Improving down picking..how u

Slant the pick downwards, learn to use your picking hand's resting points effectively and what is the most efficient wrist movement style for you, and just pick hard enough. Maybe watch how John Browne plays

 

Time with your instrument practicing and playing and your right hand will get there, eventually. Take the song and play along with it slowed-down, if using YouTube, you can adjust the speed to .75, .50, and .25 I also used to end my practice with 3 minutes of straight alt picking and then 3 minutes of downpicking, just grind it out and over time you'll be downpicking to your satisfaction.

 

I think you need to do endurance exercises to built up the momentum for it. Also analyze your picking efficiency, picking radius, and pick angle.

Hope this is of some use

 

Practice. Just straight boring practice. For what it’s worth you don’t actually have to practice riffs, just down picking.

So pick a simple pattern say two notes on two different strings. And just down pick the pattern over and over to a click.

It’s the right hand that’s slow not the left. So just keep at it.

Source - I’m terrible at it but getting better. But when playing at speed or recording I alternate pick everything. One day.

 

Or you can be like me, who played everything downpicked, couldn’t get faster, finally learned alternate picking, and now says, “Fuck it, I’m playing MoP with alternate picking.”

 

I tend to pick much faster when picking from my shoulder instead of my wrist. I can do MoP with my wrist but it feels more effortless when picking from the shoulder.

 

Nothing like having to slow down the spider riff in the intro because alternate picking is way too fucking fast when playing along.

 

try playing harvester of sorrow with alternate picking, that shit's hard

 

I’m constantly trying to downpick the usual up/down strokes. I also roll the pick and use the sides instead of the tip...Scott Ian got me going on speed downpicking when I was a teen -never looked back

 

Are you guys saying that it’s possible to downpick faster than alternate pick? There’s just no way I can downpick faster than alternate, because I’m wasting the opportunity to hit a note on the upstroke.
Though, I will say that economy picking is really what I’m talking about when I say alternate picking. There’s no way I’d try to alternate pick through a passage that would be easier to sweep. But I make zero effort to increase my down picking speed. I’m just trying to get my picking speed faster in general - I’ll take whatever I can get!

 

Well I'll be.... I just went downstairs and played in on my guitar, and I play that riff all down strokes. I can't play it any other way. I still hate strict downpicking, though.

 

Jokes on you! I can’t play Harvester of Sorrow at all!

 

I sure as hell try lol, it definitely creates a punchier, more defined tone than alternate picking in fast parts. I’ll switch back and forth from down/down and up/down...it’s like drum blast beats but with downpicking, you can make it an art if you got the wrist for it

 

Slow down master of puppets, play it faster, 5 bpm, slowly slowly. Play for half an hour. Leave. Play for another half an hour. Repeat next day. I think that's the only thing that worked for me. Just time. But, I still can't play the whole song all the way through. Need more stamina, and, learn the bridge part and Kirk's solo.