Alternate picking power chords?

[bcdon]

Do you alternate pick your power chords or just use down (or up) picks? I know alternate picking single-note stuff works great, but I can't get a fluid motion alt-picking two notes at a time. Any pointers? Is it one of those keep practising things or is down-picking enough to chug at high bpm? :rockya

[sunvalleylaw]

Man, I have pretty much just chugged away with downstrokes on my power chords. Haven't ever really tried alternate style.

[Katastrophe]

It's kinda difficult to chug at high speeds on two strings while alternate picking. I just stick with one string, and loosen up my muting palm just a tad.

[Ch0jin]

Not that I'm any good at it, but I would always down pick when playing palm muted power chords. If I'm trying to play really fast power chords without palm muting (more punk style than metal style) I try and alternate pick for the sake of speed (and my wrist). That said, up until a few years ago I down picked everything because that's just how I'd taught myself. I still find myself reminding my hand as I play to try and alternate/up pick notes.

Related thought, anyone know how Metallica manage the "galloping" style chug in "The Four Horsemen"? That's got to be alternate picked power chords doesn't it?

[marnold]

It depends on what I'm trying to do. Alternate picking obviously allows for better speed. If you are picking too deeply (that is, putting the pick too far past the strings), it will be very hard to alternate pick well in general, much less with power chords.

[bcdon]

Thanks, guys. I down-pick the power chords too but have been trying to alt-pick them without much luck.. it doesn't sound, nor feel right.

Rev: good advice, sometimes I do dig too deeply on power chords (single note stuff I'm okay with), I'll keep an eye out for that.

[sunvalleylaw]

Another thought after what Marnold said.

BC, go over to Mark Wein's lesson site also, and he has a lot of free lessons on rhythm and picking in time. The reason I suggest this is that along with digging in to deep, another thing that will hamper what you are trying to do is not having your down stroke and up stroke in time. It is easy and natural to have your down stroke over power your up stroke so that the up stroke lags just a touch, or some other like symptom. I struggle with that one myself.

The series of lessons on rhythm starts with basic clapping, and goes up through 16th notes I think. It is worth starting at the beginning and working the lessons through. Very helpful.

[bcdon]

Thanks, Steve. I really need work on my timing.. Mark has excellent lessons, I'll go check those out!

[Eric]

Depends on what I'm trying to play. I don't think I palm mute and alternate on power chords too much, but if the song calls for it...I think I just sort of do what's needed.

Now I'll probably start paying attention to that.

[Jimi75]

To be honest, I've never seen someone play palm muted powerchords with alternate picking. As long as you are not playing high speed paml muting like for modern Metal, you can easily downstroke your chords which also sounds much better.

[Eric]

To be honest, I've never seen someone play palm muted powerchords with alternate picking. As long as you are not playing high speed paml muting like for modern Metal, you can easily downstroke your chords which also sounds much better.
Hmm. Something about the way you phrased it made me realize there's a difference between alternate picking a chord and strumming up and down. I think I missed that.

[bcdon]

To be honest, I've never seen someone play palm muted powerchords with alternate picking. As long as you are not playing high speed paml muting like for modern Metal, you can easily downstroke your chords which also sounds much better.

Ahh, but that is precisely what I'm trying to do. I've been watching some videos to try and figure out if these fast metal chugs are alt-picking but they're so fast I can't tell! :-)

[Duffy]

I alternate pick non palm muted power chords a lot, especially when getting a more complicated rythym going. I sometimes mix downstrokes with alternate picking.

I played mandolin for many years and developed alternate picking over double strings a long time ago, of course this is a little different than alternate picking power chords, but the method is the same.

It takes me practice to get an even down and up stroke going that is balanced and good sounding. A soft pick hand definitely helps and not digging in also is important for me. It may be that heavy duty players like SRV or Kenny Wayne Shepherd could/can dig in and alternate pick power chords with no problem. I wouldn't doubt that the same is true for many other expert players.

I would guess that you can alternate pick power chords with increasing accuracy and good results with lots of practice, starting with a soft hand and not digging in too deep.

Just watched Kenny Wayne Shepherd on Direct TV Sessions and he does some serious guitar playing, one of his inspirations being SRV and a lot of the old blues greats. In fact he mentions that when he was 13 a fairly big blues star let him sit in on stage for his first stage performance and that he played with a lot of semi famous and famous blues players, including some of the surviving members of some of the greatest old school American blues players. A great performance if you can still catch it on channel 101 on Direct TV. It was really fun watching him play, you can really see his influences coming thru. "Blue on Black" is really a cool song.

My first guitar teacher, that I eventually fired, never even taught me any alternate picking. My next teacher said he couldn't have been much of a teacher. Since then I have been working on my alternate picking whenever I can and it definitely saves energy.

[bcdon]

Thanks, Duffy. I played a little bit this morning trying to use a soft pick and not digging in too much and it is much easier. I'll keep chugging along with that technique (poor pun intended). :-)

[marnold]

Actually, I'll often play blues shuffles (the ones with power chords and hammer-ons) with alternate picking. Just works out easier for me.

[groverj3]

There isn't really any special trick to making it work. Just a lot of repitition. I wouldn't be surprised though if many of the things that you think need to be alt picked powerchords are actually alt picked muted single note rhythms that are tabbed incorrectly as powerchords. Thats assuming you're reading from tab. I'm not great at it, but its very doable, just keep on keepin' on! It'll come eventually. I've never really thought about it too much to be honest.

[bcdon]

There isn't really any special trick to making it work. Just a lot of repitition. I wouldn't be surprised though if many of the things that you think need to be alt picked powerchords are actually alt picked muted single note rhythms that are tabbed incorrectly as powerchords. Thats assuming you're reading from tab. I'm not great at it, but its very doable, just keep on keepin' on! It'll come eventually. I've never really thought about it too much to be honest.

Thanks, groverj3! Just like I thought, practice. :) What I'm working on really are powerchords, there is no indication that they should be alt-picked, but I was thinking to go really fast they might need to be.

[groverj3]

Thanks, groverj3! Just like I thought, practice. :) What I'm working on really are powerchords, there is no indication that they should be alt-picked, but I was thinking to go really fast they might need to be.

I'm assuming you're talking about palm muting while picking them, right? If so, maybe trying not to tighten the muscles in your hand while playing as much. Keeping your picking hand loose and avoiding a death grip on your pick can help when trying to play anything fast. That, or maybe applying less pressure against the strings while muting too. In any case, keep on rocking :rockya.

[bcdon]

I'm assuming you're talking about palm muting while picking them, right? If so, maybe trying not to tighten the muscles in your hand while playing as much. Keeping your picking hand loose and avoiding a death grip on your pick can help when trying to play anything fast. That, or maybe applying less pressure against the strings while muting too. In any case, keep on rocking :rockya.

Yep, they are palm mutted. And I do need to watch myself with the Vulcan-deathgrip on the pick. Great advise, thanks again! :dude