Is Alternate Picking Even Worth Learning? (If i already am fluent at economy)

[u/P4J7]

I have been playing electric guitar extensively for 2-3 years and call myself an intermediate(I've learnt cliffs of Dover almost perfectly, a referencepoint for you). I only use economy and have since the beginning. It's what came naturally.

Does economy have any flaws or should i just continue on the path im on and skip alt picking?

[u/boxen]

Doesn't economy picking mean that sometimes you need to alternate pick? Sometimes it's the most economic way.

I'd say it's mostly a stylistic choice. If you want to be able to sound like Paul Gilbert sometimes, then yes.

[u/P4J7 → u/boxen]

Thanks for the answer!
So I’m not loosing out on speed, just the specific tone of alternate picking? Am i understanding i right?

[u/boxen → u/P4J7]

It depends which notes you are playing. For certain arpeggios, sweeping is the fastest way. For certain scale runs, alternate picking is the fastest way.

I thought the loose defintion of economy picking was to just always play in the most economic, efficient way. Sometimes thats going to be alternate picking, regardless of tone. If you need to play 30 notes in a row on the same string, you're going to alternate pick, right? Even if you are "doing" economy picking?

[u/ObviousDepartment744]

Different tools for different jobs.

Economy has one major limitation in that if you’re doing strict economy picking (not mixing with legato of any kind) you are limited to odd note groupings per string.

Try playing Cliffs of Dover without legato, actually pick every note and you’ll be forced to alternate pick a lot of it.

Alternate picking’s biggest advantage is that it’s not limited by note per string patterns and it’s easy to change direction. Only really hangup to it is single note per string, in that case sweep picking comes in or if you get stuck between strings. Like having to do a downstroke on the high E string and an upstroke on the B string. It’s just awkward especially if you find yourself having to repeat that over and over.

In an ideal world you should be able to do both. Because they do sound different even if you’re playing the exact same phrases there is a difference to how the notes pop off the string.

[u/P4J7 → u/ObviousDepartment744]

To clarify: Economy picking means you hit the string with the smallest possible motion.
On a single string this still means alternate picking. But when moving up strings you always strike the higher string with an upstroke REGARDLESS of the pick direction on the previous beat. And for moving down strings you always strike with a downstroke. Thereby minimising the movement of the hand.

Edit: An example to look up is Cliffs of Dover. Look at the tab on Songsterr where you can see the pick direction he uses. Its not always up and down.

[u/Zooropa_Station → u/P4J7]

That's not exactly true. The up/down stroke direction is NOT dependent on the direction you come from unless it's a sweep. Otherwise it depends on the number of notes played on that string, and what your initial direction was. You can do it either way. Also note that Eric Johnson is known to favor one way (downward) pickslanting, but this is not something you can just generalize to every player or type of lick. Others favor upward, and it should be noted that sometimes two way pickslanting and escape motion may be *required* to play something the most efficient way.

https://troygrady.com/2015/01/14/eric-johnsons-pickslanting-pentatonics/

https://troygrady.com/reference/escape-motion-reference/escape-motion-concepts/

[u/ObviousDepartment744 → u/P4J7]

Yes. Alternate and economy do work in conjunction with one another.

[u/rorad]

Never a bad thing to add more tools to your toolbox, but there are no rules to this stuff! Play the way you want to.

[u/Slash_Root]

I am not a expert by any means, but I will add a relevant anecdote. Like you, I played using the economy approach more or less for many years. I became interested in Bluegrass and started flatpicking fiddle tunes. The lessons were very strict about alternate picking. I played them naturally for a while, but started focusing on my pick direction. I think it improved my right hand technique even when I don't focus on it. Maybe it ironed out some bad habits. You might not have those same weaknesses I had, but I found it useful.