Alternate picking speed/Endurance

[Metalrulz]

Hey guys!

Any advice you could give me to improve my alternate picking speed and endurance, to be able to picking fast for long periods of time. Such as in slayer's angel of death, Meshuggah's Bleed, Etc.

I can manage to play Both of the riffs but after awhile my picking slows down drastically, Are there any warm-up exercises, pointers, anything that you can tell me to help me out?

Thanks!

[kekkuliheikki]

Originally Posted by Metalrulz

Hey guys!

Any advice you could give me to improve my alternate picking speed and endurance, to be able to picking fast for long periods of time. Such as in slayer's angel of death, Meshuggah's Bleed, Etc.

I can manage to play Both of the riffs but after awhile my picking slows down drastically, Are there any warm-up exercises, pointers, anything that you can tell me to help me out?

Thanks!

Relax your forearm.



Or w**k. For downpicking.

[ChronicConsumer]

Well, aside from just lots of correct practice (make no mistakes, be relaxed at all times), there's not really much to it.
I play the song "Six" by All That Remains quite a lot, it's the only song by them I ever really got into but all of the riffs are excellent exercises, awesome for both your alternate picking and your downpicking (which, by the way, if you're gonna play pretty much any type of metal you can NEVER be good enough at unless you're in Iced Earth or SikTh).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuPSSyF5UE0

[Maniacal]

The exercises in my book will help. I am currently able to pick 16ths at 208bpm for 5 minutes just from doing my exercises. Speed AND endurance.

[Lagtastic]

My somewhat-daily routine includes "Master of Puppets," "Cowboys From Hell" (Pantera), "The Art of Shredding" (Pantera), & "Travel in Stygian" (Live in Athens version, Iced Earth.) If you can make it through these 4 songs every couple days, your endurance should grow substantially.

Exercises are great. I did them for years. I really can't think of anything better than the Paul Gilbert & Rusty Cooley DVDs for exercises. As good as exercises are, you may find you have more fun and get more accomplished by learning songs that have the specific techniques you want to master. I learned that from a Guthrie video awhile back and it makes sense.

Another great way to build up alt picking speed and endurance is to learn all modes of the Major scale in a single key, in 3 note per string fingerings. Play them 5 minutes a day, and change keys. Do 2-4 different keys a day and you can learn some fretboard visualization while you practice your alt picking. PM me if you need a fretboard map for this particular exercise.

[Metalrulz]

Lol, uhm yeah.... downpicking... haha, your lessons are very helpful! keep making them!

[ConnorGilks]

Originally Posted by Maniacal

The exercises in my book will help. I am currently able to pick 16ths at 208bpm for 5 minutes just from doing my exercises. Speed AND endurance.

Good tip.

[Maniacal]

^ Thanks!