FAST ALTERNATE PICKING

Before I developed tendinitis in my fretting hand (had it since Nov. 1997; can I get a “poor Dale”?), I was fairly capable of plowing through speedy alternate-picking passages. Unfortunately, I never recorded much of me playing in that type of “shredding” style (at least anything “pro” quality). However, I do have a fairly large backlog of semi-lethal licks recorded on standard audio cassette (super cheap “boombox” recordings). I'll post some every now and then. Here's one, with a little story to go along with it...

In June 1995, I auditioned for a band called Infectious Grooves. Their “rock/lead” guitarist, Adam Siegel, was apparently leaving, and they needed to find a replacement. In the end, nobody got the gig. Adam ended up deciding he wasn't going to leave, and shortly therafter, Infectious Grooves' bassist Rob Trujillo joined Ozzy's band. As far as I know, Infectious fizzled to a stop after that. Needless to say, throughout the process, all the guys were cool as could be, and I learned a lot from the experience.

To prepare for the audition, I'd often record myself blazing over one of their latest albums, then I'd listen back to evaluate my playing. Here's a lick I salvaged from one of those old tapes. I realize that the sound quality is pretty bad, but it is one of the several “lo-fi” examples I found floating around of me “cutting loose” a bit. Fun little “flashback.”

Some pointers: Everything in this lick is alternate picked, beginning with a downstroke. I also played it with heavy accents (i.e., picking harder) on every beat—basically every six notes. Also, any time there are four different notes played in succession along one string (see TAB), all four fret-hand fingers are used. The whole thing's pretty much centered around E minor pentatonic (E-G-A-B-D), with numerous chromatic passing tones, and features moments that suggest E Dorian (E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D). Enjoy!

(*You can hear the lick FAST by clicking HERE*)

(*You can hear the lick SLOW by clicking HERE*)

To help support this site's free online guitar lessons, please check out my brand-new “full band” album of original compositions, MANNERISMS MAGNIFIED (now available through CDBABY.com, iTunes and AMAZON.COM), featuring me performing all the instruments (voices, guitar, bass, real acoustic drums, piano, accordion, and mandolin). I also produced, arranged, engineered, and did all the artwork/illustrations—intimate audio AND visual, lol! (Details can be seen in my YouTube: ALBUM PREVIEW/documentary.) I’d love to hear your thoughts! Thank you :)

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