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Q: Hello, I have been playing for about 4 years now. I have good chops, except for my picking technique. Just like Joel Wanasek said in his picking masterclass lesson. But this is regarding a specific detail of picking. When I hold the pick with my hand, how do I stay relaxed? Whenever I try to pick fast, My whole arm tenses up. Paul Gilbert is my favorite player, and he picks very hard and fast. Is he always tense? Anyway, I am at my wits end, please help!

A: Don’t you just love alternate picking? I think it was invented just to irritate every guitar player who attempts to learn it! I know I definitely have had my fun with it in the past! I can relate to your frustration.

First off, when you grip the pick, you have to find that happy medium sport where you are holding it so it will not move, but yet keeping your hand tension free. You want to have a decently firm grip between your fingers (don’t let the guitar string push you around, you pick the string), but a loose wrist, arm, and body. It is natural to want to tense up when you try to pick fast. The only way to over come this is to pound into your brain’s muscle memory that you don’t need to be tense to shred. When you practice alternate picking, slow way down and pick with no tension (except the one spot your 2 fingers meet the pick). This means that you should have no tension in your feet, legs, torso, arms, hands, shoulders, neck, and head. Pay attention to each of these areas when you pick. If you notice tension, relax yourself and start again. Make sure you are sitting comfortably too! Bad posture creates tension. Concentrate on playing very slowly with perfect technique and no tension. Get really comfortable at that tempo and then increase it a bit. Find the tempo where you start to tense up. Now scale back the metronome and play as close to that tempo as you can with no tension. Practice at that tempo for a good period of time (like 5 – 10 minutes). Now try increasing the speed back up. See if that helps. If not, repeat. Practice makes perfect. Be sure to only use 1 lick when doing this. Good luck with it!