More Directional Picking

I have come up with a great exercise that will help you develop further your directional picking abilities. It is also great for memorizing the fretboard and quickly access fretboard shapes when you're improvising.

The tricky parts of this lick are, as we are already accustomed, the turning points on strings 1 and 5.  The first turning point on string 1 requires the F# note on the second fret to be played with a downstroke followed immediately by an upstroke on the B string, to sound the E note on the 5th fret.

I find the second turning point to be especially difficult: when starting the lick again the first note of the lick will be played with an upstroke followed by a downstroke on the 4th string. This is the part of the lick where you should focus most of your attention. It is particularly difficult because the pick has the tendency either to execute a too wide motion on the upstroke  on the D# (6th fret, 5th string) - which will lead to two problems: either losing fluency either hitting the 5th string again because there is no more time to avoid it in the path to the 4th string - either to execute a to narrow motion in the attempt to strike the 5th string and to miss it. 

I strongly suggest you start practicing the lick at a comfortable speed, even well below the suggested 90 bpm, and work at first at getting all the shapes of the scale under your fingers. (I have provided only the shape for D# Phrygian - scale of B major - you do the rest!). You can then gradually increase the speed. You will see that the problems described above will start to appear at a speed over 100 bpm. It is then when you will be forced to optimize you pick motion and strength, especially when starting the lick from the beginning.

Have fun with the lick. Practice it at least a month, 10-15 minutes a day.