How Tim Henson Can Pick So Freakin' Fast

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Here's a break down on Tim Henson's picking technique!

0:00 Intro
0:32 Point 0.5
1:05 Number 1
2:42 Number 2
4:12 Number 3
5:42 Number 4

[douglepong]

He uses the bridge as a brace as well. But honestly in the end he's just better than all of us.

[MattGabel]

One thing you forgot to mention. As an avid Tim Henson fan and a previous member of his channel he states a lot in his tutorials for the speedy runs in his playing God tutorial. He utilizes hammer ons from nowhere with the left hand instead of the awkward string skipping and hand positioning you speak of.

[tactrixh]

There are a couple things you missed, he uses 3 specific techniques. #1 sweeping. He's sweeping as he picks in between notes, that way it doesn't slow him down and he doesn't have to recover his speed. Second he's using harmonics when possible because not only does it take half the power of the original note, but also because it's barely a touch its much easier to hit and move to the next note without losing any speed. And finally he's doing hammerons as he regularly picks, the notes fill in between when he picks regularly so much so that it looks like he's just picking but he's not.

I know that he does all 3 of these, because I do all 3 of them when I'm playing that and all the other stuff. It takes a while to learn and master those techniques proficiently enough to make them both flawless and indistinguishable from regular picking, but they have to be there in order to make every transition both fast and accurate.

[iamrichlol]

Fun fact - that riff Tim is playing was written by Wes Hauch

[oddoutdoors]

Tim also moves his thumb and index finger independently of his wrist and sometimes eachother. This is a big no no in the guitar world. However when used correctly it's a massive oh god yes, yes, yes! I stumbled upon these techniques years ago and despite every youtube guitar guru saying "don't do this ever or you will suck forever" it's an essential skill for really shredding.

[Chris-cfkp]

5:10 he is using his thumb and his wrist to achieve an economic pick-slant technique using sweep-picking, which adapts to the most convenient slant for the direction he's moving in, which also aids in string-skipping at high speeds. He's also super super relaxed, which is important. He's probably not even thinking about it as he does it, nor is he likely even necessarily consciously aware of each slant adjustment as it happens. Kinda like how you don't pay attention to being upright on a bicycle

[ivanguliashki]

One little thing regarding economy picking: I think learning relatively good alternate picking while moving between strings before approaching economy picking is important for rhythm. I'm self taught and immediately figured out matching my motion with the next string - going down with the pick so I have another downpicking motion when going to the string below(essentially economy picking) - was the most logical approach for economy of movement. However that lead to me actually playing said notes earlier than they should be in the rhythm of the lick since the economy of movement was faster than my economy picking technique. Not a big deal or anything one couldn't quickly correct with a metronome and practice, but it took me a while to figure out that that's the reason I can't keep time properly in certain scenarios.

[Silverado-pqxe]

this is fate!!! im practicing playing god and cant get the fast part after the intro down😂

[Dll.y.f.c]

THANKS I NEEDED THIS
The solo is the only part that I need to master, everything else is done 🎉

[gusl]

It's important to add he's moving his thumb! As you can see it's at least a 70% of the whole movement.

[kyuraki]

Kinda funny you missed the thumb position. Those are pretty different and allow for more dexterity

[JariSatta]

I've come up with a picking pattern that allows you to cross the string twice going down and twice going up. I call it Pendulum Picking. It's a two joint movement pattern. As you pick down, you simultaneously move your elbow backwards allowing you to attack the string again. Then reverse the move and you hit the string again 2 times. This will reduce the work you have to do by 50%.
No one else seems to be using this. I call it Pendulum Picking because that is the path the pick travels in.

I play in Chamelion - Legends & Lores ( Rockshots Records 2023 )

[channelname]

I feel vindicated after playing with my wrist and thumb like this and hearing how wrong i was from people who don't play as well as tim does.

[ForWhatIsAMan]

Guys, don’t get me wrong - Tim’s playing IS very difficult to match and it takes years to get to that level

But he really doesn’t pick that fast… anymore. As a teenager, he did. Crazy fast.

Now? Very difficult (because of a lot of techniques and odd positions used) but technically upper-middle speed.

Playing God doesn’t exceed 16th notes at 137bpm. Fast?? Not really…

Jason Richardsons’s Aviator solo is full of TRIPLET 16th notes at 150bpm. That’s speed picking.

By the way, as an ex economy picker, please don’t tell people that strict alternate picking is a ‘problem’ or prevents people from playing at certain speeds. Petrucci is a strict alt picker regardless of pattern - so is Anton Oparin.

Yes, economy picking makes more sense on paper, but in reality, it involves your wrist moving at inconsistent speeds.

[lesyloc]

you forgot to mention his finger's movement

[iurigrang]

It feels really weird to have tim soloed out for picking fast? Maybe I've missed some stuff he plays, but on the clips here, and on what I have seen, his mojo is on counter intuitive lines, use of open strings and harmonics, tapping... And a miriad of stylistic and technical choices. But not picking speed?

He may very well be able to pick fast, but he isn't in this video, and he usually doesn't. Why study him when wanting to pick fast?

[Letsbrewthis]

I'm assuming he just practices it more than all of us lol

[riyadsaif]

This video would fly over James Hetfield's heas 😂

[zacv]

I'm so mad, not because of your video, it was great. but the problem is me, I already do everything here and I'm just not fast enough lol, I've been an economy picker before even realising it was a thing, I've refined it over years, and I've also always planted my wrist on the guitar to pick (much the detriment of picking the low E string and accidentally palm muting it) but no matter how hard I try to get faster, I still can't even play Master of Puppets at full speed while economy picking let alone only down picking. I genuinely can't figure out how to get faster lol. anyway, still a great video, keep up the good work 👍

[bubbles]

C’mon man. He’s won of those new A.I robots. I seen him changing his wireless batteries. It’s not normal like me!