simple pick direction question

Excuse the tired blues cliche, but as an example, if you're playing repeated triplets such as:

-----5-
---5---
7(b)---
-------
-------
-------

Do you hit the G string with an up stroke, or down? I've been playing all three as down strokes, sort of a continuation of one movement, but it's breaking down on me at speed. I've played with just picking the G, and plucking the B and E strings with my fingers -- sort of a banjo roll -- but that doesn't sound the same.

Got me wondering if there are certain 'rules' about approaching things like this, before I spend a lot of time ingraining the pattern. Thx!

hi there!

to me it would be one of these options:

a) strict alternate - G string would be down and up at a time
b) kind of sweep - up / down / down / up / down / down etc
c) hybrid - pick the G string, and fingerpick the B and E strings

a) sounds great to pop like stuff
c) is maybe the one you can pick faster

b) although I'm a fan of sweep picking, I would not use it on this particular riff

hope it helps!

I'm a pretty die-hard alternate picker, but I would do that with all down strokes for the percussive quality that raw lick deserves.
Not with a sweep, though.
3 individual downstrokes.

Yup, the sweep doesn't work in any circumstance, I agree.

But I'm just weighing up-down-down, vs. down-down-down, now. Weird how something so simple can be complex.

Here's one other thought - flatpick the G and B (down/down or down/up) and then hybrid pick the E string. I find that using my fingers to end the phrase allows me to get my pick ready to start the next phrase - whatever string it lies on. Also, to avoid the tonal differences between pick and fingers I've switched to playing with side of my pick vs. the point - I find that evens things out a bit.

Oh well, there's an argument for down, down, up. You have to move your hand back up after the last note, so why not start that trip with an upstroke on the last string?

Here's one other thought - flatpick the G and B (down/down or down/up) and then hybrid pick the E string. I find that using my fingers to end the phrase allows me to get my pick ready to start the next phrase - whatever string it lies on. Also, to avoid the tonal differences between pick and fingers I've switched to playing with side of my pick vs. the point - I find that evens things out a bit.

Boom. +1. There isn't as much volume on that e string note when I play that (too often) and hybrid picking works GREAT there. Either that or I'd upstroke the e string.

Gotta go home later and check what I really do. :smile:

Oh well, there's an argument for down, down, up. You have to move your hand back up after the last note, so why not start that trip with an upstroke on the last string?

^^^^^^^^THIS!!!^^^^^^^^^^^

All down strokes for me if flat picking for sure, especially blues because the next note I'm likjely to hit will be a stinging B string bend at the 8th fret. But it depends on what the next note after it would be and the style of blues or rock. All down strokes gets me ready for a viscious attack and stinging vivrato at the 8th ret of the B string, which I do alot with a down stroke.

+1 with RCmempho....there is no other string beyond that high E...so why pick it with a downstroke? unless....there is another note on that high e and a movement to a lower string from there. Then, I would use a d/d/d/u momvement. IT is all about what comes after, imho.

And...one qeustion....what difference is there between a 'sweep' and using all downstrokes???

And...one qeustion....what difference is there between a 'sweep' and using all downstrokes???

I always think of it as starting another picking motion for each downstroke. For me sweep is letting the initial picking motion carry thru to other strings. Down, down will have more "authority" on the individual notes - sweeping is more of a "blur or strum" effect At high speeds none of it matters much to my ears.

It's sort of like the legato vs. alternate vs. hybrid pick discussions. They all have their place. When I'm trying to play fast frankly I'm satisfied to be able get notes out in time and with reasonable clarity (proper fretting, string muting, etc.) I don't sweat the tonal nuances even though I can hear them.

As the Wolf told Hubert; "Get rid of the pick!"

Some good advice here... but do what feels natural for you. If a certain method doesn't work for you, find a better way that you're comfortable with. That's how a guitar player develops his/her own style.

-Jagg

As the Wolf told Hubert; "Get rid of the pick!"

I am finding more and more that my blues playing sounds much better all finger-picked. And to update my last post on this thread, I tried picking d/d/d and couldn't do it. It has to be d/d/u with a pick for me.

+1 for down, down, up

I'd go down down up if the next string in succession was the high E String because it's so wide open for an upstroke.

boo radley, gave us:

-----5-
---5---
7(b)---
-------
-------
-------

For me, the pick direction on the 5th fret, 1st string would be determined by the number of notes to be played on that 1st string before the pick had to come back in the other direction to hit a lower string. That is.....if I am playing only 2 notes---or any even number of notes--- on the high E, I would pick the 5th fret note with a downstroke, hit the second note on that string with an upstroke. That way the pick is moving in the direction I need to go to get to the next note most efficiently. IF I am playing 3 notes---or any odd number of notes---on the high E string, then I am going to hit those notes in an alternating pattern starting with an upstroke.....and that will put my last pick stroke on the high E in the direction of the lower strings where my next note will be.

This is also the way I practice scales....the last stroke on a string always takes the pick in the direction of the next string...wherever that may be. Even numbers of notes on a string demand that the first stroke on that string be away from the string that follows those notes. Odd numbers of notes cause one to pick in the direction of the next string. Practicing scales in this manner yields a more intuitive grasp of these movements. I can't remember what lesson in Guitar Player or by whom the lesson was given back in the late '70's...but imho, it is a good lesson.

Interesting....I'm finding 'up-down-down' easiest with the pick. I'm not sure why -- maybe it's because the initial bend gets the accent: ONE two three, TWO two three, etc., and if I dig in hard with the downstroke it messes me up on the B and E strings.

With fingers, it's definitely more bullet-proof, and I can hit the bend on the G with a down stroke, but it lacks the crispness of a pick, imo.