Today we&#8217;re going to check out a picking question from School of McRock member James. He seems to be struggling when it comes to picking speed to let&#8217;s see what suggestions we can come up with!

Thomas McRocklin

Alternate Picking

Picking

Q&amp;A

Q: How can I get better at alternate picking?

Preview

Answer

In this lesson I&#8217;m going to walk you through solo number one from my track &#8220;Waiting For The Right Time&#8221;.
This solo is all about trying to say more with less notes, with an emphasis on melody, phrasing and delivery. Technically this solo is quite simple, but as I walk you through it we&#8217;re going to pay a lot of attention to all the small details that make it stand out!

Solo 1

Text/PDF

Guitar Pro

Lick Breakdown

Waiting For The Right Time &#8211; Solo 1

Introduction

Solo Breakdown

This lesson covers everything you need to know to become a tapping master &#8211; whether you&#8217;re a beginner unsure how to get started with tapping or a more experienced player looking for some tips and inspiration to take your playing to the next level.
We start with the basics such as how to transition from picking to tapping, common tapping patterns and changing notes with each hand. Once we&#8217;ve got the fundamentals down we&#8217;re going to crank it up to 11 with some fun advanced tapping techniques &#8211; let&#8217;s go!

Double Stop

Tapping

Technique

Tapping 101

Transitioning in and out

Tapping patterns

Changing notes

Using open notes

Advanced tapping

In this lesson I&#8217;m going to give you a full breakdown of all of the mechanics and movements involved in sweep picking so that you can learn everything you need to nail this awesome technique.
I start with the basics, including the best methods for holding the pick correctly so that you can sweep through the strings like a warm knife through butter! As you progress through the lesson you&#8217;ll learn multiple sweeping patterns and how to put everything together so you can use this technique in the real world to deliver some awesome solo action!

Arpeggios

Sweep Picking

Sweep Picking 101

Ascending Sweeps

Descending Sweeps

Changing Direction

Transitioning Between Shapes

Easy Lessons

If you&#8217;ve wanted to incorporate legato into your playing this is the lesson for you &#8211; I&#8217;m going to give you all of the tools and information you need to incorporate this fun and explosive technique into your playing today!
This lesson covers the fundamentals relating to the tone and mechanics of legato playing, as well as some deep dives into various ways I use legato in my own playing. It&#8217;s packed with tips and tricks as well as a selection of simple, quick exercises that will take your legato chops to the next level.

Exercises

Legato

String Skipping

Legato 101

Tone and Technique

Pentatonics

Do you know what makes a great solo? In this lesson I break down the entire process of how you can construct an effective guitar solo from scratch.
I start at the very beginning and teach you what you should think about before you play your first note, guiding you through the process of developing your initial ideas over time and refining them into an amazing solo. I&#8217;ve also made sure to pack in tons of practical tips along the way to give you inspiration and make sure that you never get stuck throughout the process.

Summer

Improvisation

Songwriting

Tips and Tricks

Constructing a Great Solo

How To Start a Solo

Ideas If You Get Stuck

Writing Solos

Today I&#8217;m going to teach you a really cool melodic rock lick that you can use to improve your improvisation and overall lead game.
I&#8217;ll break down the full lick for you and explain how it is constructed as well as some of the theory behind it, followed by some awesome exercises which will help you improve the legato techniques required to play these types of licks.

Backing Track

Stel Andre

Melodic Rock Lick Breakdown

Lick breakdown

In this lesson I&#8217;m going to teach you a lick that uses blazing 3 note per string patterns and combines pentatonic and minor sounds as you switch between the strings.
When most people try combining pentatonic and minor sounds they tend to play a blues lick followed by a minor lick or vice versa, but I prefer to jump back and forth between the two scales seamlessly to create unique sounding phrases.
I do this a lot in my playing and I hope that it will inspire you to create some unique sounding licks of your own!

Pentatonic/Minor Combo Lick

3 note per string exercise

Intermediate Lessons

In this lesson I&#8217;m going to walk you through the 2nd solo from my track &#8220;Waiting For The Right Time&#8221;. This is the 2nd guitar solo in this track and it&#8217;s by far the most intense&#8230;
This solo was actually pieced together in the studio from multiple versions, resulting in something that I would never have played in a single take. It was challenging to re-learn this afterwards, but in the process I picked up a lot of interesting tips to pass on to you!

