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Posted by: AdamB May 27 2008, 08:10 AM

I was thinking last night, that obviously with every movement you do on the guitar, your speed is limited by the slowest motion you can do - so for example with alternate picking the speed you can play at can only be as fast as each component part - the downstroke and upstroke. This is when I noticed that I can downstroke over and over very very fast, but upstrokes are virtually impossible to do over and over at any half-decent speed.

Would it be a good idea to improve up-strokes such that it speeds up my alternate picking? It seems logical that if the upstroke improves in speed then it would improve alternate picking automatically?

Do you find that your upstroke is as good as your downstroke?

Posted by: Marek Rojewski May 27 2008, 08:50 AM

My upstroke aren't as "good" as my downstrokes for sure. But I don't know if practicing only upstrokes is a good idea. I would stick to the alternate piciking exercises, and in time the upstroke would improve anyway, and the sound of the exercises would be better if not done with upstrokes only in my opinion.

Still I am not half as good as most of the posters here, so someone better could say what he thinks;)

Posted by: Johnny Göthe Norlin May 27 2008, 10:30 AM

I can definetely relate to that. I have the same problem as you; my downstroke is a lot faster than my upstroke. I'm not 100% sure at all, but I think it can have something do to with the fact that when playing a song it's most often made up by strummed chords and some leads and solos. The leads and solos are most often (at least in my opinion) arpeggios and scales that are ascending rather than descending, moving down the neck.

At most you do some legatos and pull-offs and move one or two strings up so it's mostly a case of like 1-2 consequent upstrokes and then back to alternate picking. I also believe that it's not entirely about the picking hand since the timing and coordination between the hands is somewhat worse when moving up the fretboard. Just try doing a chromatic exercise. It's always harder to play fast upwards rather than downwards. Once again in my opinion ofcourse.

I agree with AdamB though. Focused upstroke training isn't crucial. Ofcourse you can play some chromatic exercises with only downstrokes and then upstrokes, finishing it up with alternate picking. Just check out Ivan's Pentatonic Workshop. It has all that covered.

Posted by: Mark. May 27 2008, 12:14 PM

Up strokes mostly arent used in a way like down strokes do with metal riffs, etc. They're mostly used for accenting certain notes. And if you do sweeping with an upstroke, you dont really pick it like you would if you do alternate picking; you sweep it.
So I dont really see any need to be able to play ONLY upstrokes in a picking fashion fast. But it would be really usefull to practice alternate picking runs with starting with an upstroke, cause in some cases its doesnt work starting with a down stroke so it would be good if you can do both. And if you wanna start AP runs with an upstroke you need to be able to accent the upstrokes, so it would probably be a good idea to train upstrokes only anyways xD

Oh and I just remembered that Paul Gilbert says in one of his vids, that when he started playing guitar he also only did upstrokes. SO DONT DO IT OR YOU'LL BECOME THE SAME AS PAUL GIBLERT !


Edit : holyyy shiieeet, this is Mr. Muris his forum we shouldn't Kill Steal him !

Posted by: Muris Varajic May 27 2008, 02:47 PM

No worries guys,keep talking
as long as it in good intention which means to help.

Adam,I see your problem but most of us has just the same one.
Naturally we are not able to play upstrokes fast as we play downstrokes.
Just take a look at metal riffing and you'll see,all downstrokes,
no way to see player playing all upstrokes.

But you may practice only upstrokes for a while,
just to upgrade it a little.
But don't push it too hard and don't worry if you're still not
able to play upstrokes at the same speed you play downstrokes,
that's just natural way of things.

Posted by: AdamB May 28 2008, 08:37 AM

OK, cool. I might do a little work on it for a couple of weeks to see if it helps my alternate picking at all, which is one of the two techniques I'm really focusing on at the moment, but mostly I'm going to just keep do scale fragments and running through 3nps scales.

Posted by: Oxac Jun 1 2008, 11:20 AM

I can relate to this as well, but as previous posters has said: Start exercises with an upstroke and then do the same starting with a downstroke.

But I really recommend you to play your exercise first only with downstrokes, then only with upstrokes, then alternate. That way, since you'll be learning the shapes in your left hand and won't be able to shred it away, you'll be able to get some upstroke workout without slowing you down

Also, when you do these exercises and move to another string I really recommend you to sweep those two strings (only when playing only upstrokes or only downstrokes). This way you'll learn how to shift strings and keep the pick at the same level.

Hope this helps. // Ox

Posted by: intemperateControl Sep 26 2009, 11:52 PM

QUOTE (AdamB @ May 27 2008, 02:10 AM)

I was thinking last night, that obviously with every movement you do on the guitar, your speed is limited by the slowest motion you can do - so for example with alternate picking the speed you can play at can only be as fast as each component part - the downstroke and upstroke. This is when I noticed that I can downstroke over and over very very fast, but upstrokes are virtually impossible to do over and over at any half-decent speed.

Would it be a good idea to improve up-strokes such that it speeds up my alternate picking? It seems logical that if the upstroke improves in speed then it would improve alternate picking automatically?

Do you find that your upstroke is as good as your downstroke?

Hi, Adam B. You probably don't know who I am but I will respond because your question is very relevant to me. Paul Gilbert began playing guitar (in case you didn't know) with only upstrokes when he first began - as a youth he knew no other way (look it up on YouTube.com - that's where I found it straight from the horses mouth). But, this is what first made him great at his own picking technique and even better once he discovered alternate picking! As you know, down-strokes are easier to play than up-strokes. In a nutshell, check out my writing (probably still at the bottom of the page at (http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=18762&st=0&gopid=427260&#entry427260). And, feel free to let me know what you think...

(intemperateControl) -Scott

Posted by: leedbreak Sep 29 2009, 02:40 AM

May I recommend Muris's lesson on upstroke focus. http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/alternate-picking-upstroke-focus/


Before this lesson I would always involuntarily start picking a group of notes with a down stroke. It has helped a lot to be aware of which stroke I start with. Felt very weird for a while but it feels really natural now.

Posted by: Muris Varajic Oct 1 2009, 01:12 AM

I would go with Upstroke Focus lesson, yeah.
And you can use same approach with every single lick that you play or practice
to upgrade and fix your picking and upstroke,
simple invert downstrokes with upstrokes and see how it works.
You'll probably never be able to play everything with same comfort
using both ways but more you try - less problems you have.