Alternate picking technique and Fade to Black solo Options

[ahessling]

Hi!

At the moment I am practising Kirk Hammett's Fade to Black solo (the intro) with the help of the videos from freelicks.net.
Since I have some practice in playing scales the work of my left hand isn't the greatest problem.
But I really have problems with my right hand (picking hand), more precisely with the alternate picking technique.
For the moment I play the first measures using downstrokes and upstrokes without a special pattern.
For example:
If I have a measure that has only eighth notes, I play downstrokes on the counts 1, 2, 3 and 4 and upstrokes in-between.
But in Fade to Black there are many legato techniques like slides, bends, hammer-ons and pull-offs.
The problem I have is that I don't know if I have to play a downstroke or an upstroke after some legato notes (which aren't picked).
Of course I could find it out by counting but I find it rather difficult and annoying if I have to do this for every measure and try to remember on which note I have to play a downstroke or an upstroke.

Now I wonder if it really matters playing the right patterns of downstrokes or upstrokes.
I am not 100% sure because the video is quite small, but I notice that Kristofer plays downstroke-upstroke-upstroke-downstroke for the first 4 notes of the solo.

The tab for this passage is:

CODE

e|---------

b|---------

g|----7----

d|-/9---9-9

a|---------

e|---------

Now, wouldn't it be more correct if the combination was downstroke-upstroke-downstroke-upstroke or doesn't it really matter?
I hope it doesn't because that would make it easier for me to play such passages.
And I don't want to learn some bad habits, so I want to be sure.

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
André

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[InstruMental Cas...]

Sometimes it’s a good idea to deviate from alternate picking for a moment because certain notes in a song sound best if picked down or up. There are also other picking techniques that you may have heard of, such as economy picking, which work better in certain situations than alternate picking would.

Still... alternate picking is a great thing to master, and with a little practice it flows very easily and subconsciously. If you’re alternate picking something but then you go into a legato passage and later come back to alternate picking, you don’t need to pick up where you left off. Just begin alternate picking again starting with a down stroke or whatever feels most natural.

If you’re practicing an alternate picking exercise then it’s a very good idea to first practice it starting with a down pick, and then all over again but beginning with an up pick. This is so you become a “100% proficient alternate picker”, which simply means you’re trained well enough at alternate picking that you could begin at any point in an alternate picked song after being told which direction the last pick stroke was.

Just try not to overcomplicate things. Alternate picking is simply a tool to play fast and efficiently – it is NOT something to obsess over. But it is a technique that you’d benefit from, so I recommend you use it instead of your somewhat random method.

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[Todd Simpson]

Todd here For Alternate Picking I'd suggest gripping the pick so that not much pick is sticking out. Here are some things to try.

ALTERNATE PICKING TIPS AND TRICKS
1.)Choke up on the pick. Only the point should be sticking out.
2.)Try holding the pick so that the point is at a 90 degre angle to your thumb.
3.)Try a very heavy pick, 1.2 MM or greater so as to eliminate "flex" in the pick.
4.)Try to sharpen your pick to a point with sandpaper or dremmel or what not so that the surface area
striking the string is as small as possible. There are some "training" picks that are shaped this way on purpose.
5.)Work with a metronome ALWAYS so that you keep your picking even.

6.)MOST IMPORTANT: Join me this saturday and every saturday for a live VIDEO CHAT lesson on ALTERNATE PICKING. We have been doing a series on that very topic for several weeks now. Here are the notes so far. Many great workouts to try.

LESSON NOTES ON GMC FOR MY ALTERNATE PICKING SERIES

Above all
Practice!

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[bluenose]

Todds lessons are cool,if you want to improve your picking you should try and tune in on Saturdays.

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[Todd Simpson]

Thanks bluenose Looking forward to another session this coming saturday. See you there!

Todd

Todds lessons are cool,if you want to improve your picking you should try and tune in on Saturdays.

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