Opinions! UWP or DWP

Playing Technique
#1

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So I never really “thought” about my right hand as it were. I was very much just focussed on the left hand. That said, up until the coronavirus everything I did with my right hand was based on muscle memory and habit. Some quite tight and efficient, others less so. I found the Cracking the Code to be so relatable! And totally life altering as a guitar player.

My question is, I’ve started analyzing all of my techniques and memory and rebuilding certain foundations.

I find sometimes I get stuck in that I don’t know if I should be changing my technique or sticking with it.

For example:

This pattern is one I really struggle with. It’s 240bpm and that’s a bit outside my comfort zone. I’m really trying to get it.

I would originally alternate pick in whatever way. Then I attempted doing economy sweeping.

But now I’m wondering if it’s better to transition out of the sweeps on the last note of the “chunk” and hit that with a downstroke so I can “outside” pick the first note of the pattern with an upstroke and rip right into the sweeping motion again.

So basically up,pull off,up,pulloff, DOWN,
UP,pulloff,up,pulloff, DOWN

This makes it more repeatable.

Before I would play this kind of pattern

Down,pulloff,up,pulloff,UP
DOWN,pulloff,up,pulloff,up

It seems in theory the way I would play it before is trickier, but once I get up to fast tempos (200+) I go back to this way, attempting to reprogram my brain makes seems like a large undertaking. But if the consensus is that’s the way to go I’ll do it.

Thanks!!

#2

Hi @MikeHendrycks!

The first vague answer I can give is that, based on what we know at this point in time, there is no single correct way to do (most) things on the guitar :slight_smile:

You seem aware of this somehow, because you came up with two potentially efficient picking patterns for this. The only question is really which one sounds/feels best to you!

PS: of course, if you feel like none of the two are working to the desired standard, the best course of action is probably to post a clip on here so that we can take a look. Here is our official advice for filming your technique: