(Redneck accent) Shit! My first post ain't even mine! hehehe

The heck with this shredding shit. Help me get that Chickin Pickin stuff down.

I think any knowledgeable guitarist should see that this stuff ain't new concepts or anything..

Pebber's already given us BILLIONS of things to work on and he's explained the concepts but more importantly what it takes to get good: PRACTICE!!!

The chicks in the videos are hot.

Instead of all this crap, the dude probably needs to do some trill and ladder exercises. His left hand looked pretty weak.

From looking at the little vid on the website a couple things catch my eye right away.
1. Crappy echo type guitar sound that tries to give the impression he is playing faster than he/she really is. (Clean it up!)
2. He/She doesn't keep her finger behind the neck. Every time the fingers are squeezed the neck moves sideways.
(Remember: Always put your thumb behind the neck!)
3. He/She need to spend a lot of time re-learning left hand fingering techniques. Making your fingers fly around is a big waste of energy.
4. The picking technique used is with the palm firmly planted against the guitar body and moving the whole hand to move the guitar pick.
This appears to be a big waste of energy compared to just moving your fingers via scalpel picking. This technique also keeps you from moving your hand to different positions on the string or neck. Very tight, rigid and limiting. Loose and relaxed is much better.

Overall, it looks like many other sites that really only want your bucks. There doesn't seem to be any formal training by the instructor, he just works really hard at a poorly executed technique and has mastered it pretty well. Following in these footsteps will probably lead you into
the same rut he is in and will limit your ability to play different things.
But, if you think he is the greatest shredder of all times and you want to shred exactly like him/her, have fun. Otherwise, open your eyes and see what PB teaches you for free.

Besides "The Wizard Of Shred" Alex also mentioned Tom Hess and Ney Mello. Anybody ever buy their videos?

Ney seems like a nice enough guy.

Tom Hess, I have watched him on youtube, but he seems kind of .... I don't know. His sweeping skills are outrageous. He seems kind of unapproachable I guess would be the word.

Bingo! Unapproachable is the word for him, he's sooo high on himself, I don't care how good he plays, if he's a teacher he better have people skills.

Tom Hess doesn't have videos to just buy(at least I haven't seen them), you have to go through this long application and get private lessons from him and choose 1x a week or 1x every 2 weeks or 1x a month, so if you pick 1x a week he'll send you 1 video a week. I haven't tried them, too pricey for me...

Thanks Pebber, appreciate it. 29, I always thought I'd be rich and famous by now

The rest of you I'll answer in the afternoon when I get back from work but please get over looks for a minute and focus on what can I (aka YOU) learn from this guy and question number 2 is the price worth it.

Tom is waaaaaaaay more down to earth than it may seem at first, he's just develloped this very pro look and that's how he rolls, he's a terrific teacher though (studied with george bellas for ex).

When I saw these "6 SECRETS TO BECOMING A BETTER ALTERNATE PICKER," or whatever,,,,I almost hit the fucking ceiling! Why? Because I IMMEDIATELY recognized these as the EXACT SAME THING Pebber has on his Syllabus (Right Hand Technique)....FOR FREE!!!

Maybe I'll start selling my own "Secrets!"

Un-fucking-believable.

I have read in several places (most recently the guitar player magazine from a few months back with Neil Schon on the cover) that McLaughlin holds his pick backwards. Shawn Lane also did this. Instead of pointed down towards the floor, it's pointed up towards the ceiling.

PB, I always wondered how this affected McLaughlin's picking.

He doesn't hehehe.

Shawn did but not all the time, usually on the fastest bits, George Benson does this too, as well as Sheryl Bailey and a bunch of others.

Watch some of Lane's videos and then some of McLaughlin's on youtube and notice the difference, McLaughlin is 100% standard grip.

Also, watch videos with no sound when you really want to focus on the motions they're using, works for me

That was me... slow day at the job hehe.

Thanks be&say

McLaughlin is my all time favorite. Sometimes it looks like he is using standard grip. Sometimes it doesn't. In that issue of Guitar Player, Neil Schon talks about hanging out with McLaughlin and how they discussed holding the pick backwards.

Maybe McLaughlin switches up?

Thanks for clearing that up for me PB. I'm not lying about that Guitar Player article! It's in there. There is actually a whole side column devoted to Neil Schon's picking technique and he talks about McLaughlin and the whole holding the pick backwards thing.

I believe you 100%. Just saying that I got REALLY confused when I read that article.

I shouldn't believe what I read!

However, I do find it funny that Neil Schon would say that and name drop McLaughlin.