Down-Picking Endurance/Speed Drill 1
This drill is set at 200 BPM, which is a great speed for fast down-picked riffs.
The same 8 chord progression is played over and over again.
Each time the progression repeats, you will have one additional bar of all down-picked 8th notes to play.
Basically, you start with one bar of non-stop down-picked 8th notes, then 7 bars of chords ringing out for whole notes. Then, you have two bars of non-stop down-picked 8th notes, and 6 bars of chords ringing out for whole notes. This process repeats until you have non-stop down-picked 8th notes for 8 bars straight.
The Guitar Pro file is attached so you can change the tempo, tuning, and focus on individual parts to best suit your needs.
If you have any suggestions or requests for more like this, please leave a comment!
Comments (2)
I've been struggling to unlearn a lot of bad habits and try to relearn guitar from the ground up over the last year. Something I've especially struggled with is using my index and ring finger for power chords, since I'd always used my index and pinky. Every lesson I've taken and video that I've watched has been index and ring, so I've tried to adapt to that, which has really hurt my pinky strength. I thought maybe I'd just been playing wrong my whole life but your videos and lessons and drills have been a big help for me both technically and on a weirdly personally encouraging level. Seeing you do a lot of the things I used to do, that I was comfortable and confident in that I've been trying to force out of my technique for no real reason. Seeing someone way better than me do what I've always instinctively done that I worried was maybe holding me back because I'd assumed it was just wrong.
Glad these videos are helping! There are certainly circumstances where using the ringer finger instead of the pinky for a 2-string power chord might be beneficial, but the pinky just feels WAY more comfortable! Now, when it comes to 3-string power chords, then I'll use index, ring, and pinky. Something I tell my students - the most important thing to ask is, "did it sound good?" If the answer is yes, then who cares what the technique LOOKS like? If the notes sound the way you want them to, you're on a good path! If things DON'T sound the way you want them to, THEN it may be time to take a closer look at your technique.