The following content is related to the August 2013 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now, or in our online store.
String skipping is a technique I use in a handful of solos that I’ve recorded with my band, Falling in Reverse. Some of my guitar students have erroneously assumed that certain phrases were performed using sweep picking, but in fact I used string skipping, along with alternate and economy picking, to create a similar effect. If you’re a fan of the sound of fast alternate- and sweep/economy-picked phrases, the string-skipping techniques I demonstrate in this month’s lesson will appeal to you.
One great advantage to string skipping is that it allows you to get the aggressive sound of steady alternate picking, as all the notes are picked. Another benefit is that it lets you perform the big intervallic “jumps” often associated with sweeps by moving very quickly from, say, the fifth to the third to the first string and then back down again, leaping from one octave to another instantly. This results in exciting phrases that sound more difficult to play than they actually are.