Double Picking Guitar Exercises from Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons”

Double picking is a technique you can practice to improve your picking control, speed and accuracy, and a musical device you can use to add energy to simple melodic lines.  The technique has been recommended as a guitar exercise by players ranging from Steve Vai, to Tosin Abasi, to jazz great Emily Remler (who Herb Ellis once called “the new superstar of the guitar”).  

In this lesson we will learn two arpeggio excerpts from Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons: Autumn” that make great double picking exercises for guitar.

Jump to PDF download of all exercises

What does double picking sound like?

The idea is pretty straightforward; take a melodic line, and play every note twice.  As a quick reference, you might remember hearing this kind of double-note sound in the Batman TV theme or in Jake E Lee’s playing on Ozzy’s “Bark at the Moon”… 

But for our examples of double picking in this lesson, we’re going to go back a little further – back to about a few hundred years ago, to the early 1700’s – during the Baroque Period, when Antonio Vivaldi used this double note musical device to great effect in his masterwork, “The Four Seasons” (Italian: Le quattro stagioni).  

Take a look at the examples below, which I’ve excerpted from the original violin score for you, and arranged here for guitar.  Both come from the first movement of The Four Seasons, Concerto No. 3 in F major, Op. 8, RV 293, “Autumn” (L’autunno).  

Ex. 1. Begins with a descending F major arpeggio, repeated four times. Then we begin the double picking pattern (also built on an F major arpeggio).

Once you’ve gotten comfortable with Ex. 1., the wider note range of the D minor arpeggios and large interval jumps in Ex. 2. will prove a little more challenging.

Notice that in both of these examples, Vivaldi changes notes on the 2nd and 4th 16th note of each beat. This has the effect of moving the line forward, and creates a different feeling than if each note were played twice starting from the downbeat (on the 1st and 3rd 16th notes).  

Try the examples below with a metronome and you’ll be able to hear and feel the difference. Also, note how the string crossings (inside / outside picking) differ between the two patterns in Ex. 3a. and Ex. 3b.

What will practicing double picking do for my guitar playing?

Emily Remler once said during a lesson that she used double picking when learning new scales, and that the technique is useful for building up picking strength and accuracy.  She used it in her practice to overcome what she described as a “weak” left hand in order to build a “heavy” and “good” picking hand. 

Try practicing the Vivaldi excerpts in this lesson slowly each day over the next couple of weeks, and see if you notice a similar result in your own playing.

How can I incorporate these Vivaldi excerpts into my playing?

As regular readers of Shred of Dignity Guitar will know, here we are all about utilizing musical works by great composers of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods in order to build and enhance technique and musicianship of the modern pick-style guitarist (whether you prefer Electric Rock, Country, Blues, Jazz or Acoustic styles).  Our mission is to lay the path with a solid foundational repertoire of excerpts, exercises and pieces of music that are satisfying to play while targeting specific technical challenges in the process.  

These Vivaldi double picking licks from The Four Seasons can be practiced as both direct excerpts (which they are) AND as exercises, as they provide a nice workout for the picking hand.  The musical ideas from these excerpts can also be expanded or altered to create new exercises. 

Hear one of my favorite recordings of Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons: Autumn” below, and listen carefully for the excerpts you’ve learned in this lesson. Let this performance inform and guide your own interpretation.

How should I practice these double picking licks?

Once you’ve studied the notation / tab above, and have  learned the examples in this lesson, try incorporating them into your rotation of exercises in your daily practice routine.  By continually introducing high quality music and ideas into your playing, and cycling through a variety of well-selected exercises, etudes and excerpts, you will keep your mind, ears and fingers sharp.  This will also help bring to light any challenges or imperfections in your technique and musical expression, so that you can begin to address them. 

What else can I do with double picking?

Try this double picking technique with a variety of scales, arpeggios and melodic lines.  We’ll be revisiting the technique with many other great examples in future lessons, so make sure you’ve signed up to get my new Shred of Dignity Guitar licks, lessons and tabs in your inbox every week, and stay tuned for more. 

Have fun and experiment!

Can you think of other examples of double picking in pieces, songs, solos or riffs that you like?  Let the community know in the comments below!   

Download FREE PDF of all guitar exercises (TAB & Standard Notation):