Download today's exercise play-along videos, tabs, backing tracks & guitar pro files ▶ www.patreon.com/bernth - happy practicing 🤘

I've was a downstroke escape guy exclusively for a very long time. (1983-2015) I could not play certain licks for some "mysterious" reason and that frustrated me like crazy Then I watched Troy Grady's Cracking the Code. What a game changer that was. I grew up and learned guitar in the golden age of the shred era but no one new this simple piece of information. Thanks for spreading it across the world.

This guy has helped me tighten up my alternate picking (to name one technique) like you wouldn't believe... Best guitar related channel out there

I switched to Jazz III picks and never looked back. Definitely recommend giving it a try.

Great job describing this. I learnt this from playing a lot, then noticing afterwards that I was tilting different ways depending on whether I was going up or down. I didn't know there was a name for it, downstring and upstring escape, but that's exactly right.

Randomly found your channel. These are the little tips that really go unnoticed and not practiced that make a huge difference. Thanks! Discovered a great trick and cool new band!

You are a life saver ! İ was getting so frustrated for years with my picking hand because i couldn't build speed and it always felt sloppy.Even from day 1 the difference was amazing.Thank you for spreading your knowledge !

Omg thankyou for including the seance intro riff in this video,, i absolutely love it and wanted to learn it since I heard it... Amazing video as always

I love how all your exercises are efficient and short. Really amazing job

Thank you so much for your videos. You are such a professional teacher and guitarplayer. Your pick grip increased my scale speed directly!

Thanks Bernth, your advice is priceless. As a self-taught guitar player, my skills plateaued a few years ago and frustrated me to the point that I didn't play at all for a while. I felt "humiliated" with every mistake. Your channel and personal journey inspired me, at long last, to reach for more and rekindle my relationship with this wonderful instrument. To anyone going through similar struggles: let go of your preconceptions, pay attention to your flaws and keep practicing. You will find joy in playing again even if it feels that you are starting from scratch.

Man... your teaching techniques are great... I've had the same picking technique for 25 years and I just started doing what you said to do and oh my God things are changing for the better thanks a lot my man!

I’m not a metal guy but your technique videos are very good for any genre! Thanks.

I can’t stand listening to that type of music, but I most certainly appreciate the mad skills that go into it! You have brought something to my attention that makes perfect sense! So a shredder is teaching an old cowboy new tricks! 👏🏼👏🏼

dude this is nuts.... that etude is amazing, and i love how you're using lessons to plug your band and its a really good plug. thats so cool and your helping so many people with this lesson gonna check out the band (oh its a solo project cool) :)

I am a fan and in awe. Thank you for working hard producing the tutorials

Hey thanks!! Was using two fingers and a thumb with lots of pressure for the longest time.. Always avoided picking technique so I could focus on the fretboard but now I see the difference in my playing

as always great exercices Bernth! Thanks for your work

Pick slanting is the hardest thing I’ve tried to learn on guitar.. it feels so good when you get a quick second of it down but gosh dang it’s different 😂

God damn man. I must say, at first your channel looked a bit like content for the sake of content. But a good while back a video of yours pointed me towards EZMix 2, which absolutely blew my mind, it's by far the best sounding VST I have EVER heard. And NOW I'm coming back to this specific video to tell you I ordered some Jazz III picks (Ultex tho, I love that stuff) and I'm completely having my mind blown again! Thank you so much for making such relevant content and making it available for free. You're not just filling 10 minute videos with the same old recycled tips everybody gives, you're giving us the info we actually need!

Brother thank you so much! That Grip has finally unlocked my wrist & it feels great! 🤘

Superb advice right here. Great channel and overall content. - Thanks for this.

You’re videos are truly incredible and your explanations are so easy to understand. I just can’t get over you counting “one” with your thumb 😂 31 years and I’ve never seen that

Keep up the great work thanks for your structure and practice!!!💯

Thank you for all the tutorials and exercises!

as always amazing exercices Thanks 🙌🤘🤘

I have watched your videos since you had very few subscribers. You are the player who ridiculously improved on youtube.way to go.

Holy sh- dude.. the grip changed everything. I had it to far down my index finger. Been trying to figure out why I can’t pick cowboys from hell for like a year and a half now. Already huge difference. Thank you

For the people who don't like the small Jazz III there is also the XL one. Best Pick I've ever tried.

