Economy Picking Guide

Posted on April 24, 2009 by MD

What’s Economy Picking?

Economy Picking is a style of picking where you take the shortest pickstroke to the next note. It can be a very effective way to pick and is very useful in certain situations. Once you get it down you will be able to do it naturally, but here are some rules to get you started.

The Rules for Economy Picking

1) If you are picking a note that is one the same string as the last note you played, play it as if you were alternate picking (if you just used an upstroke, use a downstroke and vice versa).

2) If you are picking a note that is on a higher (in pitch) string than the last note you played, use a downstroke. ex. If you just played a note on the D string and you are moving to the B string, use an downstroke.

3) If you are picking a note that is on a lower (in pitch) string than the last note you played, use a upstroke. ex. If you just played a note on the D string and you are moving to the A string, use an upstroke.

Some Examples

In the examples I’ve given how you would play it with alternate picking and then how to play it with economy picking. Learn the rules here.

Example 1

Example 2

This one starts on a downstroke.

(Click for Full Size)

If you have any questions on economy picking, email them to me at mdguitarteacher@gmail.com. While your at it, let me have all your music theory questions and I’ll write a lesson on them soon.