I dislike using pick guns (electric or manual) maybe due to a previous experience where i totaly knakered my front door lock with one.... anyway... i prefer to use just three picks. My snake, half diamond and my hook.
I never took any course before i picked my first lock and im all the better for it now. I understand more and feel more when im picking than most could tell me. Bare in mind it took me about 3 months to pick my first 5 pin tumbler but i got there in the end, and the principles i learned have stuck with me and i apply them all the time.
Now for my quick trick. Some of you might already know this however it is quite handy as no one told me when i was learning to do this.
Get a tumbler lock, if you dont already know about the sheer line then go read about it to understand that one or two pins get stuck when u progressively turn the tumbler.
What i do is simply slide my half diamond in and out of the lock just above the pins resting point. When sliding in il almost always hit a pin that is stuck and will not rise. When this happens simply release a bit of tension and wedge the little git into the sheer line and repeat. When you get to the point that there are no more pins that you can locate, i tend to start from the back and push the pins up slightly one by one working my way to the front.
The first time i applied this method i opened a lock manually picking in 20 seconds

And just so you dont think im some kinda know it all, cause i am not. I know some of you may be thinking this is noob stuff.... well i was a noob i am now an amateur i consider this information of interest to all training locksmiths... remember we were all noobs once... i even spent 3 days wondering how to pick a certain lock before realising it had mushroom pins, needless to say, i felt stupid lol