Whenever I attempt alternate picking, I struggle with some strokes having too much friction or not enough attack. Does anyone have any tips for improving this? For reference, I’m in high school and have pretty small hands. Also, any advice for building pinky strength and dexterity would be appreciated.
I totally get what you’re saying. The trick is all about the angle of your pick and minimizing how much of it hits the string. Try angling your pick slightly and using just the tip it reduces resistance and lets you pick faster. Small hands shouldn’t be a problem, but working on your wrist motion could help a lot. For pinky strength, try some chromatic exercises simple but effective!
. Also, are you gripping the pick tightly? A looser grip might give you more fluidity. One exercise I found super helpful is alternate picking a single note on every string, going up and down the neck. It helped me keep things clean. Oh, and for the pinky, trills are great. Try trilling between your pinky and ring finger on each string!
Alternate picking cleanly took me a while too. It’s all about building muscle memory. Try slowing everything down with a metronome and gradually increasing speed. The goal is accuracy first, speed later. And yeah, pinky strength is a pain at first. I recommend doing spider exercises (you know, where you spread your fingers across multiple frets). It worked wonders for me!
One thing that really helped me was practicing economy of motion. You want your picking hand to move just enough to hit the string, no big swings or extra effort. Also, smaller hands can actually be an advantage for dexterity. For your pinky, maybe practice scales using your pinky for all the notes on the 4th and 5th frets. It’ll build strength over time.
I used to struggle with this too, but honestly, don’t focus so much on speed just yet. Slow and clean is the way to go at first. Practice scales, start slow, and then build up speed with a metronome. For pinky strength, I recommend power chord exercises where you use your pinky a lot. That’ll build endurance and strength for sure!