im just wondering when on verses of death metal songs and it has insane speed and u have to palm mute the whole thing is it absolutely necessary to use down picking?

if you want the famous Kerry King style that later Metallica used...then yes.

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you dont HAVE to...but it gives more intensity to each note

btw if you start practicing downstrokes...try to practice as much with upstrokes otherwise youll end up unbalanced

i actually know a guy that uses upstrokes ALL THE FUCKIN TIME!!! i have never seen anything like it before in my life.

I don't usually down pick it, but I'd advise you to, as it does gives more intensity to each note as Freezer said.

I'm just starting to use the palm mute during my practice sessions.

I've got a couple of questions:


1. You should only p.m. the strings that are meant to be p.m., no extra correct?

-----If I only want to p.m. the low e, then I only p.m. low e.
-----If I want to p.m. low e and a, then I only p.m. them.

-----I suppose that this is a good habit to get into because your p.m. will be much
-----more accurate.

2. For speed playing, is it customary to use alternate picking for power chords?

-----I've been trying to practice and I find it a slow process. Include
-----p.m. with alternate picking and it turns into quite a chore.


What do you people think?

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It doesn't really matter how many strings you cap with your mute unless you need to alternate between a muted note, and an open note. That's really the only time you need to be pricise.

I think it's a matter of preference, and whatever sound your going for. Alot of thrash is played strickly downstroke, while blackmetal tends to alternate.

Ehm, why don't you guys learn to alternate pick "truly" (or whatever I could call (me knows not the english word))? IE learn to pick in such a way that an upstroke is equal to a downstroke. If you can do these "insane speed" riffs with all downpicking, imagine how fast you could play if you got the technique right. Just have a look at how you angle the pick and such, when you do downstrokes, and just flip it around for the upstrokes, then try to use your upstroking as much as possible to build "strength".

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Just make sure that when you practice scales and such you always mute each note for a number of reasons

1. It helps with alternative picking and muting (when you can play it muted, you can play it with out muting. As oppsed to not mutting and not bieng able to play it muted with out practicing).

2. When you play on bigger amps, every single note you pick will be ablified x10, so you want to make sure that no little scaps or scatches are let out.

3. Learn to mute the strings your NOT playing when your playing not muted strings.

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just tremolo. up and down picking really fast on one or more strings it takes time to get used to but after a while u will get a hold of it.

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"if you want to play fast, practice slow" at first so that you can get coordinated with the part

practice and learn and play alternate picking as well as just down picking.

the parts that are supposed to be P.M.'d according to the book should be palm-muted, but just use your ears. there are always mistakes in tablature books.

most the time you just palm- mute the bottommost string but you can go for two or three strings at some parts. just let you ears be the judge

practice all different ways then when are you get creative, use you favorite/best sounding applied techniques with palm muting or any other.