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Economy Picking Turn-Arounds

Chapters
00:00:00Introduction to Economy Picking Turnarounds 00:04:01Two-Note Turnaround Patterns 00:05:46Four-Note Turnaround Patterns 00:08:09Six-Note Patterns & Chromaticism 00:10:51Position-Shifting Patterns

Economy picking is brilliant for covering the fretboard at speed — but the moment you want to change direction mid-run, most players hit a wall and fall back on legato or alternate picking. The fix is simpler than you think: a small vocabulary of even note permutations on a single string that naturally flip your picking direction and let you keep sweeping.

What you’ll get out of this lesson

By the end you’ll have a solid reference set of 2-note, 4-note, and 6-note turnaround patterns — including chromatic options and two-position ideas — that you can slot into your economy-picked lines to change direction smoothly and creatively.

Why even-note patterns are the key

When you economy pick with three notes per string, you always end on the same picking direction you started with, so you can sweep straight onto the next string. The problem comes when you want to reverse direction: with an odd number of notes you’d simply have to double the top note or shift position. An even number of notes on a single string means the first and last notes are picked in opposite directions — exactly what you need to change course without breaking the economy-picking flow. With a few even-note patterns, you can create lines that go on forever because you will never run out of strings to sweep onto.

All the examples in the video use the following three-note-per-string C major shape. We label the lowest note on each string 1, the middle note 2, and the highest note 3.

2-note turnaround patterns

These are the quickest, most flexible tools you have. Drop any of these onto a string mid-run and you instantly flip picking direction. The first three are the ones you’ll reach for most often:

  1. 1–2
  2. 1–3
  3. 2–1
  4. 2–3
  5. 3–1
  6. 3–2

Note: You can also double a note (1–1, 2–2, 3–3). Keep this in mind when building your own 4-note and 6-note patterns.

4-note diatonic permutations

Four-note groupings give you more melodic interest while still flipping the picking direction. Most common ones:

  1. 1–2–3–1
  2. 1–3–2–1
  3. 2–3–2–1
  4. 2–1–2–3
  5. 3–1–2–3
  6. 3–2–1–3

There are many more permutations to explore, and you can also introduce chromatics at this point:

  1. 1–2–1–2
  2. 1–2–1–3
  3. 1–3–1–2
  4. 1–3–1–3
  5. 1–2–3–1
  6. 1–2–3–2
  7. 1–3–2–1
  8. 1–3–2–3
  9. 2–1–2–1
  10. 2–1–2–3
  11. 2–1–3–1
  12. 2–1–3–2
  13. 2–3–2–1
  14. 2–3–2–3
  15. 2–3–1–2
  16. 2–3–1–3
  17. 3–1–2–1
  18. 3–1–2–3
  19. 3–1–3–1
  20. 3–1–3–2
  21. 3–2–1–2
  22. 3–2–1–2
  23. 3–2–3–1
  24. 3–2–3–2

6-note patterns: diatonic and chromatic

Six-note turnarounds open up more melodic territory. Some favourite diatonic options:

  1. 1–3–1–2–3–1
  2. 1–3–2–1–2–3
  3. 1–2–3–1–3–2
  4. 1–2–3–2–3–1

Adding a chromatic note (labelled b2 below) makes things more interesting. The chromatic note may need to move depending on where the gaps are in your fingering:

  1. 1–2–3–2–b2–1 (ascend then descend with one chromatic)
  2. 3–2–1–b2–2–3 (descend then ascend with one chromatic)
  3. 1–3–2–b2–1–3

The six-note ones tend to be where I get a little bit chromatic. You could do any sequence of six notes using a permutation of the one, two, and three — or I like to add in chromaticism. So I’ll ascend all the notes in the position and then come down adding in a chromatic note somewhere.

Two-position even-note patterns

Once you’re comfortable with single-position turnarounds, extend the idea across two positions. Numbers before the comma are in the first position; numbers after the comma are in a shifted position (higher or lower):

  1. 1–3, 3–1
  2. 1–2–3, 3–1–2
  3. 2–1–3, 3–2–1
  4. 1–2–3–1, 1–2
  5. 1–3–2–1, 1–2
  6. 1–3, 3–2–1–2

Practise these both at the top and at the bottom of your scale runs. Most feel natural when descending into them, but it’s equally important to reach them while ascending — that sometimes means barring to get there. Build long lines that use these patterns in context and write them out so you can learn them properly.

Taking it further

Once you have a core vocabulary of 2-note, 4-note, and 6-note patterns, start inventing your own. The 1–2–3 numbering system gives you a framework to organise anything you discover. Experiment with patterns that cross two positions and look at different rhythmic starting points so your turnarounds don’t always land on the same beat. If you come up with something you like, share it in the GuitarVivo members group — great patterns from the community will be added back into this lesson.

Your homework

Pick one 2-note pattern, one 4-note pattern, and one 6-note pattern from the lists above. Practise each one in isolation until your picking direction is solid, then build a single continuous economy-picked line that uses all three to change direction. Work it up to a musical tempo by the end of the week.