I've mastered tremolo picking 1 string, but I can't seem to tremolo pick 2 strings. Any advice? It's been 2 months now and still no luck.

2 strings at the same time or switching between 2 strings?

I would just suggest more practice..

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it obviously requires more movement of your wrist, so just be patient, start slow and speed up. is there any particular problem you are having, or is this just a general thing?

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well, listen to some dark funeral and try using your whole forarm.

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dont do that, its bad, you can really wreck your elbows, ONLY use your wrist

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It's going to take you a while to get the strength and stamina in your wrist to accommodate the extra distance it has to move through when tremolo picking two strings. There's no secret with guitar playing: to get better at a certain technique you practise doing it over and over.

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The best thing to do is get a metronome (you can get a computer metronome for free by downloading one), and practise with it so that you can make every note equal. When you can play at a certain tempo with ease and all the notes equal in lenght, increase the tempo. That's the only way, do that for hours a day and you'll get results. Getting fast IS difficult! It takes a lot of time, and I don't mean hours or days, but months and years! 2 weeks ain't much, you'll have to practise at least 2 monts so you'll get results: to be able to play every time at the same level of speed and precision. Good luck!

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fuck, cheers for that, i occasionally used my forearm. yikes

to further improve your picking u should improve ure muscles etc in ure wrist by using a hand squeezer thingy, i dunno wat their called but i use one, and it works

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2 strings at the same time.

I appreciate the advice. When I practice for about a half hour or so I can sometimes tremolo pick the 2 strings for a short while, so I think I just need to build up more muscle in my wrist.

yeah, just keep on practicing.

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Ha if you practice [most] Iced Earth songs, you'll get extremely better at tremolo picking. That only because of rhythms. The best way to practice ANYTHING fast is rhythms. ....do triplets, sincopations.....

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Masturbating can help you build up muscle. Start off slowly and gradually increase speed when you feel comfortable to do so. Try it with a metronome so that you are accurate with your alternate down and up-stroking. Also, use both hands alternately (or simultaneously) for an equal work out. Soon you'll be strumming faster than a really fast strummer.

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hahahaha, there's always that...

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I usually use wrist and forearm combined, like Jeff Hanneman, and I can play at 300 bpm for a good length of time with no problem.

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The best I can play is Old Man's Child's "The Old Man's Child" from the album In the Shades of Life without trouble or strain. That's a pretty good song to practice on.

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yeah, bannana guy said it. i use the lower forarm though, my elbo doesnt move, but i can feel the muscles being worked.

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Yeah, sometimes when playing rythm I like to use about 75% wrist 25% forearm. This helps me get sextuplets where I would normally just have triplets. But I do that because its what comes natural to me ... Just stay relaxed, and learn to differentiate between slight muscle burn and genuine joint pain in your wrist. Stretch your hand in between songs/excercises.

Also rememeber that your not going to be able to tremelo pick at high speeds right away. Work your way up to speed. Its better to be slow and tight then fast and sloppy.

I've never seen somebody use only their wrist when hitting very high speeds. Michael Angelo (from what i can see) uses his forearm when picking at high speeds. My forearm automatically kicks in at a certain speed.

JESUS. I thought you were referring to something else there, in the bold part. Way to give me a coronary.

It's all part of the wanking joke!

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Alex Skolnick!

So you are saying using some forearm is not the incorrect way to do it? Even if I have been doing it the wrong way until now, I want to know how to do it correctly from now on.

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undefinedlisten to panzer divison marduk, that album is basically all 2 string tremelo picking, and i think no matter what once you start getting to the high speeds your whole arm will start working in.

Thanks for adding your input into a thread untouched for over a year.



Diddle.

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It's a useful thread.

Morbid Angel and Vader are good bands to practice tremolo picking on. Deicide is pure tremolo picking. :P

Trey from Morbid plays insanely fast tremolo picking only with his wrist, but they've been playing death metal for twenty years, so the younger folk that have been playing for less time shouldn't worry if they aren't comfortable with just the wrist. :P To hit very fast picking I simply have to use my forearm a little bit, but nothing like tensing up like hell. This is why I don't sling my guitar very low nor high, mid-height having the bridge around waist height is best for my picking.

Just play however you feel comfortable now, make sure you get no cramps otherwise change your posture and technique immedeately. Eventually you'll be comfortable with picking solely with your wrist and even fingers.

Tremolo picking two strings... all I can say is pick harder in bigger "sweeps". Songs from Morbid Angel's "Altars of Madness" and of course Immortal(try the relatively easy song "Withstand the Fall of Time") have a load of that.

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Well now that you have explained more or less everything on how to strum two strings at the same time, anyone care to give any advice when changing between two or more strings?

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just make sure when you go to the next string that its a down stroke, or else it wont work that good, thats all i have to say

EDIT: if your going down that is

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You can bend your thumb to help control the pick and reach strings better, straighten it out for downpicks and bend it fo up-picks, thats how i do it anyway for both trem picking and alternate picking riffs fast.

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I just pick really fast and let God sort it out.

i just do the same as if i'm tremolo picking one string.. instead i'm doing 2 strings. i dont know how you trem pick so i cant exactly help. but i'll give you the answer to almost any question you can ask, and the most obvious one.

practice

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dont listen to him, he up strokes EVERYTHING

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liar, i do a fast tremolo picking and you know that. bitch.

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still the upstroke thing pisses me off for some reason

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yeah well the say you play black magic pisses me off! well off to tim hortons

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what about the way i do the DEFFENISTARTION SLAP

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Just give it time and practice. I had the same problem when I first started to try to tremelo 2 strings.

On parts of songs that require a slow chug, I would use alternate picking instead of just downpicking. This would allow me to practice alternate two string picking without making it a direct exercise. Eventually, you'll be able to do it quite easily.

Some real advice: try a guitar that has a raised bridge. It'll make a huge difference, at least it did for me. (kahler).

Part of my fooling around is tremeloing 3 strings. I don't really see the point and its pretty slow right now but you never know.

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emperor's "i am the black wizards" is a great song to practice tremolo picking to. it has two string trem picking in the beginning, and it has single string-to-string trem picking in the main verse.