Gallop Picking, Basic Metal Rhythm Lesson Options

[Mike RR24]

Marcus,

Awesome lesson Basic Metal Rhythm, I love it! I struggle so hard with the gallop picking it almost feels impossible. Not sure what the mental block is with me. It's really holding me back from stepping up to the next level in my playing. If I could gallop pick it would open lots of other doors as it's close to 98% in all Metal. I love that sound but have always struggled to pick right without my pick feeling like it gets stuck on the string etc... Do you have any advice that would help me out ?? I really appreciate anything anyone has for me. It would be much appreciated. I've tried different size picks and like the Dunlop Jazz II picks but still can't gallop any better with them. What is the secret? I remember when I learned to muffle it looked easy but took a whole lot of practice to perfect it but I did it. I've been practicing with the gallop picking but never make any progress. It's so frustrating. Thanks again guy's.

Michael Connell

[Ben Higgins]

Hi Mike,

I hope you don't mind me jumping in here and trying to help.

I found the gallop rhthym quite tricky too. However, the time I really got better at it was when I stopped over analyzing it and just felt the groove.

One thing that helps is if you can play constant 16th notes at the speed that the gallop riff is at. You don't have to be able to do it constantly for hours and have stamina of iron, but being able to play a constant 16th note alternating motion is the foundation for being able to do the gallop pattern.

Look at the pick itself. One thing that helped me increase my speed and efficiency of motion was to visualise the pick staying as close as possible to the string when I was playing. The faster we go and the more effort we put in, the pick tends to travel in a bigger motion. It's our job to counteract this but reigning it in and keeping the motion tight and focused on the string.

As for the gallop riff itself, one thing that helps me is by focusing my mental attention and my pick energy on the (I think they're called..) quarter notes. The 1, 2, 3 & 4 that makes up a bar. If you're playing it right, then these beats should always occur during a downstroke. By concentrating your focus on these bits, you can stay in time easier and the alternating notes in between can occur with less effort. You may find that by concentrating on certain beats, you're able to sustain your picking for longer because you have a reference point. You can go beyond what you thought your speed limit was by doing this

This post has been edited by Ben Higgins: Feb 14 2012, 10:41 AM

[Mike RR24]

Hi Mike,

I hope you don't mind me jumping in here and trying to help.

I found the gallop rhthym quite tricky too. However, the time I really got better at it was when I stopped over analyzing it and just felt the groove.

One thing that helps is if you can play constant 16th notes at the speed that the gallop riff is at. You don't have to be able to do it constantly for hours and have stamina of iron, but being able to play a constant 16th note alternating motion is the foundation for being able to do the gallop pattern.

Look at the pick itself. One thing that helped me increase my speed and efficiency of motion was to visualise the pick staying as close as possible to the string when I was playing. The faster we go and the more effort we put in, the pick tends to travel in a bigger motion. It's our job to counteract this but reigning it in and keeping the motion tight and focused on the string.

As for the gallop riff itself, one thing that helps me is by focusing my mental attention and my pick energy on the (I think they're called..) quarter notes. The 1, 2, 3 & 4 that makes up a bar. If you're playing it right, then these beats should always occur during a downstroke. By concentrating your focus on these bits, you can stay in time easier and the alternating notes in between can occur with less effort. You may find that by concentrating on certain beats, you're able to sustain your picking for longer because you have a reference point. You can go beyond what you thought your speed limit was by doing this

Ben,

No way man... I never mind you jumping in. I really appreciate it. I really liked the comment:

"I found the gallop rhythm quite tricky too. However, the time I really got better at it was when I stopped over analyzing it and just felt the groove."

My wife keeps telling me this and I quess I really tried it tonight and I think it helped tremendously. I just need to practice, practice, practice to clean/tighten it up. I think that has been an issue for me all along. You know my job is very technical and with the 15 plus years of Computer Programming etc... really has trained my mind to think in logic. I do HVAC Controls now for the last 6 years and I'm programmed to analyze everything. Thanks for the tip. I will continue on and I will do a take of this lesson when I'm ready. I would be anxious to see my comments on it. I want to get it down much better before I REC it.
It's almost like I'm trashed when it comes to the Metronome. I don't know why I hate it so bad. I think it's because I don't quite understand how to use it very good. When you were talking about the quarter notes 1 and 2 and 3 and 4... I can do that and end on the down stroke on each beat however when I set the metronome to play it with it am I understanding I need to have
2 guitar picks per each beat ending up in 8 total ??? I really want to use the metronome to practice because I know from comments of some of the best players have always said that is what made them so spot on and exact. Take for example your playing. Man I've never heard spot on playing and control like you have Ben. I envy you and am so jealous. Anyway I just wanted to reply and say Thanks Mate. I will talk to you soon and in the meantime I will continue practicing. I did look at a video of Kris showing how to use a metronome. I think I need to visit that lesson again now that I'm more serious.
Thanks again !!

This post has been edited by Mike RR24: Feb 15 2012, 05:28 AM

[Ben Higgins]

Hey no problem Mike, I'm always glad to help if I can.

It should be 3 notes for every 1 click. Down, down, up. 2 Downstrokes and one upstroke for each gallop. By the time you start the next downstroke it falls on the next click. I assume we are talking about the same gallop rhythm, like Iron Maiden's The Trooper ?

[Marcus Siepen]

Sorry for my late reply guys, but here we go: Ben is right, first of all don't worry too much about what you are playing, mental blocks can be the worst thing when it comes to playing guitar. Take it easy, practice at a slow tempo and only increase it when you feel confident and you see you can really nail it at that speed, it doesn't make any sense to increase the tempo too early cause it will only make you play rather sloppy, and this is exactly what we don't want, right ? ;-)
So, the advice of training 16th notes is pretty good. When playing galloping rhythms the motion that your right hand is doing is exactly the same one that you are doing when playing constant 16th notes, the only difference is that you are leaving out 4 notes when galloping. If you look at one bar you see we can put the accents on the 1, 2, 3 and 4, which means at each click of the metronome, all those notes are played with a downstroke. Now imagine you would be playing straight 16th notes: you would just go up and down with your pick, playing 4 notes for each click of the metronome, right? Now, when it comes to galloping, you just leave out the second note of each of those blocks, thats all the secret. I hope I am not making things worse now and confuse you, please send me a pm or ask here if somthing is unclear or confusing.