Up and Down picking

[Schecter_dude]

Hey all,

Just wondering if someone could give me some tips for the up-and-down picking method?

[Romotov]

well, try to pick once up and then down.

[Coffee]

Use a pointed pick. I use 'jazz' style picks and really like them. Use something fairly heavy like a .8 mil pick or heavier. Expose less of the pick and make sure it's held fairly firmly. If it's flopping around, you'll never get the control you desire. Try alternating without worrying about playing any particular notes on the string just get used to the motion, then start skipping between strings. After a while you'll wonder what you ever thought was so difficult and it will become automatic.

[gck]

I'm also a beginner and have used/use the following to practive up and down picking.

1) play some scale, up, then down again, and pick each note twice: when you're playing the scale upwards, pick downwards first, then upwards and when you play it downwards, pick upwards first, then downwards. The better you get, the faster you can do that.

2) to strum chords upwards and downwards, I started to strum the open strings first, up and down and up and down, until I got the correct technique (consider the cyberfret lessons for technique issues).
Now, I'm mostly playing simple chord progressions I get from tab on the internet. I especially like the intro from "kiss me" by sixpence none the richer because it's made up of chords that are easy to switch, but the strumming rythm is not so trivial (for a beginner like me :) ). The chords are

C Cmaj7 C7 Cmaj7

repeat this over and over, for the correct strumming pattern, listen to the song. Basically, you should capo the 3rd fret for this but this doesn't matter if you're just practicing!

[Schecter_dude]

Thanks for the help, guys!