Okay, I am still struggling a bit with tremelo
picking.

What is better, focusing more on wrist, fingers, or is it an elbow movement? I feel like when I relax and just use my wrist, it is better.

Also, I think using a soft pick, like .50 mm (the red tortex) works best?

I seem to have a good downstroke but I am getting snagged on my upstroke. Please help!

Sonic_Blue wrote:

Okay, I am still struggling a bit with tremelo
picking.

What is better, focusing more on wrist, fingers, or is it an elbow movement? I feel like when I relax and just use my wrist, it is better.

Also, I think using a soft pick, like .50 mm (the red tortex) works best?

I seem to have a good downstroke but I am getting snagged on my upstroke. Please help!

Hi there!
Start slowly with metronome and proceed step by step. It may take months, really, so be ready.
Practice alternate picking. Not only in tremolo picking, in playing scales, solos or even arpeggios.
Use your wrist mostly, but if its better for you with adding some elbow movement or fingers, whatever, do it.
I prefer picks from 0.88 to 1 mm, but it’s also up to you. Soft ones lack power and the harder ones are too stiff for smooth tremolo, but thats my opinion

Good luck!

Waikiki Makaki surf-rock band from Ukraine

New Single is out!

https://waikikimakaki.bandcamp.com/album/rhino-blues-full-contact-surf-single

Waikiki Makaki

https://linktr.ee/waikikimakaki

Lost Diver

https://lostdiver.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/vitaly-yakushin

I'll start by saying my tremolo picking is not very fast at around 170 bpm.

As much good as it might do me, I don't like playing to a metronome, and I'd rather play to a song. I learned Catalina by Jon and the Nightriders and Red Sunrise by The Space Cossacks. I started by playing against them slowed down to where I could play reliably, and raised the speed as the lack of mistakes allowed.

If I'd stop buying old guitars to fix, I might actually learn to play.
Bringing instruments back to life since 2013.

Here's a good workout, featured in THE SURF GUITAR BOOK

https://www.startnext.com/en/the-surf-guitar-book

I’d been struggling for ages with this, changing my pick angle immediately made it easier and I’m playing tempo I wanted so thanks for posting this

psychonaut wrote:

Sonic_Blue wrote:

Okay, I am still struggling a bit with tremelo
picking.

What is better, focusing more on wrist, fingers, or is it an elbow movement? I feel like when I relax and just use my wrist, it is better.

Also, I think using a soft pick, like .50 mm (the red tortex) works best?

I seem to have a good downstroke but I am getting snagged on my upstroke. Please help!

The reason you're getting snagged is because you're probably getting the pick trapped between the strings after your upstroke. The solution is to slant your pick downwards at a 45 degree angle to the strings so that when you do an upstroke you'll be totally clear of and above the strings.

45 degree pick slant:

You want to avoid getting trapped like this:

You always want to end up with the pick in the escape zone after your upstroke.

Focus on your whole arm and how each part works in conjunction.
A heavy pick will serve you better in my opinion. You're just wasting energy with a floppy pick. The more the pick flexes, the more kinetic energy gets disappated away from the string. Use whatever you're most comfortable with however.
Play your downstrokes from your arm and your upstrokes from your wrist.

(I must credit Troy Grady, who put a ton of research into this topic and did an excellent video series called "cracking the code" on the topic of picking. Although he focuses on 'shredding', the info applies to trem picking too)

psychonaut wrote:

Sonic_Blue wrote:

Okay, I am still struggling a bit with tremelo
picking.

What is better, focusing more on wrist, fingers, or is it an elbow movement? I feel like when I relax and just use my wrist, it is better.

Also, I think using a soft pick, like .50 mm (the red tortex) works best?

I seem to have a good downstroke but I am getting snagged on my upstroke. Please help!

The reason you're getting snagged is because you're probably getting the pick trapped between the strings after your upstroke. The solution is to slant your pick downwards at a 45 degree angle to the strings so that when you do an upstroke you'll be totally clear of and above the strings.

45 degree pick slant:

You want to avoid getting trapped like this:

You always want to end up with the pick in the escape zone after your upstroke.

Focus on your whole arm and how each part works in conjunction.
A heavy pick will serve you better in my opinion. You're just wasting energy with a floppy pick. The more the pick flexes, the more kinetic energy gets disappated away from the string. Use whatever you're most comfortable with however.
Play your downstrokes from your arm and your upstrokes from your wrist.

(I must credit Troy Grady, who put a ton of research into this topic and did an excellent video series called "cracking the code" on the topic of picking. Although he focuses on 'shredding', the info applies to trem picking too)

I guess that’s pretty personal, cause I reach much better tremolo picking with almost 90 degrees (maybe a couple degrees slanted) and medium pick like 0.88 mm. Maybe it’s a matter of habit already but with 45 degrees I feel like it loses attack and consistency.

Waikiki Makaki surf-rock band from Ukraine

New Single is out!

https://waikikimakaki.bandcamp.com/album/rhino-blues-full-contact-surf-single

Waikiki Makaki

https://linktr.ee/waikikimakaki

Lost Diver

https://lostdiver.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/vitaly-yakushin

DeathTide wrote:

Samurai wrote:

I guess that’s pretty personal

Damn straight. I think it's pretty presumptuous to assume every single guitar player has the exact same bone structure and position to be able to tremolo pick the same as this fella. I mean, I am physically unable to play with my arm bent that much, so that negates everything he says about position.

That said, it is helpful to hear and see what works for other people. Which is how I read this, and for that it's valuable.

At specific points in my life - when I was practicing regularly for at least two or three months - I have been able to absolutely BLAZE at tremolo picking. (The end of Missylou from the last SG101 comp is an example.) For me it's less of a picking angle and more of a pick angle. I hit the strings almost straight on but the pick is slightly angled, maybe 20 degrees. The X axis is pretty straight but the Z axis is angled a little.

Something that in my opinion is 100% necessary is to know where each string is without looking. Intimately knowing by feel and not sight will 100% improve your tremolo picking. You'll no longer need to worry about finding the strings and be free to really listen and feel.

Also not striving for a strict "up and down" but rather a tiny circle, or oval motion is what I do, and apparently so do others. I use pretty fat wound strings and 1mm big triangle picks.

Last thought is that to practice tremolo picking, it is best to play through an amp clean without reverb. Not unplugged. That way you can hear the nuances of every single stroke. You'll hear how the tiniest variation of the hand and pick position affect each stroke. Sometimes you want a real strident stroke and sometimes more smooth, and playing clean can give you the clarity to hear the differences. Once you can blaze at say, quarter notes at 175 bpm, and I mean very comfortable non-stop for say, a minute or two, then bring in the reverb and continue experimenting.

Yes, oval is also what I do! I’ve tried to watch myself yesterday to understand how I do this and it seems that I use unconsciously different techniques for different parts/tunes. So just feel the vibe and let your hand lead you))

Waikiki Makaki surf-rock band from Ukraine

New Single is out!

https://waikikimakaki.bandcamp.com/album/rhino-blues-full-contact-surf-single

Waikiki Makaki

https://linktr.ee/waikikimakaki

Lost Diver

https://lostdiver.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/vitaly-yakushin

Some more 0.50 tremolo picking...

T H E ✠ S U R F I T E S