Alternate Picking Masterclass: The 5 Mistakes Killing Your Speed
Technique · 8 min read ·
Alternate picking is the foundation of everything. Sweep, economy, hybrid — they all assume you can already alternate pick cleanly. If your alternate picking has mechanical flaws, every other technique you build on top of it inherits those flaws.
I've spent years dissecting what separates a 12-NPS alternate picker from a 7-NPS one. It's almost never about talent or "fast twitch muscle fibers" or whatever excuse you tell yourself. It's about five correctable mistakes.
Mistake #1: Wrong Pick Angle
Hold your pick perfectly flat against the string. Now strum. Hear that thick, scratchy attack? That's maximum resistance. The string has to push past the entire flat surface of the pick before it releases.
Now tilt the pick about 15-20 degrees so the edge slices through the string at an angle. Hear the difference? That's what a slight edge pick angle does — it reduces the surface area contacting the string, which means less resistance, less force needed, faster recovery.
The fix: Hold a pick against a sheet of paper and push it through. If it catches, your angle is too flat. If it slides through like a knife, you've got it. Aim for 10-20 degrees of edge picking. Not so much that you lose tone — just enough to cut through the string cleanly.
Mistake #2: String Crossing Inefficiency
This is the big one. Most players can tremolo pick a single string at impressive speeds. But the moment they have to cross to the next string, everything falls apart.
Why? Because they're making two separate motions: pick the string, then move to the next string. Instead of flowing the pick in one continuous path that naturally carries it to the adjacent string.
The fix: Practice two-string patterns obsessively. E string to B string, one note each, alternate picked. Start at a crawl — like 60 BPM. Watch your pick hand. The pick should travel in a tight, continuous figure-eight motion. No stopping, no resetting between strings. When you can do it at 60 BPM with perfect continuity, bump it up by 5.
Mistake #3: Too Much Pick Depth
Grab a ruler. Measure how much of your pick extends past the string when you play. If it's more than 1-2mm, you're burying the pick too deep.
Every extra millimeter of depth means extra distance your pick has to travel to get past the string and return for the next stroke. At slow tempos, this doesn't matter. At high speeds, it's the difference between making the tempo and not.
Think of it this way: a sprinter doesn't lift their knees to their chest while running. They use the minimum range of motion needed for speed. Your pick is the same.
The fix: Practice near the edge of the pick, barely catching the string. It will feel weird at first — thin, small, not "beefy" enough. That's fine. Speed lives in small, precise motions. You can always dig in harder for heavy rhythm parts.
Mistake #4: Tension
I'm going to write an entire article about this because it's that important, but here's the short version: if your forearm burns after 30 seconds of alternate picking, you're way too tense.
Tension is the #1 speed killer. It's your muscles fighting against each other — the flexors trying to pick while the extensors are braced in a death grip. Your body is literally working against itself.
The fix: Play at a comfortable tempo. Now consciously release tension everywhere — pick grip, thumb, forearm, shoulder, jaw (yes, jaw — lots of players clench their teeth). Find the minimum force needed to produce a clean note. That lightness? That's your target at every tempo.
Mistake #5: Inconsistent Motion Across Strings
Here's one most players don't catch without video: their picking motion changes shape depending on which string they're on. On the low E, it's a big wrist motion. On the high E, it suddenly becomes a finger motion. On the middle strings, it's something in between.
Every time your motion type changes, your brain has to recalculate the motor pattern. That costs milliseconds. At 160 BPM in sixteenths, you don't have milliseconds to spare.
The fix: Film yourself. Not from the front — from above, looking down at your pick hand. Play a pattern that crosses all six strings. Watch for changes in motion source (wrist vs. fingers vs. elbow). Pick one motion type and drill it consistently across all strings. Most elite alternate pickers use wrist deviation as their primary motion — it's compact, fast, and scales well.
Putting It All Together
The five fixes, ranked by impact:
- Reduce tension — biggest single speed gain
- Fix string crossing — eliminates the main speed bottleneck
- Reduce pick depth — less distance = more speed headroom
- Adjust pick angle — reduces resistance per stroke
- Unify motion type — eliminates recalculation delays
Don't try to fix all five at once. Pick one, drill it for two weeks, then move to the next.
Want to drill these systematically? ShredForge's exercise library has dedicated alternate picking patterns across all string groups. Load one, set your tempo, and the audio engine tells you exactly where your timing breaks down — no guessing required.