It’s that tight, chunky guitar sound you hear when you listen to metal. Guitarists like Metallica’s James Hetfield, Slayer’s Kerry King, and Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine are known as masters of this technique we call downpicking.
Downpicking it one of the core basics for playing heavy metal. It’s primarily a metal rhythm guitar method which is what drives the songs you and I love. Because of that, it should be a top priority for any metal guitarist to master downpicking. And I’m going to help you do that in this post.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
- Understanding downpicking
- Getting started with downpicking
- Basic downpicking exercises for metal
- How to improve downpicking speed and endurance
- Applying downstrokes to riffs and songs
- Troubleshooting common downpicking problems
- Tips for practicing downstrokes
- Recommended resources for further learning
Understanding Downpicking
Simply put, downpicking is a right-hand technique (or picking-hand technique) where you only pick downwards. This is also often called downstrokes. In regards to heavy metal guitar, it’s an aggressive technique.
You may have also heard the term alternate picking. Although this involves playing downpicking, with alternate picking you’re also picking back up towards you, repeating this pattern, alternating downstrokes and upstrokes each time.
***As you progress with playing metal guitar, you’ll learn to use both and sometimes mix them together within the same riff. For example, you may be playing a riff that’s mainly downpicking but will throw in a short run of notes that you use alternate picking for, then go back to downstrokes. But let’s not get too far head – let’s master downpicking for now.
It’s safe to say that downpicking is what makes metal heavy. It’s often combined with palm-muting to get that heavy sound. And we’ll cover both in the downpicking exercises later.
***If you’re brand new to playing metal guitar, read this guide on our website: How to Play Metal Guitar
Getting Started with Downpicking
Start by placing the palm of your picking hand over the bridge of your guitar (where the strings go into the bridge). This will make it easier for you to play both downstrokes and adding palm muting that we just talked about.
There are two things to consider with your wrist and arm when downpicking:
- When palm muting, your arm is going to remain stationary while your wrist is going to be the only part of your hand moving.
- When you’re striking those power chords without palm muting, you’ll still use your wrist to play tha chord but you can follow through letting your picking hand go beyond and even away from your guitar (think of a typical rock star in action pose on stage).
Also, when you play downstrokes you may notice that your pick has a natural tendency to go towards the direction of the neck. Not in an extreme sense, but at a barely noticeable and slight angle. In other words, you’re not picking straight down. This is ok!
How you hold your pick (and pick gauge) is certainly a topic worth discussion. The short answer is there’s not right or wrong way. I encourage you to play with different gauge picks and positioning and see what feels most natural to you.
On that note, I will share what has worked for me over the years. First, I hold my pick with my thumb on one side and first two fingers on the other (top side). And I’m currently using Dunlop MaxGrip 1.0mm picks (long ago, I used .60mm, then went to .88mm – it was just recently that I started using 1.0mm – morale of the story is allow yourself to experiment, evolve, and make changes when you feel it’s necessary).
Basic Downpicking Exercises for Metal
Below, you have three downpicking exercises to practice. Each one incorporates different techniques which will help you build up and progress.
Downpicking Exercise 1
This first exercise includes some palm muting with downstrokes but also has you downpicking some power chords letting them ring out.
Downpicking Exercise 2
Now you’re going to focus on downpicking with more palm muting that will help you play faster and tighter riffs.
Downpicking Exercise 3
In this final exercise, you’ll also play single note riffs. This will help you break out and expand even further. There’s more finger movement as this is getting you used to playing faster riffs with downstrokes.
Want more practice riffs? Check out our post on Metal Guitar Exercises
Palm Muting with Downstrokes
You may have noticed in the exercises above that you’re palm muting one note (one string) for most of the riffs. On exercise 3, you’re palm muting two notes, which is the entire power chord.
I personally palm mute one note most of the time. Why? Because it brings out more clarity in your tone. With high gain amps and distortion, it’s easy for the sound to get muddy. And that’s the last thing you want when you’re playing fast downstroke metal riffs. You want those to sound tight.
However, there are times where you may want to palm mute both notes of a power chord. This can give you a more meaty and chunky rhythm sound.
I encourage you to practice both methods. But learn to discern the best times to use them when writing your own riffs.
How to Improve Downpicking Speed and Endurance
The best way to improve your downpicking speed is to focus more attention on timing, not speed. Have you ever heard someone who can play fast riffs but it sounds sloppy or out of time? In that case, speed is pointless.
