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Chapter 8: Playing Lead: Soaring Melodies and Searing Solos
141
Figure 8-1 shows an exercise that uses alternate-picked downstrokes on the
open high-E string. The rhythm is straight eighth-notes. Work to get your
picking as rhythmic and dynamic (loud and soft) as the example on the CD.
You should hear no difference between the downstrokes (which are a little
more comfortable and natural to play) and the upstrokes (which require a
little more finesse and confidence to bring them up to the level of downstrokes).
Figure 8-1:
Alternate
picking on
the open
high-E string
in straight
eighthnotes.
Count 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
T
A
B
Track 40
sim.
sim.
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
By first playing alternate picking in even, straight eighth-notes, you gain
better control of your picking pattern. Before moving on to the next section,
practice the exercise in Figure 8-1 until you can play it confidently.
Tackling tricky alternate-picking
situations
After you have the concept down of moving your pick in a strict, alternating,
up-and-down motion, you can apply that motion to different situations on the
strings of the guitar. In real-life situations, the melody isn’t affected by
whether you have to change strings on an upstroke or downstroke or
whether you’re stronger going from the higher strings to the lower strings.
Don’t think about the stroke — just think about the next note, and the stroke
will take care of itself. You’ve drilled so much, the strokes are second nature.
When you get really good, you won’t even be aware of what stroke you’re
using — your right hand will just naturally play the right stroke. In this section,
you apply alternate picking to a couple of different passages in a variety
of settings to make sure you can keep the alternate-picking scheme intact.
TEAM LinG