I can play rock n roll, but the fact is I tend to strum it when getting to a true rock 'n' roll BPM, think of Johnny B Goode for instance. Most people play thie sort of thing all downstrokes, which I'd like to be able to, I can for a short time but I find it's just too strainful for a whole song. Can anyone give me any advice on how to improve ths? Anything to help me practice this and develop a better technique maybe? Or is it just about gaining more strength in my right hand?
together we stand, divided we fall..........
I'm not much into them but the band "Slayer" is a band that uses ALOT of downstrokes very quickly and for along time, I read an articcle the guy wrote about how he was able to do downstrokes for such a long fast sustained period of time and he said in it. "practice practice practice, never think you are good enough do downstrokes on the chromatic scale unitll you feel the burn then keep going"
that may not be exactly it but my evperience is that you jsut have to build up endurance
also try and get as little motion in your picking hand that way youre close to the string for another attack, plus youd jsut be plain wasting energy swinging your arm at the ol elbow hinge.
I will second what was said above about practice being the answer. I love playing Green Day, and they use predominantly downstrokes on all of their power chord songs. When I started playing, I would strum them up and down, like you said you do, but I know what you mean, it just didn't sound quite the same. So I tried all downstrokes, and boy did my hand hurt! So what I would do was this: I'd when I was playing along to CDs or with friends or even just practicing a song by myself, I would start with all downstrokes and play until it hurt too much to keep going with the downstrokes, at that point I would switch to the strumming to give my hand a break for a while and then when I felt better, I'd go back to downstrokes for as long as I could. At first 'as long as I could' amounted to like 20 seconds, but as I kept on trying it, little by little, I could play longer and longer, and now it's no problem to do a whole song that way! Of course, when you're practicing alone and don't have to keep up with a band, slowing it down and working on your technique really helps too!
-Jason
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To those about to rock, we salute you!
http://www.soundclick.com/jasonwittenbach
Learn the intro to Master Of Puppets. that is some really brutal downpicking. hehe.
SHUT UP ABOUT IRON MAIDEN SOLOS AND GO PRACTICE!
-Manitou
You need to build up the strength in your hand to cope with a song that is all downstrokes. Can you survive for one minute before your hand starts to sieze up? 45 second? 30? Whatever the level is, that's the point to start at. Practice all downstrokes at a moderate tempo until you can manage your starting level without any problems, and then start to increase the time.
Once you've got up to, say, four minutes, without discomfort, then is the time to start working on speed. Why leave speed until last? Because if you can't play it slow, then you don't stand a chance of getting it right at speed.
Best,
A :-)
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
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that pain in your hand comes from tension. The key to doing downstrokes upstrokes ANY stroke is to relax. Relax your picking hand. I hold hte pick with just enough pressure that it wont fall out. Then I go to town. I've never had my hand cramp up from too much downstroking. Also, make sure the motion is in your wrist. I just picked up my guitar and did alot of power-chord downstrokes and paid attention to my hand. I was rotating my entire forearm and wrist to get the motion needed. If you use your forearms, your hand wont bear the brunt anymore. give it a try...it may work for you, it may not
Learn the intro to Master Of Puppets. that is some really brutal downpicking. hehe.
LOL, agree! :)
