Want to improve the speed of your picking? There are techniques for both hands that make a real difference, and I’m going to cover the essentials of each. Alternate picking is one of those foundational guitar techniques that affects everything from your speed runs to your overall control and accuracy.

Left Hand: The Square Hand Technique

Here’s something most players overlook: your left hand positioning matters as much as your right hand speed. If your fretting hand is jumping around with big, wasteful movements, no amount of right-hand speed will save you. I use what I call the “square hand” technique — it’s an old jazz method for fast passages.

The idea is to keep your hand squared up to the fretboard with minimal movement. Your fingers stay close to the strings, just enough motion to fret each note cleanly. No bouncing, no flying fingers. Nice and efficient. Watch any fast jazz player and you’ll see this same economy of motion. For more on this picking approach, see flatpicking licks.

When I’m playing fast passages, my hand always returns to this squared-up position. I might stretch for a wide interval or bend my hand for a pull-off, but as soon as I’m back to speed picking, the hand squares up again. That’s the most efficient position, and consistency is what makes speed possible. For more on this picking approach, see hybrid picking.

Right Hand: The Down-Up Secret

The right hand technique comes down to one thing: consistent down-up strokes. That’s the whole secret. Every note alternates — down, up, down, up — regardless of string changes. Your picking hand needs to stay compact, almost flicking the pick across the string rather than making big sweeping motions.

The scale I use for practicing this is a chromatic-style pattern — it’s not a true chromatic because it skips notes every time you cross a string, but it’s one of the most commonly used practice scales on guitar. Four notes per string, moving across all six strings. It’s mechanical enough that you can focus entirely on your picking motion without worrying about what notes you’re hitting.

Combining Both Hands

The real breakthrough comes when you combine both hand techniques at the same time. Your left hand stays squared up and efficient. Your right hand maintains strict down-up alternation. Neither hand moves more than it has to.

Start with double picking — each note gets a down-up. Make sure you’re not moving the pick too far from the strings between strokes. The pick should barely clear the string before coming back for the next stroke. Less movement means more speed with less effort.

I like to warm up by shaking out my fingers a bit — getting the blood flowing and the tendons loose — then settle into the squared-up position and start the pattern slow. Once it’s clean at a comfortable tempo, push it a little faster. Then a little more. If it gets sloppy, back off the speed. You want to build speed on top of accuracy, not the other way around.

Practice Tips

Use a metronome. I know everyone says it, but for alternate picking specifically, it matters more than almost any other technique. The down-up pattern has to be metrically even — if your downstrokes are stronger than your upstrokes (and they probably are), the metronome will expose that immediately.

Play it loud — it’s the only way it sounds good. Shred on.