Alternate picking — the round-trip of down and up

For two days you woke up the right and left hands separately. Today you upgrade the right hand a level — to what you've been dragging only downward, you add going down and then dragging it back up. This is alternate picking.

It feels like a sewing machine. The needle pokes down, slips up, pokes down, slips up — this round-trip falls naturally onto eighth notes. The downstroke drops naturally with the weight of the arm, but the up needs a slight rewind of the wrist to lift back. That rewinding force is the muscle you newly wake today. The up feels awkward at first, but in a few days it round-trips on its own like a sewing machine. With downstrokes only, the faster you go the more your hand can't keep up; mix in upstrokes and you get twice the notes even with the wrist moving only half as much. That's why nearly every fast phrase in the world stands on alternate picking.

Today has just one trap. At first the upstroke comes out smaller and weaker than the down — totally normal; you simply haven't used the "up" muscle yet. Play watching only your wrist in a mirror, and you can catch with your eyes how differently down and up move. Using eyes and ears together sets the balance far faster. So today, instead of speed, you only even out the volume balance of down and up. Get that right and speed shows up on its own later.

Both examples below alternate down-up-down-up. There are no arrows in the notation, but think of it as: first note down, next up, strictly alternating.

Example 1 — open-string alternate. Open 6th string in eighth notes. No left-hand worries — focus only on the right-hand round-trip.

▶ BPM 65. Whether down and up sound the same size is everything. Close your eyes and just listen — you'll quickly hear which one is smaller.

Example 2 — chromatic alternate. Yesterday's 1-2-3-4, alternate-picked, twice. This is the moment your two hands first meet.

▶ BPM 65. The left finger and the right pick must meet at exactly the same instant for the note to sound clear. If they slip apart, lower the speed.

0–7 min · Warm-up Play yesterday's chromatic 1-2-3-4 with downpicking at BPM 60 to loosen up. Re-imprint the left-hand spots into your body first.

7–17 min · Today's skill Play down-up only on the open 6th string, very slowly. Keep your ear on whether the upstroke is as clear as the downstroke.

17–27 min · Applying it Example 1 (open alternate) four times at BPM 65 → once comfortable, move to Example 2 (chromatic alternate) and do it four times at BPM 65. If the two hands slip out of time, drop the speed first.

27–30 min · Check Write down the BPM you reached, and record 30 seconds to hear whether down and up are indistinguishable in evenness.

Done when: you can play eighth-note alternate picking on the 6th string at 65 with even down/up volume.

• Slacking on the upstroke. If the up note is small, the rhythm limps. Making the up as clear as the down is the whole point today.
• Round-tripping from the arm. Swinging the forearm tires you fast. Use a small round-trip from the wrist.
• Pick angle. Dig the pick too deep into the string and it snags on the up. Tilt it slightly so it grazes through.
• Raising speed first. Playing fast before the balance is set hardens a bad habit. Even at 65 comes first.