A lot of people overcomplicate economy picking and focus on exercises that are way too extensive, in my opinion. Those long exercises are great for your musicality and your overall playing. But if you want to really hone in on the mechanics of economy picking and get it right every time, the exercise needs to be simple.
So here's one simple pattern, how to add the left hand to it, and a few tips that make a big difference.
Start with the picking hand only ▶ 0:26
Economy picking is a right-hand mechanism. Yes, the left hand does all the fretting, but the mechanics of the picking are all in the right hand. So start by forgetting the left hand completely and just look at how the right hand moves, on open strings.
The exercise: up, down, up, down ▶ 0:40
Here's the whole exercise:
- Up, down, up, down on the low E string.
- Down, up, down, up on the A string.
- Repeat.
You can use any two adjacent strings: the D and G, the B and high e, whatever. If anything, you should practise it on every string pair. But that's all it is.
Why this pattern? Because it covers both string changes in economy picking. Going up, down, up, down on the low E, that final downstroke carries you through on to the A string. Coming back, the final upstroke on the A string carries you back up to the low E to start the sequence again. So you've got moving to a thinner string and moving to a thicker one. String skipping is a different skill to me, so this is just about single string changes.
Use a metronome and watch for the stall ▶ 1:27
Do it to a metronome and speed it up gradually. Before you think about anything musical in the left hand, can you just keep an even one, two, three, four?
As you get faster, you'll notice it starts to stall and break into segments. You might pick three of the notes really quickly and then hesitate as you change strings. That's exactly what you want to work on.
Remember, arm height is what decides which string you're on. You should see slight movements of the arm, not just turning of the wrist, as you change strings. Going from the low E to the A, your hand should drop ever so slightly. Going back from the A to the low E, it rises ever so slightly.
Add the left hand ▶ 2:24
Here's how to bring the left hand in. It's a fairly simple pattern, but it feels like a bit of a tongue twister. We're in A minor:
- 5, 7, 8 on the low E string, then 5 on the A string, picked down, up, down, down.
- 8, 7, 5 on the A string, then 8 on the low E string, picked up, down, up, up.
e|---------------------| B|---------------------| G|---------------------| D|---------------------| A|-------5-8-7-5-------| E|-5-7-8---------8-----| d u d d u d u u
As you cycle through it, you end up with exactly the same picking motion as the open-string exercise.
To try it on other strings, you'll need your A minor scale so you can find other string pairs that work. For example, using a three-notes-per-string pattern: 3, 5, 7 on the D string to 4 on the G string, then 7, 5, 4 on the G string back to 7 on the D. It's a slightly unusual sound, but it's still in the same key.
e|---------------------| B|---------------------| G|-------4-7-5-4-------| D|-3-5-7---------7-----| A|---------------------| E|---------------------|
That should keep you pretty well covered for most of the movements you'll come across in economy picking.
Tip 1: experiment with pick thickness ▶ 3:57
I sometimes find it a little hard to push through the strings with a really thick pick. Something slightly thinner, with just a bit of give, lets me push through a bit more.
There's a trade-off, though. You don't really want to rely on the pick giving way to have good technique, and the more the pick bends, the more you have to adjust your playing to it. A pick that stays still gives you a more consistent technique. Try both and see which suits you.
Tip 2: have barely any pick showing ▶ 4:26
Whatever pick you use, have as little of it showing as possible. I've got about a millimetre pointing out between my thumb and first finger. The more you have showing, the more gets stuck in the strings, the harder you have to push, and you end up yanking the strings and carrying too much momentum through them.
If you start brushing against the strings, that's fairly normal. You should be able to angle your hand slightly to move away from that. If you really can't, then have a bit more of the pick showing.
Tip 3: actually push through the strings ▶ 4:54
This one's important. When I play 5, 7, 8 on the low E and go to the 5th fret on the A string, the downstroke has already landed on the A string. The pick pushes through the low E and comes to rest on the next string, ready to play it. Coming back, the same happens in reverse: 8, 7, 5 on the A string, and the upstroke lands on the low E for that last note.
Without that push-through, you're not really getting the economy in economy picking. If you stop before you hit the next string, you're stopping the very momentum that carries you through and makes the technique worth doing.
Keep the exercise simple ▶ 5:17
Even if you're playing the wildest thing all the way across the fretboard, the mechanics in the right hand don't change. So keep the exercise simple to work on those mechanics. When you feel like you've really got them down, then throw them into the real world with musical exercises and songs you know.
Start on open strings with a metronome, find the tempo where the string change starts to stall, and work there. Then add the left hand and have a go on every string pair.
