Five Alternate Picking Licks That Help You Play Fast

If you have a need for guitar speed, here’s something that should do the trick.

Guitar instructor David Walliman presents five alternate picking licks that keep things moving fast. “Every change of string starts with the same picking direction,” David explains, “allowing you to play very fast with very little effort.” The tab for each lick is included right in the video.

Check out the lesson below. You can get the licks and backing tracks here.

For those who want to go further with their alternate picking technique, David also recommends Troy Grady’s “Cracking the Code” series, which you can find right here.

For more of David’s videos, visit his YouTube channel.

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Christopher Scapelliti

Christopher Scapelliti is editor-in-chief of Guitar Player magazine, the world’s longest-running guitar magazine, founded in 1967. In his extensive career, he has authored in-depth interviews with such guitarists as Pete Townshend, Slash, Billy Corgan, Jack White, Elvis Costello and Todd Rundgren, and audio professionals including Beatles engineers Geoff Emerick and Ken Scott. He is the co-author of Guitar Aficionado: The Collections: The Most Famous, Rare, and Valuable Guitars in the World, a founding editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine, and a former editor with Guitar WorldGuitar for the Practicing Musician and Maximum Guitar. Apart from guitars, he maintains a collection of more than 30 vintage analog synthesizers.