Chords for Jorge Strunz on Learning Alternate Picking by Least Resistance
Tempo:
138.35 bpm
Chords used:
C
Am
Dm
D
G
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[Dm] [C]
[Am]
[Dm] [C]
[G] [C] [Gm]
[A] My picking [N] technique, I'm of the school of John McLachlan, I think largely, like Artie
Schur too, or Al DiMeola, who are alternate pick players.
And we can do cross picking
and stuff like that, but we don't do sweep picking.
Sweep picking to us is like playing
trombone or something.
But this idea of, it's a noble ideal, but I think for a lot of players
they go to do this and they just can't make it work.
Which one?
The alternate stuff.
The
alternate stuff.
Pure alternate is a great concept and of course there are lots of benefits,
rhythmically, the clarity.
But then for a lot of us, and I know I was in that camp where
I tried to do this and it just, something was sticking, it just wasn't fast enough.
With the alternate player?
Yeah, absolutely.
Well it could have been the patterns.
The
thing is that sometimes they're pattern-oriented.
In order to do the smooth alternate and the
long alternates, it involved finding the path of least resistance.
That's the concept.
In
other words, if you ran into a snag, that lick is out.
Cost.
You want to be able to
have access, full access.
You're the cab driver, you want to be able to turn into this and it's
not one way and all of a sudden you have to go back.
No, no.
It's got to be flowing the
whole time.
The stream has got to be able to flow.
So you're saying you were aware of,
you were self-aware enough to know that that thing you just played, oh that was easy and
that sounded good, let's do more of that.
Exactly.
And do less of the other thing.
That's
right.
In other words, I got snagged with this one here.
In other words, you end up
doing some patterns every now and then that just don't come out for you because all of
a sudden you feel like you're like this or something.
Right.
I think that's really important because for me it was just an unintelligible mess.
I couldn't tell what were the easy parts and what were the hard parts.
I couldn't suss
out the flowing stuff from the other stuff.
To me it was just all sloppy and I didn't
know.
The reason is the right hand is the one that
gets into snags.
Absolutely, yeah.
So the right hand is the one that's dictating the flow of what it has to be, although I
obviously can't provide the notes.
But the left hand has to be able to provide the right
flow for the right hand so that the machine is like a little machine that keeps [Am] going.
[C]
[Am]
[D] [Am]
[D]
[C] [N]
[Am]
[Dm] [C]
[G] [C] [Gm]
[A] My picking [N] technique, I'm of the school of John McLachlan, I think largely, like Artie
Schur too, or Al DiMeola, who are alternate pick players.
And we can do cross picking
and stuff like that, but we don't do sweep picking.
Sweep picking to us is like playing
trombone or something.
But this idea of, it's a noble ideal, but I think for a lot of players
they go to do this and they just can't make it work.
Which one?
The alternate stuff.
The
alternate stuff.
Pure alternate is a great concept and of course there are lots of benefits,
rhythmically, the clarity.
But then for a lot of us, and I know I was in that camp where
I tried to do this and it just, something was sticking, it just wasn't fast enough.
With the alternate player?
Yeah, absolutely.
Well it could have been the patterns.
The
thing is that sometimes they're pattern-oriented.
In order to do the smooth alternate and the
long alternates, it involved finding the path of least resistance.
That's the concept.
In
other words, if you ran into a snag, that lick is out.
Cost.
You want to be able to
have access, full access.
You're the cab driver, you want to be able to turn into this and it's
not one way and all of a sudden you have to go back.
No, no.
It's got to be flowing the
whole time.
The stream has got to be able to flow.
So you're saying you were aware of,
you were self-aware enough to know that that thing you just played, oh that was easy and
that sounded good, let's do more of that.
Exactly.
And do less of the other thing.
That's
right.
In other words, I got snagged with this one here.
In other words, you end up
doing some patterns every now and then that just don't come out for you because all of
a sudden you feel like you're like this or something.
Right.
I think that's really important because for me it was just an unintelligible mess.
I couldn't tell what were the easy parts and what were the hard parts.
I couldn't suss
out the flowing stuff from the other stuff.
To me it was just all sloppy and I didn't
know.
The reason is the right hand is the one that
gets into snags.
Absolutely, yeah.
So the right hand is the one that's dictating the flow of what it has to be, although I
obviously can't provide the notes.
But the left hand has to be able to provide the right
flow for the right hand so that the machine is like a little machine that keeps [Am] going.
