Strumming Power Chords

[$$$$]

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on strumming power chords. I use all down strums(is that normal?) and lately I have been having trouble with faster songs. Any practicing tips would be appreciated.

[Skeba]

Strumming only down, especially with powerchords makes the playing sound more 'tight', and that's what I prefer. Of course sometimes songs have stuff played so fast that I can't keep up (I'm not much of a player), and I'll have to use upstrokes as well.

It's not weird to use only downstrokes. I think James Hetfield uses almost nothing but the down strokes, but he is a walking metronome (god knows it isn't Lars that's keeping the band in tempo), and has an unbelieveable right hand.

My practicing tip would be to not try and go fast with the downstrokes and try to increase speed like that. I'd use strumming with a metronome at moderate speeds, slowly increasing the tempo. This way you'll learn to play in time better, and you're more likely to actually increase your speed as your muscles start to remember the trajectory (not sure if this is an appropraite term here) of your hand. Sometimes you can do some "as fast  as you can" excercises, but I've come to notice that those are better to sort of monitor your progress, than actually increasing the speed.

All this being said, everybody's different, and what works for me, might not work for you. Hell, it might not even work for me. Maybe the way I've been practicing is the reason I suck?

[Genesis]

Depends on what u want to play. Eg: You would use only downstrokes for the fast part of the intro to 'Master of Puppets', but u need upstrokes also if u want to play the intro to say, 'Smells like Teen Spirit'.

[Butch Français]

yeah Genesis and Skeba is both right imo.
Genesis made very good examples of how you to hear the difference between downstokes and mixing up and down.
Hetfield is an amazing rhythm-keeper.
imo John Frusciante has the best strumming hand around these days. he uses a lot of downstrokes, but he also mutes a lot with his left hand and when he's doing that he does both up and downstrokes to do the "scratchy" sound. funky playing ya know, hehe.
and of course, he got a lot of his style from the guy who I have stolen the name from.
listen to the Chili Peppers 2nd and 3rd albums for some awesome funky rhythm playin!

[Sakib]

wats sweet picking?

[Skeba]

What?

Or do you mean sweep picking?

[Sakib]

What?

Or do you mean sweep picking?

yeh. I'm just quoting from wat my friend says. he always stoned so he dont talk properly.

[Genesis]

Sweep picking is a method of picking in which you pick one string at a time in order, either from top down (6-1) or from bottom up (1-6). Usually used to play very fast arpeggios. Malmsteem and co. do this a lot.

[Sakib]

Sweep picking is a method of picking in which you pick one string at a time in order, either from top down (6-1) or from bottom up (1-6). Usually used to play very fast arpeggios. Malmsteem and co. do this a lot.

ta

[WayCoolJr]

From my oppinon, it always works out better, when learning to play, that you need to do it the hard way ie al down strokes. Dont just do that unless u arent planning on becomin a decent guitarist. U need to use up stroke and u also need to get into doin some simple scales to build up your coordination. I have played for 6 years guitar, 3 bass, 4 piano, 4 saxaphone and have over 300 hours of set up, tear down and mixing live shows