Paul's Picking Power Secrets

Paul Bollenback presents a full workout for the picking hand: exercises he has used for years to keep his picking strong, build coordination between the hands, and get a better sound. He opens with a double-time picking demonstration on a C minor blues, then works through the exercises in five categories, encouraging you to modify each one and make your own variations.

What's covered

• Pick-hand mechanics: how to hold the pick, leading-edge angle, and changing your grip without losing your playing
• Single-string chromatic exercises with all four stroke options — all down, all up, alternate starting down, alternate starting up
• A fixed number of attacks per note (4-3-2-1) applied to scales and arpeggios, including a B-flat major 7 arpeggio
• The 24 four-finger combinations without repeating, as left-hand material
• Two-string and string-crossing work: fifths, scales in thirds, and all adjacent string pairs
• Combining picking with hammer-ons and pull-offs on two and three notes per string — and why three notes per string is Paul's favored approach
• Economy and sweep picking with different down/up stroke patterns
• A string-plucking "prepare and release" technique borrowed from classical guitar, and how it connects to rhythm and tone
• Applying the material to improvising, with a closing application on Autumn Leaves

A PDF of the three-notes-per-string picking variations is included, plus a Soundslice exercise on picking the F major scale. More fun than reading a book on technique, and a resource you can return to whenever your chops need a tune-up.