Solo 2

Waiting For The Right Time &#8211; Solo 2

In this lesson I&#8217;m going to teach you a cool, creative string skipping tapping lick as well some tips to carry out to help you with this style of playing.
Sometimes with licks based on modulations, modal interchanges, complex harmony etc, we can find ourselves a bit lost. I bet you have had that feeling, haven&#8217;t you? Don&#8217;t worry, I&#8217;m also going to explain the harmony behind this lick and how it is constructed!

Borja Mintegiaga

Intervallic Lick

Theory and Tips

Today I&#8217;m going to take you up to the Shred Club HQ for 6 absolutely killer, finger ripping shred exercises that are going to get you shredding out of your mind!
We&#8217;re going to start off by getting your left hand on fire, then concentrate on the picking hand, before finally pulling out all the stops with some insane tapping exercises to really get your blood pumping.

Shred

6 Mega Shred Exercises

Left hand

Right hand

Both hands

Recently I was writing a new riff and I wasn&#8217;t quite sure where I wanted to go with it. It features a lot of interesting techniques which I&#8217;m going to break down for you&#8230;
&#8230;but it&#8217;s not finished yet! That&#8217;s where you come in. I want you to learn my parts, then write your own ending and share your version with me in the members chat. Let&#8217;s do this!

The Unfinished Riff

The Lesson

Let's Exercise!

Advanced Lessons

One of the most effective methods I use to improve the speed and smoothness of guitar licks is to take a step back and explore different ways to optimise what I&#8217;m playing.
This can feel uncomfortable at first as you need to retrain your brain &#8211; and fingers &#8211; to approach things in a different way, but once you begin applying this simple concept to your playing you&#8217;ll begin to open up new ways to play licks faster and more fluently, whilst saving literally hours and hours of practice time!

Speed

Breaking The Habit

Intro

Lesson

In this lesson I&#8217;m going to show you two very different approaches to using Legato. We&#8217;re gonna cover that real fast old-school 90s style before moving right to the present with my current approach to Legato. It&#8217;s much more subtle, and allows for some killer note combinations.
I&#8217;ve also included a mighty exercise that&#8217;s guaranteed to give you melon crushing abilities 🍉 🥋

Legato &#8211; Old School vs New School

Old school style

Old school with a twist

Back to the future

Being able to switch fluently between different techniques is really important, so I&#8217;ve put together a shred lick which features a combination of alternate and sweep picking to help you nail this transition seamlessly.
If you&#8217;re new to shredding this is a great lick to get started with and I include a lot of tips and insights that will set you up on the right track to become a shred monster in no time!

Switching Shred Lick

Part 1

Part 2 Time to Shred!

Lick breakdowns

Do you find yourself stuck playing the same scales and patterns all the time?
In this lesson we&#8217;re going to pick a few different keys to improvise in but we&#8217;re going to completely ban the obvious and comfortable scale positions you&#8217;re used to! Instead I&#8217;ll show you some cool new shapes and patterns to use which will force you into using new note choices and phrasing options to help you break out of your habits and breath new life into your playing!

Scales

Theory

Alternative Scale Positions

A minor

C minor

D minor

This lesson is all about getting you really comfortable playing everywhere on the neck &#8211; without learning any scale positions at all!
This is one of the first things I learned on guitar and is actually how I was able to shred from a very young age. It&#8217;s based on a very simple method that is really easy to learn and will make a huge difference to you when it comes to visualising the fretboard.

Thinking in Tones

Getting started

TSTTSTT

Linking it together

Pentatonic scales are extremely useful but it&#8217;s very important to understand what they are and what you can do with them, or else your playing can easily become very boxed in.
In this lesson I&#8217;m going to teach you all about pentatonic concepts and how I approach using them in my own playing. I&#8217;ll show you how you can keep your licks sounding fresh by jumping in and out of pentatonics and adding additional notes as well as contrasting them with additional arpeggios and scales &#8211; which is something I do all of the time!

The World Of Pentatonics

The Shapes

Breaking Out Of The Box

Adding Contrast

My Favourite Positions

Another Favourite

Clear Skies

One of the questions I get asked a lot is &#8211; what tuning are you in? I always play in standard tuning, but the way you approach chords and phrasing in different keys can completely transform the way they sound.
This lesson gives you all the insights into my approach to playing in my favourite keys. I&#8217;ll show you how to re-train your fingers to come up with some amazing sounds based on familiar shapes and how to layer harmonics onto chords to create epic soundscapes.

Chords

My Favourite Keys

F Sharp Minor

E Minor

B Minor

Music theory

Are you one of those guitarists who struggle to play in sync with a drum groove?
This lesson is really going to help you improve your sense of timing and rhythm. I&#8217;m going to show you how to tightly lock your guitar playing into any drum beat.
We&#8217;ll start off with a really simple phrase and get it locked in tightly before we spice it up with some cool rhythmic patterns and techniques. As an added bonus I&#8217;ll also teach you my favourite hack which lets you fit licks into any passage super easily.

