Alternate Picking Guitar Workout

ALTERNATE PICKING guitar patterns and tips

Greetings to you, my fellow Shred enthusiast! If you’re looking to improve your alternate picking guitar skills, then I’ve got the thing for you. In this post, we’ll be discussing the different types of alternate picking patterns and how they change between strings when using odd or even note patterns per-string. But that’s not all! I’ve put together some alternate picking exercises for you to try that demonstrate the 4 most common types of these patterns for Shred guitar.

What is Alternate Picking?

alternate picking guitar exercises evens and odds If you’re reading this, you probably know exactly what alternate picking is. But, just in case you’re a newbie (everyone has to start somewhere) let’s take a second to briefly define alternate picking.

Fundamentally, alternate picking, sometimes known as double picking, is a guitar technique where you alternate between downstrokes and upstrokes with your pick as you play through a passage on the guitar. When the pick goes down, it plucks the string to play one note and when you bring the pick back up again it plucks the string to play another note and so on. This technique allows you to play faster and more accurately, as you’re both conserving energy and efficiently using each motion of the pick to pluck the string.

Alternate picking is the standard technique for shred guitar when it comes to picked patterns that play multiple notes per-string. While other picking techniques like sweep picking and economy picking may be more efficient in certain contexts, and legato techniques like hammer-ons, pull-offs, and two hand tapping can be just as fast or even faster, alternate picking provides the cutting attack that is characteristic of shred guitar.

Alternate picking patterns: Odds or evens?

One of the most common alternate picking patterns is the 2 and 4 note per string pattern. This pattern is considered an even pattern because you are using an equal number of downstrokes and upstrokes on each string.

When using this pattern, the picking direction will stay the same as you move between strings. For example, if you start with a downstroke on the low E string, you will continue with a downstroke on the A string, and so on.

even alternate picking exercise #1 – two notes per string

alternate picking guitar pattern 2 notes per string — Alternate picked pentatonic exercise with 2 notes per string. Notice that the picking pattern is the same for each string.

even alternate picking exercise #2 – four notes per string

alternate picking guitar pattern 4 notes per string — Alternate picked chromatic exercise (skipping notes in the scale to use the same frets for each string) with 4 notes per string. As with the previous exercise, the picking pattern is the same for each string.

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On the other hand, 1 and 3 note per string patterns are considered uneven patterns because the number of downstrokes and upstrokes is not equal on each string. This causes the picking pattern to change when you move between strings. For example, if you start with a downstroke on the low E string, you will need to start with an upstroke on the A string in order to maintain the alternate picking pattern.

even alternate picking exercise #3 – one note per string

alternate picking guitar pattern 1 note per string — Alternate picked exercise using just 1 note per string. While patterns that use only 1 note per string often use sweep picking, there are plenty of occasions where alternate picking would be preferred. Notice that the picking direction changes with each string.

even alternate picking exercise #4 – three notes per string

alternate picking guitar pattern 3 notes per string — Alternate picked diatonic exercise with 3 notes per string. Notice that the picking pattern is inverted for each string.

Improving your alternate picking guitar skills

So how do you improve your alternate picking skills? Well, why do you think I spent the time making those exercises for you? One way is to practice alternate picking exercises like the ones shown above. These exercises will help you build coordination for different types of alternate picking patterns which is very important since, in the real world, Shred solos don’t always confine themselves to either even or odd picking patterns.

Taking that one step further, I’d recommend that you practice alternate picking exercises that alternate (okay this is getting a little confusing) between even and odd numbers of strings.

Of course it’s also extremely important that you practice with a metronome, starting slowly and gradually increasing your speed.

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Lastly, don’t forget to practice alternate picking with different scales and runs. Experiment with different picking patterns and see what works best for you. With a little bit of practice, you’ll be well on your way towards shred mastery.

So there you have it, a few tips on how to improve your alternate picking guitar skills. Keep practicing and before you know it, you’ll be tearing up the fretboard like a pro.

Shred on!

-Anton