Originally Posted by: Ianelrick

Thing is it adopts a strict -up down approach for picking hand which is fine until I go from D-G string . The last pick on the D is down and then wants an up pick on G . At speed I find it counter intuitive as I need to climb "over" the G string to pick it. Ie the outside pick

The riff just seems to flow fine when i just use the intuitive down pick from D to G. Ie inside

Alt picking on the same string is fine. Just wondering how important that I follow the strict up-down , up down do you think?

Short answer: do it however it works for you.

Long answer! I'd have to see the lick in question to know the complete context. But the general principle to apply is to play any series of notes in the smoothest, most natural & efficient manner possible. That's going to vary by person & musical passage.

It could involve strict alternate picking. But that could start on an upstroke or downstroke, involve inside or outside picking. It could involve some economy picking instead, at some point breaking the strict alternate picking.

It's a good idea to try different approaches & see what works best for you. It's also important to remember to avoid painting yourself in a corner by doing something that seems easy at first, but when you get up to speed, or try it on a different musical passage you find it actually makes it harder to play!

In general it's more important to play with relaxed & minimal motion. Aim for those 2 goals first, then start to try different picking patterns to see what works best for you in this situation. Hopefully it will be applicable to other musical passages as well!

I have a series of tutorials on building speed that you might find helpful.

This first one only covers one string, but focuses on developing relaxed & minimal motion technique.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=287

These next ones start to incorporate 2 strings so focus on crossing strings. Unfortunately they are old videos. I just finished reshooting both of these! But they won't be published probably until next month!

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=928

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=929

Hope that helps!