Tremolo picking

General · 3 replies · 211 views · 3 followers

Paul H

6 months ago

Hi team

Quick question about learning tremolo picking. I know that normally starting a skill very slowly and building speed is the way to go, but I often hear this doesn’t apply to tremolo. The augment is that the technique is different at great speed and something that works at a slow speed might not scale up.
I’d appreciate any insight as I seem to hit a speed limit around 100-110 bpm sixteenth notes and everything falls apart if I go any faster.
Thanks all
Paul

6 Likes

Tomo Fujita Mod

6 months ago

Thank you Paul.

That case you should try play faster and play softer!

I hold my pick softer when I practice faster notes.

Thank you.

Tomo

5 Likes

Paul H

6 months ago

Thanks Tomo! I'll work on that. It's certainly a challenge to hold the pick softly as the speed increases as there's no time to adjust for any movements of the pick.
thanks again for all your insights - I love GW, it's so enlightening to focus on the fundamentals.

4 Likes

Tomo Fujita Mod

6 months ago

You're very welcome! It will take some time to gain this type technique.
So happy to hear that. I am so grateful here!

Please watch this video. You can practice this 10-15 minutes a day for 2 weeks.
Then let me know your feedback on this video.

Thank you.

Tomo

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Paul H

6 months ago

Thanks Tomo, that's really helpful. Interesting to see your technique, which remains constant as you increase the speed. Does this exercise appear in the Leavitt book? I had a look though but couldn't find it. I can screen shot if necessary, but it would be easier to read from the book.
Thanks again for all the support :)

Paul.

3 Likes

Tomo Fujita Mod

6 months ago

You're very welcome! So happy to hear that. You can develop this picking technique,

This book is called " Melodic Rhythm " by Leavitt. I only use this page. You can screen shot.

Thank you.

Tomo

3 Likes

Paul H

6 months ago

OK, so it's been two weeks, so I thought I'd better record something and see where I was at ... red light fever and all :)

I find it quite a tricky exercise, particularly the second part, but I'll continue to plug away at it. Tomo, you make it look very easy!

5 Likes

Tomo Fujita Mod

6 months ago

Thank you Paul!

Good job!
You can play those pretty fast.

Look at Notation A (1st Part)
For example: 1st bar. 4th beat, that note duration was too short. You played it as 8th note.
Please check that. Please play it a little slower.

Try to use a little less pressure (left hand)
Thank you.

Tomo

4 Likes

Sammi Fujita Mod

6 months ago

Thank you for sharing, Paul!

We all understand that "red light fever," so I appreciate you making this video regardless. I enjoyed watching you tackle this brain teaser of an exercise. Just remember "simple" does not always mean easy, so don’t worry! I hope to see another video from you soon.

Best,
Sammi

3 Likes

Paul H

6 months ago

Thanks for that Tomo! Yes, now I can hear that I'm cutting those quarter notes short, I'll slow it down and work on giving them the full duration and also fretting hand pressure. There's a lot to work on in this 'simple' exercise!

all the best
Paul.

4 Likes

Tomo Fujita Mod

6 months ago

My pleasure! Good job!

After you have learned "material" then you need to go back to look at this music & rewatch the original video so you can review it. That's very important! Otherwise you could keep practicing with a slightly wrong way.

Time keeping:
Always better not to use a metronome in the beginning.
Metronome sound has no accent.
Set a metronome on every beat 60,70,80,90, 100 etc,.
Then set a metronome on 2&4 beats, 40,45,50,55 etc...

Thank you.

Tomo

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