Does anyone know Dave’s picking directions on the main riff?
This one :
I’m struggling with mine which is mostly inside picking.
Watching him do it live seems like he has a outside picking version, I’m not sure though, it’s hard to tell.
I think Dave has played the part many different ways over the years, so I don’t think that how he himself does it is more important than how it’s more comfortable for you to play it. How I naturally would play it would be all downstrokes on the part he’s chugging on the f# powerchord, and then starting the chromatic/pentatonic box single note phrase (if I were to use alternate picking during the first four notes of it) I would start with a down stroke on the f# of the d string, using probably swiping to jump between the e note on the d string and the c# on the a string.
The other thing that may be easier for you too if you are having a hard time with the inside picking during the transition between the d and a strings, is to use a pull off between the f and e note on the d string (down, up, pull off, down), which results in changing strings on a down stroke to the a string.
What I honestly feel is most important for that lick though, isn’t how you play those single notes, more than making sure you are hitting those b and g power chords at the end of the phrase on those really percussive up strokes.