Guitar, economy picking, pick angles

jptk

Hello there,

I have a question about pick angle when using economy picking and sweep picking. Ive learned that in order to up sweep you have to angle the pick differently, as in, the pointy part of the pick is pointing more towards the floor and when doing a down sweep the pointy part of the pick is pointing more towards the ceiling.

But how much do you angle the pick? Say for example if im playing two notes on the B string and then two notes on the G string continueously, you would have to angle the pick each time you are changing string (using economy picking). At the moment, I am rotating my wrist to angle the pick for up sweeps and down sweeps but it feels like a lot of movement. Am I missing something here?

If my post isnt clear enough please let me know and I will try to make it more clear.

fobster

Imo once you are using the bare minimum of pick would pick angle matter? I've only started on economy picking but nothing reaching sweep picking etc.

jptk

fobster wrote: »

Imo once you are using the bare minimum of pick would pick angle matter? I've only started on economy picking but nothing reaching sweep picking etc.

Im not 100% sure myself... Ive been using economy picking for years and I have tried out many different ways but I still cant get the hang of it and its not down to lack of practice or slow practice. Its simply becuase I cant figure out EXACTLY how to do it.

I have read many lessons on the net and in magazines and they have all said to angle the pick as described in my origional post, but, they dont say how much...

ClutchIt

Well if you are economy or sweep picking back up the strings (from high to low) the angle needed is anything that will make the pick go smoothly from one string to the next. Of course it has to point to the floor because it's impossible to sweep from say high E string to B string by doing anything other than 2 upstrokes in a row. Thats the definition of sweeping. Angle doesn't matter IMO as long as its 2 upstrokes, doing this alone will force you to angle the pick in the correct way.

In fact, I would say as little an angle as possible would make more sense.

Neal_B

I turn the pick sideways so that it isn't hitting the string flat if you know what i mean, so that I'd be using the edge. Takes a bit of prctice but I find I have more control and consistent volume when I do it this way.