präferenzen :) Bei mir ist es bei einem Bund Abstand pro Note (bei 3nps Shapes) Zeigefinger - Mittelfinger - kleiner Finger geworden, weil es für mich so vor Allem bei Hammer-On und Pull-Off Licks einfacher zu spielen ist, trotz der kleinen Streckung. Ich habe es aber mit dem Ringfinger auch schon genauso effektiv und flüssig gesehen, wirklich dagegen spricht hier denke ich nichts! Beim 'Umlernen' gibt es glaube ich leider keine wirklichen Tricks, da bringt es die Wiederholung - es schadet definitiv nicht wenn man beide Approaches drauf hat, da es immer auf die Position der Tonleiter ankommt und auf die danach folgenden Noten! In machen Situationen braucht man jeweils die andere Variation um z.B. Sprünge besser zu machen. Versuche es einfach mal eine Woche mit meinem Fingersatz und sag bescheid ob das so auch für dich funktioniert :)

Bernd Brodträger

Hi Benrth, ich hätte da mal eine Frage bezüglich der Fingerpositionen: ich habe mich schon gut hochgearbeitet mit der Geschwindigkeit, habe aber, je schneller es wurde, bemerkt, dass da etwas faul ist, weil ich zum schluss hin immer ein leichtes ziehen im Handgeleng hab. dann hab ich mir dieses Video nochmal angesehen und hab dann bemerkt dass ich den falschen Finger einsetze, sobald die Bünde 8-10-12 zu spielen sind. Ich habe dafür immer den Ringfinger benutzt und nicht wie du, den Zeigefinger. Mein Problem ist nun, ich hab dieses Lick schon hunderte Male "falsch" gespielt und jetzt will mein Hirn sich nicht mehr umgewöhnen, dass der Zeigefinger dort hin gehört. Gibt es Tricks, wie ich mir das schneller umgewöhnen kann, oder muss ich vorn vorne beginnen, und wieder alles langsamer spielen, bis alles wieder sitzt?

Dominik Magdic

The great Martin Miller ❤️. That helped a lot and confirmed what I am doing at the moment. Have a great weekend!

Hey Jan, thanks for the great question! Yes, I really like what Troy is doing - this systematic picking analysis and his great animations are awesome, one of my favorite YouTube channels :) I personally never practiced the slanting angles too much, one of the main reasons is that some amazing players on his show weren't even familiar with this system (me neither before watching his videos), so they developed this motion subconsciously by practicing countless hours and improving just a little bit with every session. But I do have to say that knowing about pick slanting has given me a much better idea of why the pick sometimes gets stuck between the strings and I work with different angles whenever I encounter challenging licks (some of them work with just one angle, then it's an easy change to make it more fluid). For multiple changes (like with this exercise) I just work on it over and over again until I notice improvements. Since this directional change is extremely small with fast playing, I didn't grind on it at a very slow tempo so far. Concerning the second topic: I think it's a great idea to gradually increase the speed with exercises but you should also push yourself beyond your comfort zone (at the end of the practice session for example), just to get a feeling of how the motion should look and feel like at fast tempos. It won't sound really good, the hands won't be synchronized and maybe there's a lot of string noise - but you do develop a better idea of the technique instead of just hitting a wall at a certain tempo (great reference from Martin Miller: you won't learn how to run by just walking a bit faster every day - it's a different motion)! I hope that helps a bit :)

Bernd Brodträger

Hi Bernth, i have a question about gaining speed in general. As i know you are into Troy Grady`s cracking the code. How important is the USX/DSX motion for your picking hand in your daily routine. Another Question regarding to speed: You may know John from mileshighshred, he recommended starting your training lick/riff on 60 bpm and move further 5bmp after playing one "set" correctly. This is very time taking, do you think this makes sense or what is your aproach to learn with a metronom?

I initially became aware of Bernth due to his guitar work on 'Era of Threnody' which I really liked and was something different in an often stale and overly traditional genre. I wasn't aware that he also played guitar for Belphegor at one point or even Seiler und Speer, but I think its proof of how versatile a guitarist one can be with theory knowledge, the right exercises and open-mindedness 👍

Hey Roger, yes that was quite some time ago :) I started out in the more extreme metal genres (I think they call it Blackened Death Metal) since these bands were always looking for touring musicians - I got the chance to tour USA/Canada/South America/Europe with them before settling with the current band Seiler und Speer!

Bernd Brodträger

What genre was the band you were in Belphegor? I watched a video from your YT and they scared the crap out of me!

Roger C