# How do you triplet pick (gallop)?



## Max Dread (Jul 23, 2012)

_*SH!T - Got option 2 in the poll wrong. It should read: 

DOWN - UP - DOWN / UP - DOWN - UP.

Sorry about any confusion. Is it possible for me to change the text in the poll?*_

Hi all

I've always done triplet picking with a 

Down - Up - Down
Down - Up - Down
Down - Up - Down
etc

.....pattern. 

Just recently I've started playing about with

Down - Up - Down 
Up - Down - Up
Down - Up - Down
Up - Down - Up
etc

......instead. 

It's got me to wondering what other players do, whether there is a mixture, or whether most prefer one over the other. Would be great if people could cast a vote to let me know, and add any additional info to the thread.

Cheers

Max


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## MrPepperoniNipples (Jul 23, 2012)

Isn't gallop supposed to be 'down up down - down up down - down up down'

otherwise it's not really galloping?

Well I just think that sounds better anyway.
there's some consistency in the sound and which notes are accented, as opposed to switching between two sequences and different notes are accented on alternating triplets


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## Ayo7e (Jul 23, 2012)

down up down-down up down<<<< ofc


down up down up <<< Bleed by meshuggah for example


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## MABGuitar (Jul 23, 2012)

I sometimes do a mixture of both, pretty much like you explained it.


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## ShreddingDragon (Jul 23, 2012)

As for triplets, Down Up Down. It's just alternate picking like normal, I don't feel there is anything special involved, direction-wise, in triplet picking.

But galloping is not triplets. It's (for example) 8th + 16th + 16th. "Dunn du-du dunn du-du dunn du-du..." Those I pick Down Down Up - Down Down Up.


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## Max Dread (Jul 23, 2012)

Apologies also for not being clear. It's been a long day! The question relates only to gallops (8th + 16th + 16th), not triplets. 

Cheers

Max


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## Daken1134 (Jul 23, 2012)

if your refering to like Lamb Of God type gallops their actually 16th not triplets and i dont think ive ever seen anyone play them not picked down up down


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## Santuzzo (Jul 23, 2012)

Sorry, I'm not trying to be a smart-ass, but I see a lot of confusion about triplets and gallops. 
Just to clarify : a triplet is three notes evenly spaced over one beat (eighth note triplets) (or over half a beat - 16th note triplets or even over 2 beat - quarter note triplets, etc.), so each of these notes is equally long. 

A gallop, though is usually an eighth note followed by two sixteenth notes. The first note being twice as long as each of the two following notes.
And I usually pick those down, down, up.

EDIT: just saw your post clarifying that already.


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## djyngwie (Jul 23, 2012)

A repeated pattern of 8th-16th-16th I would play as Down-Down-Up, keeping downstrokes on every 8th note.


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## ShreddingDragon (Jul 24, 2012)

I'm going to try how Down Up Down gallop sounds actually  It could be cool to have the accents like "DUNN du-DU DUNN du-DU DUNN du-DU..."


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## MitchellJBurgess (Jul 24, 2012)

I refer to it the same way as a chord sequence type thing,
Turning the 4th beat of alternative picking into a ghost note.
Though then of course it's played a little different in timing from a triplet,
But that's the way I do it is.
PLUS you get different timbres from upstrokes and downstrokes, do I prefer down-up-down/down-up-down because there's more down, because downstrokes are usually a little more aggressive sounding!


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## ChronicConsumer (Jul 24, 2012)

As pointed out, three 16th notes + one 16th rest =/= triplets! ^^
I try to do Down-up-down as much as I can, mostly because these patterns are often used in metal, and generally speaking the rule of thumb for metal is, if you can downpick it, downpick it. Sounds better to my ears at least!

Still, people like Marty Friedman can make even the notorious upstroke sound metal.


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## Equivoke (Jul 24, 2012)

I usually stick to D-U-D---U-D-U- Because I have a boner for economy of motion. 

Although if I'm striking more than one string I'll do D-U-D---D-U-D-.