[C]
[Am]
[D] [Am]
[D]
[C] [N]
Key:
C
Am
Dm
D
G
C
Am
Dm
[Dm] _ _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Am] _ _
_ _ [Dm] _ _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _ [C] _ [Gm] _
[A] _ _ _ _ My picking [N] technique, I'm of the school of John McLachlan, I think largely, like Artie
Schur too, or Al DiMeola, _ who are alternate pick players. _ _
And we can do cross picking
and stuff like that, but we don't do sweep picking.
Sweep picking to us is _ like playing
trombone or something. _
But this idea of, it's a noble ideal, but I think for a lot of players
they go to do this and they just can't make it work.
Which one?
The alternate stuff.
The
alternate stuff.
Pure alternate is a great concept and of course there are lots of benefits,
rhythmically, the clarity.
But then for a lot of us, and I know I was in that camp where
I tried to do this and it just, something was sticking, it just wasn't fast enough.
With the alternate player?
Yeah, absolutely.
Well it could have been the patterns.
The
thing is that sometimes they're pattern-oriented. _ _
In order to do the _ _ _ smooth alternate and the
long alternates, _ _ it involved finding _ the path of least resistance.
_ That's the concept. _
_ In
other words, if you ran into a snag, _ that lick is out.
Cost.
_ _ You want to be able to
have access, _ full access. _ _
You're the cab driver, you want to be able to turn into this and it's
not one way and all of a sudden you have to go back.
No, no.
It's got to be flowing the
whole time.
The stream has got to be able to flow.
So you're saying you were aware of,
you were self-aware enough to know that that thing you just played, oh that was easy and
that sounded good, let's do more of that.
Exactly.
And do less of the other thing.
That's
right.
In other words, I got snagged with this one here.
In other words, you end up
doing some patterns every now and then that _ _ just don't come out for you because all of
a sudden you feel like you're like this or something.
Right.
I think that's really important because for me it was just an unintelligible mess.
I couldn't tell what were the easy parts and what were the hard parts.
I couldn't suss
out the flowing stuff from the other stuff.
To me it was just all sloppy and I didn't
know.
The reason is _ the right hand _ _ is the one that
gets into snags.
Absolutely, yeah. _
So the right hand _ is the one that's dictating the flow of what it has to be, although I
obviously can't provide the notes.
But the left hand has to be able to provide the right
flow for the right hand so that the machine is like a little machine that keeps [Am] going. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [C] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Am] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [N] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Am] _ _
_ _ [Dm] _ _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _ [C] _ [Gm] _
[A] _ _ _ _ My picking [N] technique, I'm of the school of John McLachlan, I think largely, like Artie
Schur too, or Al DiMeola, _ who are alternate pick players. _ _
And we can do cross picking
and stuff like that, but we don't do sweep picking.
Sweep picking to us is _ like playing
trombone or something. _
But this idea of, it's a noble ideal, but I think for a lot of players
they go to do this and they just can't make it work.
Which one?
The alternate stuff.
The
alternate stuff.
Pure alternate is a great concept and of course there are lots of benefits,
rhythmically, the clarity.
But then for a lot of us, and I know I was in that camp where
I tried to do this and it just, something was sticking, it just wasn't fast enough.
With the alternate player?
Yeah, absolutely.
Well it could have been the patterns.
The
thing is that sometimes they're pattern-oriented. _ _
In order to do the _ _ _ smooth alternate and the
long alternates, _ _ it involved finding _ the path of least resistance.
_ That's the concept. _
_ In
other words, if you ran into a snag, _ that lick is out.
Cost.
_ _ You want to be able to
have access, _ full access. _ _
You're the cab driver, you want to be able to turn into this and it's
not one way and all of a sudden you have to go back.
No, no.
It's got to be flowing the
whole time.
The stream has got to be able to flow.
So you're saying you were aware of,
you were self-aware enough to know that that thing you just played, oh that was easy and
that sounded good, let's do more of that.
Exactly.
And do less of the other thing.
That's
right.
In other words, I got snagged with this one here.
In other words, you end up
doing some patterns every now and then that _ _ just don't come out for you because all of
a sudden you feel like you're like this or something.
Right.
I think that's really important because for me it was just an unintelligible mess.
I couldn't tell what were the easy parts and what were the hard parts.
I couldn't suss
out the flowing stuff from the other stuff.
To me it was just all sloppy and I didn't
know.
The reason is _ the right hand _ _ is the one that
gets into snags.
Absolutely, yeah. _
So the right hand _ is the one that's dictating the flow of what it has to be, although I
obviously can't provide the notes.
But the left hand has to be able to provide the right
flow for the right hand so that the machine is like a little machine that keeps [Am] going. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [C] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Am] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [N] _