Alternate Picking Technique

Alternate picking means strictly alternating downstrokes and upstrokes with the pick, rather than picking every note with a downstroke. It's the default picking technique behind most fast single-note lines, and building it correctly early on saves you from re-learning your picking motion later when you want more speed.

What you'll need

• A pick you're comfortable holding (medium gauge is a reasonable default while learning)
• A metronome — genuinely important for this one, not optional

Steps

1. Check your pick grip. Hold the pick between your thumb and the side of your index finger, with only a small triangle of the pick's tip exposed. Too much pick sticking out makes the motion floppy and imprecise; too little makes it hard to strike the string cleanly.

2. Pick from a small, controlled motion, driven mainly from the wrist rather than the whole arm or the elbow. Watch that your hand isn't tensing into a fist-like grip around the pick — a relaxed grip is both faster and less tiring over a long practice session.

3. Start on a single open string, alternating down-up-down-up at a slow metronome tempo, aiming for perfectly even volume and spacing between every stroke, both downs and ups. Many players unconsciously pick upstrokes quieter or less precisely than downstrokes — listen carefully for that imbalance and correct it early.

4. Move to a simple one-string scale exercise, such as playing frets 5-6-7-8 on one string, alternate picking every note, ascending and then descending. This adds left-hand and right-hand coordination on top of the picking motion itself.

5. Cross strings deliberately. Alternate picking gets harder when a phrase crosses from one string to another mid-pattern, because the "expected" down or up stroke doesn't always land conveniently. Practice a simple pattern that crosses strings (like the minor pentatonic scale shape) slowly, checking that you're not sneaking in an extra pick stroke or skipping the alternation to make a string change easier.

6. Increase the metronome speed gradually, only moving up once the current tempo feels completely relaxed and clean. Jumping to a faster tempo before the slower one is solid is the most common way bad, tense habits get baked in.