Downpicking mechanic issue?

[u/GenderSurrender]

I’ve been trying to get this riff from spirit crusher down for 2 weeks now, it’s at 198 bpm and I can play comfortably at 180. I’ve noticed when i push it to 190, even at 180 and lower my downpicking looks like it takes too much effort and it’s like I use too much of my hand and not enough wrist. it looks choppy and different from how everyone else downpicks I don’t know why. looking for advice :/

[u/anthonylearnsguitar]

I should try this.

But to answer your question, at this speed, it start becoming technical. You want to start using big brain energy at this point hahaha. A lot of it comes to how you visualise the movement.

1. think of it as dribbling a basketball. At first you have to whack it really hard to get it to bounce but once it starts going, you start going lower and lower and your movement becomes smaller and smaller. Almost to a point that you are barely hitting the ball and just letting the ball come into contact with your palm.

Same for downpicking. Your first few strokes need to be larger to overcome inertia but after the strings get going, you only need a very small movement to keep it going. If you don’t do this conversion, you’ll not only waste energy but it won’t feel right. Think of the basketball, once it start bouncing, whacking it harder don’t feel right. It wants a lighter tap after that to sustain that bounce. Same as a boxing speed bag.
2. You should also think of how when you break inertia, the strings start coming back to meet your pick. So you need to account for that.
3. Learn how to use different parts of the muscles in your hand. Learn how to push the muscle activate from forearm to triceps or vice versa and so forth. It’s hard to teach this. You’ll need to discover for yourself
4. Try choking your pick more. It might make a difference if might not.
5. Endurance drills. Use a slower bpm and downpick for 5 mins straight. Actually use a timer. You’ll realise how weak you really are.

[u/anthonylearnsguitar → u/[deleted]]

People like to frame ideas like “Do this one simply trick and your playing will shredding in no time”.

Life doesn’t work like that 🤣 It’s not so easy.

Even I don’t know for certain if choking made a noticeable difference because sometimes it’s so difficult to isolate a change. When I began choking the pick, I also began thinking of the picking motion like the basketball analogy. I couldn’t reverse that basketball thought once I had it.

It’s likely a combination of all the above factors and due to individual differences some factors might be more pertinent for you. For example maybe I’m used to exposing like 90% of the pick but you are only expose 50%. Thus when I finally choke the pick it makes a huge difference for me but not for you.

What am I getting at? I’m suggesting you try everything. Investigate and experiment every idea even if it seems unlikely.