Here's a new video comparing the tonal differences between downpicking and alternate picking. I played both versions with the same settings and I tried to play them as unbiased as possible, meaning I played both of them as good as possible, without trying to make one sound better than the other on purpose. Even as a big downpicking player I'm a big fan of a good tight and hard alternate picking. Where did the idea for this video come from? Well, I have to be honest here, those downpicking comments in my 300bpm cover of Master Of Puppets were kinda annoying and also triggering my ego a bit. Just a bit. (sadly have to admit that). And instead of just making a video where I try to downpick the riff as fast as possible, I thought, well that's stupid, can I make some kind of informative video? And this is it.
This is the old classic myth "Downpicking sounds better!" that I'm trying to tackle here. And another thing I have to admit here: Yes it does sound better, especially at lower tempos. Even with my technique the difference was more noticable than I thought. Like I said before, I'm a big fan of good alternate picking and I have been practicing that with the goal of a good tight and fat sound for years now. Still, at 210bpm to around 260/270 bpm downpicking sounds rounder, fatter and therefore better to me. (Though the preset I use here is more for typical downpicking riffs than alternate stuff. But no excuses here, it is a comparison after all)
BUT, after that, at 270bpm and more, the intricacies of alternate picking tend to make it more interesting to me at that tempo. You can still play with a lot force, which makes notes kinda plop out and you have a different kinda of clarity, punch and grit. At 290bpm and 300bpm alternate picking is the clear winner for me. Tell me your opinion on this in the comments!
Because of faking and speeding up accusations I have a clock in it this time. I'm not a big fan of stuff like this, and I find it ridiculous to have to prove it that way but here it is. This will probably the only time I have one in my videos. This time the video is also in 50 frames per second for the extra smoothness.
I'm sorry that I could only get half of the riff on the 300bpm take. I didn't really practice this before and I didn't know how fast I could downpick before this video either. So this all was recorded on the spot, as you can see on the clock. Also, that light is not supposed to flicker and I only noticed after I was done filming. I'm still new to (better) camera equipment and I had the wrong settings dialed in.
This video is best watched and listened to with headphones! It is a tonal comparison video after all.
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Room Audio:
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