“A LEGATO WORKOUT CHANGED MY LIFE”

Mark Tremonti of Alter Bridge on the secret to fast picking, and the best fretting-hand exercise he ever learned

Think like a caveman!

I remember when I was diving deep into theory, I was asking [Alter Bridge frontman] Myles Kennedy a lot of stuff. He’s a very studied guitar player with a very theoretical approach. And he told me he wasn’t sure if I really needed to learn much more, because I’d already found ways to create on my own - thinking outside of the box because I didn’t know what I was doing. He basically told me that coming up with my own rules had given me my own sound. Looking back now, that was great advice. I didn’t need to become a jazz guy and learn about every chord voicing and mode in every scale. Of course, everyone should know some theory. It can only help you get to where you want to go as a guitar player. But finding your own voice by thinking like a caveman – ‘what is this thing and what am I going to do with it?’ – is what helps carve your sound.

You can pick fast from the elbow

You read a lot of stuff online about how picking should only come from the wrist, not the elbow or forearm. When it comes to one or two strings, I completely disagree. I can play twice as fast and clean if I’m using my arm instead of my wrist. I sat down with Michael Angelo Batio one time and asked him about his picking. He gave me some great advice, saying I cannot play anything faster than just one note. He told me to sit on one note and tackle it in as many different ways I could think of. The fastest I can do that is when it’s coming from the elbow... But then again, I don’t know if I would give that advice to someone starting out because that might ruin their overall picking if that’s how they did it all the time. Just know it’s a weapon in your arsenal that you can use.

Even out the odds

Another thing that’s helped with my picking is keeping even patterns on strings. When you do three notes per-string, you have to reset your ups and downs through the lick. But if you play them twice, you then have six notes per-string which makes it way easier for string crossing. Learning those Yngwie patterns of six are very important: you can fly through the strings because you are always starting each string on a down and the numbers are even. There is no flip-flopping! In the last few years, I’ve been working on patterns of five with two notes on one string and then three on the next. When you pick those patterns it feels like there is no ceiling to how fast you can get.

Don’t expect overnight results

I’d say it takes about nine months

SECRETWEAPON

“The best players use more than their pick in those shreddy sequences”

of hard practising and focusing to get a technique down to the point where it’s under your fingers at all times. The big question is figuring out what’s worth it for you, with that much time involved. You will have to love doing it, and need to have some sort of use for it. When I hear players like Eric Johnson or Joe Bonamassa or Eric Gales using those five-note pentatonic runs, it twists my ear. It throws the one, which suddenly goes flying by. That really impresses me, so I had to try and learn it. I’ve also learned a version which involves no sweep or economy – because that stuff is great if I’m sitting with the guitar in my lap at home or in the studio, but as soon as I’ve got some adrenaline going on stage, all of my economy picking goes out the window. So now I pick those patterns of five broken into twos and threes.

Focus on all fingers

The best fretting-hand exercise I ever learned came from Rusty Cooley. He had this legato workout that completely blew my hand up! I remember the first time I went through it, my hand felt better than ever afterwards. So I got into this habit of doing the entire workout, which is about 80 minutes long, before every show. And, again, it was a nine month thing. After that point it just stayed forever and changed my life in terms of left hand strength. It starts with simple chromatic hammering up the neck and pull-offs going down, but then you start changing the fingers on your fretting hand through every combination. Then you spread it out from a chromatic jump to a full tone stretch, and beyond. It gets harder and harder. After that I noticed my legato was much stronger, I was flying up and down the neck.

A lot of the magic is in your hands

If you can only use a pick, you’re kinda limiting yourself. A lot of the best players are definitely using more than their pick in those shreddy sequences - it’s another secret weapon to take advantage of. One of my favourite players is a guy called Shawn Tubbs. His right hand is insane. I’ll watch him doing something that I know I could never do, and then notice he’s sneaked in some fingers. It’s the only way you can pull off certain things.

“IT TAKES NINE MONTHS TO GET A TECHNIQUE UNDER YOUR FINGERS AT ALL TIMES.”