The #1 Trick To Make Your Down Strokes Faster
I’m very excited to share this awesome trick with you today. It might seem a little odd to you at first, but here’s what a snake can teach you about picking guitar with lightning fast down strokes...
In the jungle, cobra snakes and mongooses fight to the death. The snake’s advantage over the mongoose is its ability to strike at lightning speed. If the snake hits the mongoose directly, the snake wins.
The mongoose’s advantage over the cobra is its counterstrike. The mongoose’s strategy is to stay just out of range of the snake’s strike and wait for the snake to attack and miss. The mongoose knows that snakes cannot recoil its body as fast as it can strike. The mongoose attacks when the snake recoils. If the mongoose hits the snake directly, the mongoose wins.
Here’s The Big Secret To Making Your Down Stroke Picking Much Faster
Grab your guitar and play these notes using ONLY down strokes…
symbol means to pick the note with a downstroke. (The “P.M -------|” means to palm mute the notes you are playing.)
(The
symbol means to pick the note with an upstroke. )Your up stroke picking is a lot slower… just like the snake’s recoil motion.
Think about how much faster your down strokes would be if your ability to recoil your picking hand was fast like the mongoose instead of slower like the snake’s recoil.
The fastest way to increase your down stroke picking speed is to practice your up strokes.
Watch this video and I’ll show you how and why this works.
When you practice your upstrokes, not only does your down stroke picking get faster, but your alternate picking will also get faster!
Here’s exactly how you should practice this to build faster guitar picking speed...
The good news is, you do not need to spend a lot of time practicing your upstrokes in order to get really good at them, but you do need to practice them regularly in order to build speed fast.
So here’s what to do:
Practice the following exercise at a medium speed for 2 minutes (without stopping):
symbol means to pick the note with an upstroke. )
symbol means to pick the note with an upstroke. )Take a break and let your picking hand rest for 2 minutes. Next, practice this last exercise fast for 2 minutes (without stopping… unless you feel pain, then stop):
symbol means to pick the note with an upstroke. )Now that you’re done, play or practice your guitar as you normally would. Before you put your guitar down for the day, repeat this whole practice routine one more time.
You should notice faster down strokes speeds in about 2-3 days.
You should notice faster alternate picking speeds in about 1-2 weeks.
Want to do more than just increase your picking speed… and double, triple or quadruple your skills in ALL areas of your guitar playing? When you do, your friends are going to be so impressed that their jaws will drop to the floor and they’ll ask you how in the world you became so talented so quickly!
This is what makes me totally love teaching guitar to people. I’d like to do the same for you.
Here’s how: In my online guitar lessons, we are going to focus on your personal, specific needs and goals. I’m going to teach you the skills, give you the tools, and provide you with the support you need to become an awesome guitar player you want to be, just like hundreds of other students from all over the world. We are going to get you from struggling to kicking ass on the guitar. Get started here TODAY!
“Before I started online guitar lessons with Tom, I was basically stagnant in my playing, I kind of reached a pinnacle, and I started looking for what's next, what's bigger and better. Tom has helped me tremendously, I know I can do things on the guitar that I could have never dreamed of 5 years ago.”
Ty Morgan, Arizona, USA
“I can now write my own music and can create lead guitar solos that I am happy and fulfilled with. I also have the technical skills to confidently and easily play anything that I want to express. I have overcome all of the lead guitar challenges that I struggled with before, and increased my guitar speed to virtuoso levels. More importantly, I have the knowledge and understanding of how to continually improve my guitar playing and musical skills to higher and higher levels to continue expressing myself with my music.”
Mike Philippov, Indiana, USA
“It is hard to compare Tom and his teaching to any other guitar teacher out there. His knowledge and technique are unbelievable. It is ridiculous to see how much better of a musician I have become.”
Zack Uidl, Professional Guitarist, Composer and Guitar Teacher, Illinois, USA