Start by playing slower riffs and rhythms. Some may recommend playing to a metronome or click track. Where that’s not a bad idea, try playing to a drum machine or drum program. That’s going to be more captivating and make you want to play more.
You can gradually increase the BPM (beats per minute) as you progress. But always remember that you want your metal guitar riffs to have clarity, first. Your goal is precision at high speeds, not just playing fast.
Endurance is also important and you may find your hand or wrist getting fatigued the fast downstrokes you play. This is where consistency comes in. If needed, make a practice schedule for yourself. Because if you play for many hours one day but don’t pick up your guitar for two weeks, you’re not going to get very far.
Applying Downstrokes to Riffs and Songs
As you’ll start slow with speed, you’ll also want to break up metal riffs into smaller riffs. In other words, don’t try to learn the entire Master of Puppets song in one shot. Break the song up into sections, and even break the riffs up into sections.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the first part of Master of Puppets (a recommended riff for you to learn):
One way to analyze the downpicking technique in iconic metal songs is to observe how much they’re actually playing fast downstrokes versus holding out powers chords. You can also listen closely to where they’re not playing as fast. You may notice there are little breaks between challenging parts of the riff.
- 00:00 – 00:21: There are some short breaks with power chords between the faster parts of the riff
- 00:22 – 00:51: This is known as the ‘main riff’ of the song and possibly the one with the most fretboard movement while playing downstrokes
- 00:52 – 01:17: The verse of the song has more steady palm muted downstrokes on the open E string (this part will help you gain more endurance)
- 01:18 – 01:26: Similar to the prior part but played a whole step up so you’re no longer palm muting the open E but a fretted note (the F sharp note, or 2nd fret of the E string). This will also help build picking endurance and accuracy as it’s steady.
- 01:27 – 01:47: You get a slight break here as there aren’t as many fast-moving parts. However, there is more finger movement and in different places of the fretboard, which is great practice.
- 01:48 – 02:09: This part (the chorus) consists of power chords played with downstrokes and being held out. But pay close attention to the little one-off palm muted downstrokes you hear between chord changes.
What about writing your own riffs with this technique? You can take a song like Puppets or any metal song and add your own style to it. Ask yourself things like:
‘What if I played this series of notes instead of the ones in the riff?’
‘What if I played this riff in a different key?’
‘What if I took away some notes?’
Troubleshooting Common Downpicking Problems
Fatigue and tension in the picking hand is one of the greatest challenges with downpicking on guitar, especially as faster speeds. You want to push yourself but not too much. If you’re hand starts to hurt, it’s time to stop and take a break or come back the next day.
The solution for fatigue is a mixture of consistency and rest. You want to be consistent with your practice each day or at least several times a week. But know when to back off and rest your hands.
This could mean shorter practice sessions. Or taking a day off when you feel you need it. Or even better, alternating different metal guitar techniques when you practice (we’ll talk more about this in the next section).
Issues with consistency and timing can usually be resolved by playing along with a drum program like as we discussed earlier. Even playing along with songs is a great way to get your timing down. Just make sure you can hear yourself (if the music is too loud it can be deceiving). Remember, clarity to your tone is key.
Tips for Practicing Downstrokes
Let’s combine all of the tips we talked about in this post and put them into a checklist that will help you make your practice time efficient:
- First, make a practice schedule that you can stick to (the more serious you are about this, the better guitarist you’ll be)
- Don’t worry about speed in the beginning; focus on accuracy, clarity, and timing
- Practice along with a metronome, or even better, a drum machine or program as this will help with timing
- Break down riffs that you want to learn into small sections; this will help you nail them faster
- Record yourself (both video and audio); listening AND watching yourself perform downstrokes on guitar will help you easily correct problems.
Recommended Resources for Further Learning
- Complete guide for new metal guitar players: https://metalmastermind.com/how-to-play-metal-guitar/
- Video demonstrating downpicking: Metal Guitar Lesson with Downstrokes
- Recommended guitar picks for metal guitar: Dunlop Max-Grip
- Metal Mastermind Discord (look for the Metal Riff Master group): Metal Mastermind Discord
- Metal guitar course for beginners: Metal Guitar Apprentice
- Learn over 80 new metal riffs: Metal Riff Master
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