Topmusicanswers
How important is economy picking?
But as you get better and start playing faster, economy picking becomes a hugely beneficial augmentation of your alternate picking technique. ... Economy picking has you sometimes including multiple downstrokes or upstrokes in a row to minimize the movements your picking hand needs to make.
Who uses economy picking?
Guitarists notable for their use of economy picking
Frank Gambale wrote the first definitive book on the subject "Speed Picking" and taught a number of Shrapnel Records Artists at GIT. Les Paul performed economy/sweep picking. Eddie Van Halen often used economy/sweep picking as well as fast alternate picking.
Should I alternate pick or economy pick?
Alternate separates the notes very well. Economy/sweeps can give a more fluent, less percussive movement, and it's obviously good for arpeggios with one note per string. That said, when practicing scales and scale patterns I exclusively practice alternate picking.
