How can you tell if your current technique — or the one you’re learning — is worth keeping?

For the most part, anything goes in picking technique, as long as you can perform the motions smoothly and effectively. And that’s the critical question. So the first thing we’ll do in this section is learn how to evaluate the efficiency of your picking motion, so you can make informed decisions about your progress.

We’ll also outline the minimum requirements of the deceptively tricky process of attempting to learn a specific technique, one used by a particular player or musical style. As part of this, we’ll take a look at the mechanical conventions that do and don’t exist in different musical genres, from metal to bluegrass to classical.