Bernth, your videos are really, really great! Technically, I haven't found any better on KZfaq. One thing I would like to point out, is that whenever you show your pick grip by itself, you show the pick resting on the middle phalanx of your index finger pretty much orthogonal to it (pointing straight out). However, when you are picking, you are holding the pick more toward your distal phalanx (the last digit), kind of over the DIP joint. It's really big difference. This confused the heck out of me in a couple of your videos!! That being said, I have adjusted my picking more toward how you suggest and my accuracy has really improved! Please keep the videos rolling, thanks!

I use a large, triangular Dunlop pick, with (paper punch) triangular pattern (4 holes, with one in the center and three toward the pick corners) which allows my fingers to touch in the center (no slipping with any grip firmness) and the resulting "tangs" dig into my fingers a bit. I can grasp loosely or firmly as I like, depending on the desired result. This works well for me. I can't provide a photo here, but the holes overlap slightly, to create the tangs pointing toward the center.

Really, this is invaluable stuff. Thank you! To me, the "kung fu approach" was very, very helpful: Focus on ONE issue at a time, ONE body part, ONE movement, etc. to improve. Start slow, be precise, precision makes you fast and effortless. Even though I am in my 40s, this helped me to improve my playing tremendously. Sometimes the small details are making the difference, the pick grip, the force of the palm resting on the bridge... and so on. Thank you for providing all the little tricks and details for the optimal playing technique. Written from a jazzer and funker :-)!

wow, as it turns out i simply had my pick too far forward, fingers too far splayed, and hand too tense. this video really helped thanks

Those close up video shots of his face when his eyes open up really wide are freaking me out! Like really bugging! I am gonna have to re-watch this to see what he is teaching!

Glad to see your color correcting game becoming stronger! You used to have such grey looking video's. Just a little more red I think would make it perfect. Or lower the green and blue a tiny bit

been holding the pic wrong for 15 years. Just that alone is a huge revelation for me. It's like learning how to play all over again but within seconds I can see how much more accurate holding it with two fingers are and where the speed comes from.

This video helped me in a mind-blowing way! I didn't know I was holding the pick "wrong". I wasting so much time in moving up and down inefficiently, and got so fatigued so quickly. I tried to put these techniques to use and I started laughing - it was like I was suddenly a different player. Subscribed now and all that!

This guy is awesome & makes a very good, effective & intelligent guitar teacher!❤

Good info, going to try this at my next practice. My favorite pick is actually a Fender Medium that my dog chewed up. She basically shaped it so it fits the contour of my thumb and index finger. I wish they made a pick like this.

Your vids improved my playing. Thanks

holy crap this helped me so much. 1 freaking year of not playing with a pick because i couldnt figure it out. thank you so much

Thanks so much dude!

YOOO I was just wondering about this and then the notification for this video popped up in the middle of my practice session. Thanks Bernth! Your teaching has exploded my progress in just the two weeks I've been a part of your patreon. Love the content, keep it up?

Cool video...very informative...thanks for posting

You had me on the grip pick shoutout over your actual brand pick I hope one day I shred like you

yooo I needed this thanks bro

Thankyou sir. For all tutorial you do. In just 1 week i already master this. (I'm just beginner no bash hehe)

Oh ! yeah Great teaching Thanks 👍👍👍

Muchas gracias por la lección. Saludos desde Perú.

Thank you so much!

Some 30+ years ago I've tried the Jazz III for the first time. Haven't been using anything else since. Amazing pick.

Cool! Thanks!!

Mate, bad picking technique held me back for 8 years maybe. I massively improved a few years ago when I put a lot of work into better technique (thanks to Troy Grady). Thanks for sharing better picking technique with all of us, no one ever really talked about this in the 80s and 90s

I’ve been playing for 20+ years and consider myself a pretty good player, but always had trouble with speed. Changing how I hold the pick and using jazz picks has been so helpful in me taking the next step. Thanks Bernth

Coming here from incorrect picking technique (for years I've held the pick with both my pointer and middle), this is such a good video to work on good habits

Thank you!!🤘🤘

holyshit dude you have helped me so much!!!!

