High speeds

kungfumonk007

When you are changing strings to a lower (lower in pitch) string do you still use the downstroke rule or do you switch to a purer economy picking at some point. So like if I'm doing 8th notes at 285+, and I'm playing a lick that has a string patter like example 9.1, would I still maintain the down strokes on the g and d strings or would I economy pick it with up strokes?

MichaelHorowitz

kungfumonk007 wrote:

When you are changing strings to a lower (lower in pitch) string do you still use the downstroke rule or do you switch to a purer economy picking at some point. So like if I'm doing 8th notes at 285+, and I'm playing a lick that has a string patter like example 9.1, would I still maintain the down strokes on the g and d strings or would I economy pick it with up strokes?

In the traditional rest stroke style you always use downstrokes on a string change....you can get very fast at it over time. And for the really, really fast licks you can refinger them to avoid so many consecutive downstrokes and/or use pull offs or hammer ons. Guys like Jimmy and Stochelo Rosenberg play like this....they never really abandon the traditional technique.

Some of the modern type players like Adrien Moignard or Bireli will use upstrokes on string changes sometimes, but they both still use the traditional technique most of the time.