Jam beat

Rhythm

Improving Your Timing and Rhythm

Locking into a beat

Triplets and upbeats

Using outside notes

Making your licks fit a

Bending is such an important part of playing guitar – it’s a crucial technique to have in your arsenal and it’s worth taking the time to get it right.
In this lesson I break down the fundamentals of bending and answer the most commonly asked questions about the technique. I also share a few of my top secret tips so that you can learn all of the tools you need to become a bending master.

Pinch Harmonics

Vibrato

String Bending 101

Push or Pull

How to Bend

Getting The Pitch Right

To Vibrato or Not

Four Finger Bending

Gimme a Secret Tip!

Over Bending

How Far Can You Bend?

Pinched Harmonic Bends

My Final Tips

This question comes from Liam who is having some trouble with alternate picking runs. He&#8217;s fine going from the high to low strings, but changing direction seems to require a great deal more concentration and is causing him to trip up. This is a tough problem and I totally understand the frustration, but I do have a solution!

Q: Why Are Descending Runs Harder to Pick?

Tips & tricks

In this lesson you&#8217;re going to learn some killer riffs and techniques that will push your prog playing to the limit. Starting with some simple progressions we&#8217;ll jam together and exchange solos then transform those chords into super tight, advanced prog riffs.
If you&#8217;re still thirsty for more then come join me on a deep dive into sweeping arpeggios and how to lock your sweeping in time with a drum beat.

Drum beat

Riffs

The Ultimate Prog Workout

Riff 1 (jam)

Riff 1 (advanced)

Riff 2 (jam)

Riff 2 (advanced)

Sweep practice

Sweep practice (advanced)

I love to combine sweeping and tapping together, it&#8217;s a technique I use all the time and in this lesson I&#8217;m going to show you three ways to implement this in your own playing.
Using these techniques together allows you to come up with fresh and interesting note combinations, and spice up boring licks. You can also use them to also unlock something very special which will completely transform your playing and take you to a whole new level!

Combining Sweeping With Tapping

The extension

Sweep, tap and bend

The position shift

Sweep picking

Hey guys, Micky Crystal here and today I&#8217;ve got a very cool hybrid picking legato lick for you.
I&#8217;m going to show you a couple of cool exercise to go along with this, and once you&#8217;ve learned the lick and the ideas behind it&#8217;ll enable you to create your own awesome hybrid picking legato licks.

Micky Crystal

Hybrid Picking

Hybrid Picking Legato Lick

Today I&#8217;m going to show you one of my favourite go-to shred licks. This lick features a variety of techniques &#8211; sweep picking, hammer ons, pull offs &#8211; and a lot of muting to go along with those to improve your note separation and clarity.
Before we get into the lick itself I&#8217;m also going to demonstrate my approach to playing major arpeggios &#8211; so that you can apply these skills to your own playing and licks!

Q: How can I get better at alternate picking?

Scale Finder

Guitar Techniques 101

Practical Guitar Theory

Search Lessons

Easy Lessons

Q: How can I get better at alternate picking?

Waiting For The Right Time – Solo 1

Tapping 101

Sweep Picking 101

Intermediate Lessons

Legato 101

Constructing a Great Solo

Melodic Rock Lick Breakdown

Pentatonic/Minor Combo Lick

Advanced Lessons

Waiting For The Right Time – Solo 2

Intervallic Lick

6 Mega Shred Exercises

The Unfinished Riff

Time to Shred!

Breaking The Habit

6 Mega Shred Exercises

Legato – Old School vs New School

Switching Shred Lick

Lick breakdowns

Waiting For The Right Time – Solo 2

Waiting For The Right Time – Solo 1

Melodic Rock Lick Breakdown

Intervallic Lick

Music theory

Alternative Scale Positions

Thinking in Tones

The World Of Pentatonics

My Favourite Keys

Improvisation

Breaking The Habit

Constructing a Great Solo

Melodic Rock Lick Breakdown

Improving Your Timing and Rhythm

Tips & tricks

Breaking The Habit

String Bending 101

Q: Why Are Descending Runs Harder to Pick?

Constructing a Great Solo

Sweep picking

Sweep Picking 101

The Ultimate Prog Workout

Combining Sweeping With Tapping

Switching Shred Lick

Guest Lessons

Melodic Rock Lick Breakdown

Intervallic Lick

Hybrid Picking Legato Lick

Black Line Shred Lick

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