I was curious to see what you guys think which the technique is better to use? I've been doing economy picking for quite some time, just because it felt natural to do to play faster......but I was thinking of switching to alternate picking and I'm kind of stuck on the decision. I heard that Micheal Angelo Batio said to learn both and that seems like a good idea, but I'm not entirely sure. Alternate picking seem to sound more consistent to me but I don't know what to stick with? Thanks for any help!

I know how to alternate pick and only when I'm sweep picking and then adding a few more notes will I economy pick.

I made up my mind to go for alternate picking after I watched this Paul Gilbert lesson...if anyone else is having problems with picking he is your go to guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpJNUGHxC3M&feature=related

I suppose it boils down to what you are playing at the time. I have a habit of throwing in arpeggios in the middle of a fast scale run so I have to sweep pick the arp which you could say is then economy picking. I suppose it's a combination of both. I also think that alternate picking is economy picking anyway. For instance try playing quickly through a scale and that's usually the most economical way of doing it. Anyway it's an interesting question.

I was in the same situation as you a while ago, and it took a while but i got the answer. I used to be strictly economy picking. It is ESSENTIAL to master alternate picking. I now know and use both consistently. I use alternate most often and when i want a legato economy picked sound I throw in an economy picked phrase. You cannot use only economy picking and no alternate, because a vast amount of things requires alternate picking. I think the best idea is to learn both but economy is not essential. Economy picking can be faster but not as a clear.

If you have anymore questions on this subject please ask, as I have spent a lot of time on it. The internet is full of wrong information about the subject.

At the risk of sounding like a guitar noob (and being too lazy to look it up myself <_< )... what is economy picking?

I've never really put too much thought into picking. I always figured if you want a note picked, then, by any means, pick it.

But, now that you guys got me thinking about it... what I tend to do for scalar runs is break it into 3 notes per string. Then for ascending, I'll pick the notes down-up-down, on the A-string for example. When I get the D-string, I'll pick down-up-down. G-string, down-up-down. etc, etc, So, it's alternate picking, but restarts on each string. The reason is that once I've picked the 3rd note on the string, the pick is already going down... so why not just continue that downstroke onto the next string? It gets 2 notes with 1 stroke. If I went strict alternate picking, I'd have to move the pick over the next string and then come back with an upstroke to pick the note... not quite as efficient. Hmm... is THAT economy picking?? Seems very economical :P

BTW, when descending in the same 3 notes per string fashion, I stick to strict alternate picking. I can't seem to play up-down-up, change string, up-down-up, change string, up-down-up, etc.

That is exactly what economy picking is^ restarting on every string and continuing the down motion. and yes it is easier to do while ascending. When you can't alternate pick it does seem like a dumb technique but since you don't alternate pick you don't know the advantages of it. I urge you to master alternate picking, a guitarist simply cannot go on without being able to alternate pick and just economy. Gotta have both under your belt, if not... than alternate picking, just not only economy picking.

Devon... thanks for clearing up what economy picking is... guess I knew it all along :P
I DO use alternate picking alot. As I mentioned before, I use alternate picking for descending. I also use it for string skipping and other stuff. I even use it, sometimes, for descending sweep arpeggios instead of sweep picking. So... I use it alot. I just tend not to think about picking much. The right hand just seems automatic to me.

Depends what song and what strings you have to hit in what pattern for me.

Use Any Picking !!! or Legato maybe !!

Hmm you could do the thing Marty Friedman does. He picks how he wants it to sound. He doesn't stay strictly to alternate picking. I would suggest using both because as a guitarist you should learn all techniques.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMexx5WTZuk&feature=channel

it might help.

Personally, i use alternate picking as i actually find it easier than ecomony picking (though it sounds like it shouldn't be :lol: )...

I used to think economy picking was the only thing you could do (unfortunately i never found that useful video with the nice guy explaining it all).
But i found a tab with alternate picking pick stroke things on, and although it didn't seem to make sense to me at the time (economy picking seemed way more....well economical) i found it way easier!!
So now i only ever alternate pick really (well apart from sweepin arpeggios..) :D

I don't think it really boils down to how does a certain person pick as to how to pick when you are playing a certain way.