using DWPS
Is it a common practice to shift the licks so that all downstroke accents go on upbeat?
For me it is a bit challenging on higher tempos.
even repeating 2 notes on one string lets say C D C D C D…etc on 3rd string. when C is on upbeat, but you play Down/up.
I can do it a couple measures and then my hand wants to match the downbeat to the downstroke and i get all sloppy.
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I think this really comes down to practicing. Upward pickslanters tend to play two note per string licks starting with an upstroke, so the accent is usually on the upstroke as well and it seems to work fine. It’s not as comfortable for me, but I think I just need to work on it more.
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UWPS’er here. I spent a few weeks practicing the usual 6-note patterns and a bunch of pentatonic 2nps stuff starting with Upstrokes and it’s become pretty natural to me now. I start my odd-grouped runs with downstrokes and it hasn’t been a problem switching between them as needed. Just spend a bit of time focusing on it and it’ll just integrate normally after a period.
Im not sure we are talking about the same thing here. My point was how my phrases are connected to rythm. If you take a usual 6 note pattern and start on the Upbeat (not upstroke!) so that downstrokes no longer matches downbeats. Its gets tricky at higher tempos. I wonder how people deal with this. Just practice i guess.
Ok so you still want to have the accents on the downstrokes, but happening on the upbeat. I don’t think this would be too difficult to program in with focused practice so long as you’re running phrases and patterns that repeat in the same way. Then it’s just a matter of dialing in the “feeling” of that accent pattern against the main beat with focused repetition. If I’m doing this kind of stuff I find it more valuable to practice by tapping the downbeats with my foot than just running against a metronome.
If your accent patterns are shifting in weird polyrhythmic ways across the measures then yeah that’d take some extra credit work. It sounds like you know all this already so I’m sure it’s just a matter of practice and focus
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Yeah thats exactly what im talking about if you shift familiar patterns so they are upside down rhytmically. Your brain recognises the pattern and wants it to start on the downbeat, but you actually play it on upbeat. The point here is you have to disconnect the thinking and feeling that downstroke and downbeat must sync.
I seem to recall seeing a video where Paul Gilbert talked about this too, but I don’t have a link handy.
I use to do everything downstroke on downbeat and up on up, but even if you’re aspiring for that the logic is lost when you’re doing triplets or things that mix odd groupings. It took me a little training to get comfortable with doing things ‘backwards’ but now it’s fine - I economy pick a lot of things and although I have to work harder to get the time tight it’s totally doable. And yeah using DWPS I’ve rearranged a lot of things so that downstrokes happen on upbeats, you get used to it though it feels odd at first if you’re used to that ‘down on down’ kind of system.