hey @bernth, in addition to this great vid how to properly hold the pick, could you give us your perspective on which kind of pick to use best for which technique (just in case you haven’t done so already)? after experimenting with different picks (thick ones versus thin ones, hard versus soft, big versus small etc) for different kinds of songs i played during the last couple of months, i found that for me personally it is highly relevant which pick i use for which style: for example in my experience harder picks are best for precise single note picking, but when i use them to play songs that mainly consist of chords rather than single notes, the hard picks get stuck much easier or, if the strings are rather old, sometimes even break the strings, especially when you have to maintain a consistently fast and rhythmic strumming pattern (for example the characteristic „galloping“ rhythm often used in metal). for softer strings i found it to be the opposite: good for fast, consistent strumming, but less so for precice single note picking. how‘s your opinion on different kinds of picks?

Wow that actually makes a huge difference!

DAVA Jazz picks, i recently discovered them, i was using JP Jazz III's and felt no issue changing over, id definaitely reccomend giving them a go! (The Red Ones are Jazz Picks, 1.5mm)

Ive basically been reworking my practice, eliminating bad habit after bad habit slowly, and progressing my good habits. My playing was way too messy and as I started wanting to write harder and harder music, I found myself blocked. Sweep picking, hammer ons/pull offs, and my left hand have improved a lot. However, my bad habits with tremolo is haunting me so ive been surfing the best ways to improve that

I love those picks!

the pick i use have like a circle indent in it to keep my thumb locked it works amazing and ive improved my playing alot

One of my band's songs includes a section of 12 bars with continuous down stroke palm mutes. Before I started gripping the pick further up my index finger, I couldn't get through it before my wrist tapped out.

I use the most rigid pics possible because anything less can cause an unwanted clicking noise and a delay and your string attack, especially string skipping attack. I use pics very similar to yours. Mine are slightly round it off at the tips so that they roll right off the strings with each attack And instead of possibly catching the string, greatly hindering fluid motion, Especially when I’m shredding my arpeggio sweeps.

Subscribing to this channel now! Awesome video.

Thank You Bernth!

You help me mr bernth in my practicing😀.. greetings from Phillipines

Can you do a video on how to properly pick escape with single note per string alternate picked arpeggios at speed? I find switching between up/down stroke escapes doesn't work well with this

Bernth I can not seem to grip the pick with my index finger curled. It feels like it completely throws off my picking angle and I end up digging the pick in too far. It's also uncomfortable and my index finger feels like it naturally wants to straighten somewhat to a soft c-curve. Is there anything I can do about this?

Luv the channel. Have you ever tried gluing emery cloth, sandpaper to the pick for better grip. Keep on shredding 👍✌️🎵🎵🎵

Hahahah when that first lick played with the drums my eyes popped out of my head :D , - im to used to slow blues style licks

I’m for sure working on this one

LOL! I was ordeing new stuff this morning, and I decided I need more grip, so I ordered those exact jazz picks. I even wondered if it wasn't stupid, because I don't play jazz, but apparently I'm not the only one who chose those.

This is great. I spent the last 8 months or so really honing in on economy picking so doing alternate picking seems alien to me right now lol

Late comment here, but been an amateur guitarist for over 35 years. Pick grip is/was Yngwie-ish (thumb to side/pad index; but I used green 0.88 Tortex Jazz 3 M ) which works well, except the "reverse dart thrower" motion made tracking while ascending the strings (low E to high E) difficult: it was fine for 3 strings, but anything more and my hand didn't want to track smoothly to maintain the same pick to string relationship. Bernth's technique is fascinating. Due to a shorter range of motion (the pick is held closer to fulcrum, and you cant extend the grip to allow a little more reach). It forces me to track the strings continuously. The result is very precise picking. But there is one big issue: I'm not nearly as comfortable playing rhythm with this pick grip. My old style is amazing for rapid-fire stuff like Bark at the Moon, I'll See the Light Tonight, Etc. My natural technique allowed me to play these cleanly even as a novice. Another issue is that, because the distal knuckle of my middle finger was broken, it has a prominence which tends to hit the strings. I think the "closed hand" or "fist grip" tends to be more precise because of the limited range of motion (fewer joints to arbitrarily vary the position of the pick, aka less variability). I also noticed that Tina S. uses the same pick grip, and that girl has amazing chops. Many grips can work, but this one may have a general advantage regarding overall precision...and there is no doubt that Sir Bernth is precise.

