Alternate picking

Is it work a try. Im pretty damn fast at the moment so i dont wana go back to being slow again. For simple stuff lke sweet child o mine intro i do alternate picking instinctively, same with slow solos. But i cant do it if i try to play fast!"!

Is it really that neccessary?

So what do you do to get fast, Downstrokes?
Well, you've just said it, you do alternate picking instinctively.

Developing speed comes by time and practice.. Alternate picking is much more important than you can imagine.

ok im pretty new to the metronome scene i just got mine a few weeks ago, but 16th note runs on 240bmp, that 16 notes every beat , THAT IS CRAZY!!!
how the hell do you do it :)

Do you play everything that fast? I mean, I can play the 3 notes per string scales pretty fast and the other shapes that have 2 notes on some strings significantly slower.

just one thing about alternate picking, I think Ive been doing it wrong the whole time :)

Say you are playing a chromatic exercise is this alt picking?

d u d u
1-2-3-4--d-u-d-u-
---------1-2-3-4--d-u-d-u-
--------------1-2-3-4

thanks alot

ok that came out wrong but u get the idea:
D U D U new string D U D U new string....

is it right?

for 3-note per string runs i mainly use economy-picking

like when going from the lowest to the highest string that would be: DUD - DUD all the time - so there are (when changing the strings) two downstrokes (a sweep). this requires a bit of practice, but once you got it right the run sounds very fluently.

and vice versa - when going from high to low it would be:
UDU-UDU

this works for all uneven groupings (5,7,9,etc)

also very usefull is to practive inward and outward-picking (i think Petrucci came up with that).

lemme try to explain..

finger a powerchord (only root and fifth - no octave)

then play the two notes (root and fifth) alternately like

x----5----5-----5----5
x--3----3----3-----3--

in that case inwardpicing would be UDUD (root up, fifth down) - so you are moving the pic *inside* (or between) the two strings

outward picking would be the other way round DUDU (root down, fifth up) - so you are hitting the strings from above and below - the outside of the chord.

if you can do both fluently and at any speed and changing it at any time, you´ll never have troubles with any runs that involve uncomfortable pick-movements

16th notes is 16 notes per second you say?

You mustnt be picking 16 notes? Using hamer-ons n pull offs i can get about 16 too. With tapping i get get about 25. Ive only been playing under 2 years tho.

16th notes are 4 notes PER BEAT - in a 4/4 measure you have then 16 notes (4*4) - this has nothing to do how many notes a second that is. if you have 120 Beats per minute and you play 4 notes a beat that would be 8 notes per second.

Originally posted by Azrael
also very usefull is to practive inward and outward-picking (i think Petrucci came up with that).

lemme try to explain..

finger a powerchord (only root and fifth - no octave)

then play the two notes (root and fifth) alternately like

x----5----5-----5----5
x--3----3----3-----3--

in that case inwardpicing would be UDUD (root up, fifth down) - so you are moving the pic *inside* (or between) the two strings

outward picking would be the other way round DUDU (root down, fifth up) - so you are hitting the strings from above and below - the outside of the chord.

if you can do both fluently and at any speed and changing it at any time, you´ll never have troubles with any runs that involve uncomfortable pick-movements

OK, so I take it Inward pickin's supposed to be easier is it? Still, I see the point in practicing things the hard way, that way technique ceases to become an object.