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## tacotiklah (Jul 26, 2012)

I'm a n00b, so I prefer reverse gallops over regular ones. (e.g. 16th + 16th + 8th)
Think of the second riff in Raining Blood for an idea how they sound.


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## Danukenator (Jul 26, 2012)

I used to do D-U-D U-D-U but switched to just D-U-D. It just sounds thicker and more metal. I also find alternating can make me faster but far less accurate. It's just easier for me to think "here is the beat, I need to be going down." Plus the motion of resting my hand to prepare for the next down stroke makes sure I pause between notes. 

On the note of what you are playing, I always wrote gallops are just three 1/16 notes with a single 1/16 note rest. Is that incorrect?


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## AxeHappy (Jul 27, 2012)

I do Gallops(8th, 16th, 16th): Down/Down/Up, Down/Down/Up

Reverse Gallops (16th, 16th, 8th): Down/Up/Down, Down/Up/Down

Triplets (Regardless of the note being grouped): Down/Up/Down, Up/Down/Up. Or reversed If I'm starting on an upstroke for whatever reason.

That said, I'm far more of an economy picker than Alternating so sometimes string changes will change that pattern up.


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## Hollowway (Jul 27, 2012)

Well, what everyone has posted about galloping not being triplets is true, and in terms of alternate picking, you have to pick down down up, because there is an implied up stroke after the first down (where the other 1/16 note would go). You can economy pick down up down, but then you have to start the next measure with an upstroke otherwise it's not very economical (to have two downstroke 1/16 notes next to each other). You could also pick exclusively downstroke. But down up down, down up down, etc is almost impossible to do, and would make no sense anyway. I'd be surprised if too many people did anything other than DDU for true galloping (ie 1/8, 1/16, 1/16).

Edit: I think where the OP and some of us are differing in our approaches is what we consider the first beat. I'm calling a gallop 1/8, 1/16, 1/16 all occurring within the space of a quarter note on the beat. So the "gallop" part is really the 1/16, 1/16, 1/8 part that is the "and-a-two" spillover into the next beat. I think some of the other posts are referring to that part, with that frame of reference.


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## iRaiseTheDead (Jul 27, 2012)

down-down-down is the only way!

I do gallops like:
D-U-D--D-U-D... etc


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## Equivoke (Jul 27, 2012)

Danukenator said:


> I used to do D-U-D U-D-U but switched to just D-U-D. It just sounds thicker and more metal. I also find alternating can make me faster but far less accurate. It's just easier for me to think "here is the beat, I need to be going down." Plus the motion of resting my hand to prepare for the next down stroke makes sure I pause between notes.
> 
> On the note of what you are playing, I always wrote gallops are just three 1/16 notes with a single 1/16 note rest. Is that incorrect?



It depends if you are muting(left hand) it after the last stroke, if you are I would say yes, but if you are only using your right hand to palm mute I would say it is 2 16ths and and 8th note.


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## TheDisease999 (Jan 28, 2013)

I always always DUD UDU DUD UDU Etc...

Just way more comfortable and with the right muting sounds just as cool to me. I always prefer to alt rather than downpick though.


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## Curt (Jan 28, 2013)

Always have done it D-D-U.
Hollowway summed it up.


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## troyguitar (Jan 28, 2013)

triplets: DUDUDUDUDUDU

gallops: D-DUD-DUD-DUD-DU


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## Sixthsant (Jan 30, 2013)

I play DUD unless I'm moving between gallops and a riff or something, then it changes depending on the beat I'm playing


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## Konfyouzd (Jan 30, 2013)

MrPepperoniNipples said:


> Isn't gallop supposed to be 'down up down - down up down - down up down'
> 
> otherwise it's not really galloping?
> 
> ...


 
This is how I do it. It doesn't feel right rhythmically otherwise...


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## drowningfishy (Jan 30, 2013)

D U D just sounds way heavier than alternating, I switch between the two though if its a fast triplet part in the song. 

But then again I down pick everything just because it sounds heavy lol


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