Jazz III and honestly the kirk hammett green ones have a great feel to them

thanks for fixing my 15year long mistake- i held the pick completely wrong

Those are the best picks, between the grip, size and point. 🤘

really interesting video. I would like to ask a question: how do you use picksalting in string passage? Have a video in your playlist? thank you Gabriele

*Thank you for always encouraging me and all of us!* *From Malaysia always support and ❤️🔥*

"then you can play along on Spotify" great marketing move 😆

I came back here after I found a pick that lets me pay "effortless" attention to my right hand while playing. It's a handcraft pick brand called Zen Guitar Picks, and the model I use is Zen Kris. Before that I was using Jim Dunlop Stubby 3.0mm.

Bernth, you are amazing! But when you show yourself placing the pick on your index finger, that is definitely not how YOU actually hold it! Glad we can see where you actually hold it afterwards!

If you want to increase the grip on your picks, take a sharp pointy object and scratch a few Xs into the pick.

I found the same pick holding postition a long time ago. I watched others have strange grips that looked sooo strained. Then i watched my own hand in the most relaxed position, and stuck the pick into that position. No long term strain of fingers...

Great picking tips once again. Having the right kind of pick makes a huge difference. I was getting nowhere with my picking because I was using a thin, bendy pick. No good. But no German word for the day?

The biggest problem I have with picks is that they want to rotate in my hand/fingers as I play. Start on the point and end up on the side... I have tried a number of 'surface enhancements' to give me some extra friction so it doesn't pivot, but they don't seem to work. That was, until I got some jade picks from a friend. No clue as to why they don't pivot. Also, that exercise #3 made me think of old school surf music....

holy fucking shit i was struggling to play chemical warfare by slayer until you showed me how you hold your pick, literally instantly could play it after, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you recommend a pick grip for players who hang the guitar very low on the strap? I do this so I can pick from my shoulder and tricep muscle coz my wrist is busted. I've been looking for a better pick grip for a while now. I use the "ok" 👌grip and it works well enough but struggle with some riffs and leads. If I use your grip then the pick angle is too extreme to play due to the downward angle of my arm and I keep scraping my knuckles on the strings. I use maxwell stainless steel picks.

This video convinced me to finally go from open fingers in my picking hand to a relaxed fist picking hand by closing down the mid/ring/pinkie, and the difference is night and day! I only have 1 question though, if I try to make a relaxed fist, my middle finger is pulled to the underside of my index finger like a magnet, there's no way I can separate them. I wanna be clear, I'm not holding the pick with 3 fingers, it's just that the middle finger sits under the index. Is this an issue?

I find 1.2mm and thicker work best for lead, but when it comes to strumming fast, like in funk rhythm guitar or, for example, Pinball Wizard, a thicker pick doesn't work as well for me. So Ive ended up using a 1mm pick as the current 'best compromise'. Interested to hear different perspectives from people who don't focus exclusively on single note lines, but also play funk(y) stuff with lots of rapid strumming across more than 2 strings. Would I be able to adjust my technique to stick with a stiffer pick even when playing funk rhythm?

I use a Big Stubby.. 3.0mm pick. it's incredible.

With 3 NPS scale.. the down stroke escape.. on the 6 th note of the next string , you need to switch to up stroke slant , or will get the pick stuck I think 🤔.

I use Jazz II"s and I trim the sides to give it more of a point. Nearly doubled my speed.

I tried this technique and it improves precision. But I feel my pick is 'jumping and bouncing' across the strings. Maybe the angle of pick is the problem.

i think i understand gonna practice with it over the next few weeks ty. still new to theory but the lick at 5:12 is that c# harmonic minor or is it g# phrygian dominant as you end on the g# or is that the same thing im learning XD

Holding the pick the wrong way and letting my fingers hang are two bad mistakes I've made. Now I will try the angles for up stroke and down stroke trying to improving my speed and also hold the pick better.

What's the best tip you can give for hitting pinch harmonics on command. Practicing is obvious, but is it something with grip and hand position that you recommend.

Great video mate. I’m going to try your pick positioning. Your angle looks great. But I would say it seems your using a thin pick and showing quite a lot of it which might mean it’s dragging at high speeds. Just an observation.