Picking Guitar Lessons

Today we’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’s see what suggestions we can come up with!

Are you frustrated by unpleasant string noise muddying your guitar playing? It’s time to put an end to that nightmare! In this lesson, I’ll show you how to eliminate those annoying string noises and achieve cleaner, higher-quality pick strokes.

Not only will this improve your overall sound, but I’ll also provide you with some fantastic picking exercises to boost your confidence when improvising on the fretboard. So say goodbye to those moments when your playing falls apart and let’s get started on the path to cleaner, more confident guitar playing.

Get ready for an intense workout – this lesson is all about metal! I unveil killer picking patterns and innovative ways to wield diads and triads, guaranteeing your riffs sound bold and invigorating.

Plus, I share my top tips for explosive metal rhythm playing. This lesson’s a cracker, packed with excitement. Let’s dive in and ignite the metal fury!

In this lesson, I’ve got some concepts perfect for holiday noodling with your feet up on the sofa. From tremolo picking to sweep picking, these are simple patterns designed to sync up your right and left hands.

These techniques are a game-changer once you nail them, offering fresh and cool-sounding licks. I also demonstrate how to blend the two styles of picking together, as well as some of my favourite shapes for diminished sounds as a special bonus.

In this lesson, I’m going to break down the main solo from my track Storms. It involves a lot of melodic playing that relies heavily on phrasing, vibrato and slides before kicking into a frantic flurry of pentatonic picking.

I’ll be taking you through the solo nice and slowly, going over things line by line and pointing out all of the little moves and techniques that you’ll need to absolutely nail this solo and take away several tips and tricks that you can apply to your own playing.

In this lesson, we’re going to be working on finger strength and dexterity – two very important areas for any guitarist – using a range of practical and fun approaches.

Whilst we walk through these different playing styles I’ll also be dropping in some of my top tips related to fingering and hand positioning to help improve your overall technique.

Have you ever looked down at your right hand when you’re picking and noticed how much it’s bobbing up and down? If so, it might be time to learn about pick slanting – a subtle technique that helps you cross strings really smoothly when alternate picking, even at crazy fast speeds.

In this lesson, we’re going to dive deeply into all of the mechanics around pick slanting using a bunch of cool licks and patterns that will help you improve your technique and sound awesome while you’re doing it.

In this very special lesson, we’re going to dive into the world of rockabilly, which is always such a fun style of guitar to play no matter what genre you’re into!

I’m going to show you a few of the licks and approaches that are close to my heart and have stuck with me from the jam sessions I had with my old guitar teacher “Wild Bill” so many years ago.

It’s time to dive into the world of guitar patterns – how significant are they in improving your technique and enhancing your playing?

After taking a 20-year break from playing, I wanted to incorporate more dynamic alternate picking into my style, patterns made a significant difference in getting there. There are two main patterns that transformed my technique, which I’m about to share with you. So grab your best pick, and let’s explore them together.

During the McRocklin & Hutch track “You and Me” Thomas and I trade guitar solos back and forwards – in this lesson I’m going to break down the first solo from that exchange.

This solo strings together multiple techniques such as pick slanting, arpeggios, tapping, cross picking and hammer ons out of nowhere so there’s a lot to learn! To make things easier I break the solo down into 6 short sections so you can learn a piece at a time in just a few minutes.