How to pick uneven two-string triplet patterns a la Master Of Puppets solo

Playing Technique
#1

Hi everyone!

I’ve been working through the pickslanting primer and am really enjoying it so far. I’ve been playing guitar for over 10 years but have never been able to play at the speeds I wanted - slowly but surely I feel like I’m breaking down some of those barriers via downward pickslanting. I had no idea I suffered from a disease called string hopping :joy:

I do plan to go through all the material eventually, but I was wondering if, in the interim, y’all could help me with a couple passages that have tripped me up for ages. They aren’t the fastest things in the world, but the string switching really screws with me and I can’t play them anywhere near song tempo, mostly because I’m not sure of the best way to pick them.

From Metallica, “Master of Puppets”, @ 5:42

e|17p12----------12-17p12----------12-|17p12----------12-15p12----------12-|
B|------13-12-13----------13-12-13----|------13-12-13----------13-12-13----|
G|------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|
D|------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|
A|------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|
E|------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|

From Dream Theater, “Pull Me Under” @ 6:20

e|16-12-16-12----12-16-12-16-12----12-17-12-17-12----12-16-12-16-12----12-|
B|-----------------14--------------------14-----------------------14--------------------14-----|
G|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
D|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
A|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

How would you go about picking these? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

1 Like
#2

The two are completely different beasts in terms of picking, due to the pull off (and of course the one note per string). the first one can be completely done with UWPS, as I would prefer. DWPS exclusively would also work, starting on an upstroke. I would expect KH to do economy picking, thus a “mini-sweep” from b- to e-string.

The Dream Theater thing is plain evil. There isn’t even the possibility to economy-pick it, as this would reverse the picking direction, leaving you with an upstroke on the b-string on the second repetition. this definitely requires TWPS/Crosspicking. Just play them all on the b-string with a little left-hand-stretch or do include pull-offs :wink:

EDIT: the Dream Theater pattern is exactly the same as the catchy section in the “My Sharona”-Solo. I play that with UWPS and Pull-offs. Fabulous solo, by the way. The song, well…

Thomas

1 Like
#3

For the Puppets lick I think it’s played down-up-hammer on each string:
image

The Pull Me Under lick is a slight variation of an old school rock/blues lick used in tons of songs.

With pull-offs (ala Freebird and Ride the Lightning)
image

All picked (ala Rainbow in the Dark). I used to think I swiped stuff like this but when videoed myself my wrist and thumb make a small twist to get over the string.
image

3 Likes
#4

Thanks y’all, this is very helpful. Appreciate the insights.

1 Like