Speed Picking Concepts by Pebber Brown

Started by Elantric, January 12, 2012, 09:38:54 PM

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Elantric



















aliensporebomb

#1
A lot of videos - I'll be watching these in the coming days to see where it goes.  I've heard of Brown before but haven't actually seen any videos by him so it ought to be interesting.
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

Bill Ruppert

#2
?

fuzzfactory

many many years ago in the 80's like most young guitarist speed picking was something i had to learn cuz it was all the rage.
got my self one of these
http://www.styluspick.com/

funny thing is i quickly found that speed of playing and tasty playing don't necessarily go hand and hand....
i would rather listen to david gilmore play 3 notes then some dude wanking of with a zillion notes a second!!

not to say that there isn't a place for super fast licks .....it is kinda like cyan pepper....sure is good but do you always cook with it?

anyhow the best thing the stylus showed me when i was a kid was to not dig so deep into the string and how to play
with a very light touch ....which leads to less string breakage

been rocking 9's and 1.0 blue dunlop pick now for over 20 years....i very very very rarely break strings

aliensporebomb

About ten years ago Scott Henderson and Tribal Tech played Minneapolis at the Fine Line Music Cafe.

He started the show strong with some impressive licks but for the most part he was playing melodies all night with once in a while something fancy included but far less than you would suspect until the last song when he pulled out the chops and used an atom bombs' worth of technique on that last tune.

It ended up being an awesome masterclass on pacing: it was MUCH more impressive than if he'd been blowing minds all night.

My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

Elantric

Im a self taught player - and prefer hearing BB king play 3 notes over 2 measures  verses listening to most speed metal. But in a few situations where high speed crosspicking  is called for, (like Steve Morris) I find I must practice and learn a new approach.     

fuzzfactory

have you tried the stylus is really does help

Elantric

Quotehave you tried the stylus is really does help


Stylus?  tell me more?

In my world a stylus replaces a needle on a phonograph cartridge.

fuzzfactory

haha good one....
anyhow it is a pick designed to help with precision and speed and it really does work!
as i said i used one alot when i was in my teens many moons ago

you can read more about it here
http://styluspick.com/description/

aliensporebomb

After spending some time at Pebber's youtube site it's pretty obvious he's got a lot to say about guitar and the learning of same.  Over 500 (yes, that's FIVE HUNDRED) instructional videos free for the watching.  He has a pay for service where you can take lessons from him in person or via Skype.  If you look at his credentials some of his teachers were the best of the best. 

Interestingly, if any of you remember the Amiga computer by Commodore from the 1980s it turns out Pebber was one of the developers of the app Sonix which was an early sequencing package for that particular computer (I owned a copy too).

My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

datsunrobbie

I still have one of those stylus picks from back around 1984. A great tool if you have the patience to use it to alter your picking style. It will force you to only use the very tip of the pick, because if you don't it gets hung up in the strings. I pull it out maybe once a year, try it for a couple of days, realize I just really don't want to "shred" bad enough to keep at it, and put it back in the pick box.

GovernorSilver

I changed my alternate picking style to Pebber Brown's "sarod style" (a variant of circular picking) about a year ago.  It did make tremelo picking much more comfortable - no more premature forearm soreness.

It did take me a lot of practice to get the hang of the new (to me) movement.  But it was worth it.

aliensporebomb

I've been watching his videos now since the link was first posted. 

After poking thru his many videos I found that he's got a couple of 1.3 hour practice regimens that I've started to try to do along with him.  Some I find doable and other stuff I wonder how he got so dexterous. 

The guy literally has a lifetime of practice in his fingers.  Very impressive.   
I'm not trying to do it to speed my playing up but rather to get more consistent.

I've found after a few days my playing got more "consistent" and likely would be more consistent with more practice of his material. 

He's got over 500 videos you can peruse for free in his youtube channel, I could spend years practicing the materials he's presented there. 

Though he comes across as a gruff guy he's sort of likable too - the information he presents is clear and it is of benefit.   He obviously knows of what he speaks.
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

GovernorSilver

The technique is basically made of two parts. :

1. The thumb extending and retracting so that the pick "bows" the string
2. The forearm rotating as if turning a doorknob (yaw motion)

With that in mind, these are the videos to start with...

This one gives an excellent view of #1 (above) and the angle of the pick in relation to the string.  Until I watched this video, the thumb extension/retraction motion made no sense to me.  BTW, if the thumb feels sore when you first try it, keep in mind the forearm action (below) is what ultimately powers the motion and saves your thumb from fatigue:



This video explains #2 (above).  Instruction begins at 3:25.  The lightbulb went off in my head when I did the spoon in the mug thing:


This video is the conclusion of the Forearm Motion video:


Good luck!  Tremelo picking requires less effort for me now, and the technique seems to work with any pick, which is a big plus for those who like to change up their tone by switching picks.

aliensporebomb

#14
It's interesting - I watched his videos and I play more like the Morse stationary angled position picking.  If I want to play fast I can do it for quite a while - I find his right hand position with the moving the pick like that awkward.

What's more awkward is the left hand positioning:  firstly my left hand thumb and my right hand pinky are not only freakishly long in comparison with my middle three left hand fingers but my left hand thumb sustained some damage when I was got hit by a car on my bicycle when I was 13. 

So his recommendation to have the thumb on the back of the neck directly under where your second finger is on top of the neck doesn't work for me - my thumb has to veer off down the neck as the recommended placement for the thumb has my left hand fingers pushed farther away from the fretboard than normal.  So for me I can do the "classical" technique with the thumb in the non-recommended position and I have to be a bit more careful regarding the left hand pinky since with my left hand in the classical position the tip of the pinky extends past my left hand middle and ring fingers by a good bit.

If you've ever seen that picture of buckethead where he taped an extension onto his pinky to freak people out it's kind of like that.  Why on earth
do I have a two inch link pinky finger anyway?  Although, there is one speed trick I can do because of it that I've never seen anyone else do so...

My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

admin

#15
The technique is basically made of two parts. :

1. The thumb extending and retracting so that the pick "bows" the string
2. The forearm rotating as if turning a doorknob (yaw motion)

With that in mind, these are the videos to start with...

This one gives an excellent view of #1 (above) and the angle of the pick in relation to the string.  Until I watched this video, the thumb extension/retraction motion made no sense to me.  BTW, if the thumb feels sore when you first try it, keep in mind the forearm action (below) is what ultimately powers the motion and saves your thumb from fatigue:

Picking Concepts 1c (Thumb Extension - Alternate View



This video explains #2 (above).  Instruction begins at 3:25.  The lightbulb went off in my head when I did the spoon in the mug thing:
Picking Concepts 1e (Forearm Motion)


GovernorSilver

I see my two year old post was quoted.  Do you have a specific question?

I still use this right hand technique (apparently also known as "circular picking") when playing with a pick. Works fine for me.

I don't follow the rule about where to put the fretting hand thumb.  I do like using it to mute the bottom two strings for some strumming stuff.  Fretting with the thumb makes some Metheny and Hendrix type chording possible.  Thumb goes to the back of the neck if I need to reach for some things.  Bottom line is I don't see a need to have a rigid rule about where the thumb ought to be.

admin

#17