How to Downpick like James Hetfield
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- Опубликовано: 9 июл 2023
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I'm not sure "the bounce" is the requirement here to get fast. I think that for you, the bounce allows you to stay loose in your wrist, but the primary thing that allows people to get fast at down picking is making sure that you're not moving your arm at the elbow, and most importantly that your wrist stays loose. It is absolutely CRITICAL that your wrist stays loose if you want to down pick quickly and accurately.
I've been playing guitar now for 20-ish years and I play exclusively Metallica and nothing else. I taught myself down picking before I knew it was a thing Hetfield did as the first song I learned was Puppetz, and as a self taught guitar player, I absolutely could not figure out the main intro riff with alternate picking. My palm has never come off the strings. It makes full contact the entire time to ensure clear, articulate, muted notes.
Once youtube became big, I started playing with their live shows, most particularly the Seattle '89 show and I play the whole show down picked when it's supposed to be, including the middle section riff of Whiplash when it's at a stupid tempo lol. I think Puppetz clocks in at around 230 - 235 in sections and it's all down picked. When I'm fully warmed up, I can play Puppetz, Creep, and Blackened up to around 240 and the palm never leaves the strings.
But getting to this point was a very long endeavor. The first week or two that I started playing to Seattle '89 I could not sustain or last, and the primary reason was that my wrist was completely locking up at these tempos, and as a result I started moving my arm at the elbow. Over a few weeks my wrist started to relax and it saves you massively on stamina, precision, and articulation.
If Yentl's suggestion helps you fellow down picker enthusiasts, then that's fantastic! Down picking is a skill that has garnered me a lot of praise from most guitarist in my area because most guitarist recognize how difficult it can be, and I love seeing people get better at it and progress to the level they desire. I just wanted to comment and mention that his technique is likely just his personal vessel towards keeping his wrist loose, not seizing up, and not allowing his arm and elbow to start taking over, so if his technique doesn't work with your personal body mechanics, DON'T GIVE UP! Work hard to find what works with your own bio mechanics and master that.
Thanks for sharing! It is very true that my technique might not be for everyone. This is how i did it, and what allowed me to surpass many guitarists in my local scene. Everyone should play to the best of their physical abilities, no matter how they get there!
thanks, ya, the bounce is a thing for sure, i've seen it, but for me my hand moves 2" off the strings when i do it. doesn't really seem economy of motion, but the other factor is fatigue, so i'm not sure. i'm trying to do live wire from Motley, problem is its on the 5th string which makes it har d to move around...
@@CalitranoN Thats gonna require some wrist training to keep it in place, but you'll get there
I believe the way this works is the 'bounce' is your escape motion that Troy Grady talks about. Art of Guitar describes this motion as well: to pick in a manner that makes your pick 'move' away from the string.
Yes. This exactly!
😊😊
Id go with that, thats prob one of the reasons he uses his heavy gauge strings
I started playing with two fingers a few months ago after seeing an interview in which James Hetfield explained that it feels more natural since he also grabs a pen like this too. There it clicked and I realized that I do this too and I never felt comfortable playing just with one finger and thumb. I will never go back to I used to play. Now I’m faster then ever before and I’m able to keep A LOT of control while playing.
This bounce is exactly something I’ve noticed in quite a few djent playthroughs. Thanks for pointing it out and sharing your knowledge!!
This is pure gold teaching my man, really appreciated
Out of all the tutorials I've watched, this is the first one to mention the "bounce" technique. I'm definitely gonna try it out. Thanks!
Awesome! I hope it works for you!
Thank you for this! After 22 years of playing but never quite getting serious due to self doubts, I've finally been working on my speed determined to play MoP, Creeping Death, Blackened, Battery. So I've been doing a lot of metronome work and looping the riffs at slower tempos. Sometimes I can keep up at normal tempo, sometimes everything falls apart. The irony is that when I keep up I can actually feel the bounce you speak of come naturally and much more relaxed. When it falls apart my arm feels like it's going to fall off. Now if only I could control this better 😅
But it's a journey, not a sprint, and 22 years of playing makes me appreciate that if I had this patience and dedication before I would have been there long ago.
Thank you for the content. Rock on!
Love to see someone rocking on a Harley Benton, great brand
I STARTED WITH MOP ASWELL, till this day I’m still levelling up in the song trying to get to the level that James was in the studio!
Just found this channel. Subscribed & all bell dinged. Great lesson & tips btw.
Wow dude so thrilled you showed me this I was down picking against my steering wheel to a Metallica tune I love to play and sure enough my wrist was getting sore and I looked up this video immediately after watching it I tried the technique against the steering wheel and sure enough I felt less fatigue
I'm gonna try it!!
thanks man, im gonna give it a go
Im beginner guitarist but man, idk that bounce is a thing and i definitely feeld that at some point. Learning MoP at slow speed, and the picking it up normal tempo its hard. But after a couple weeks, i feel more comfortable doing it and it has to be that bounce because i feel it and doing downpick is so much fun after figuring that out. And then recently i learn some beartooth songs, and it definitely helps so much with downpicking.
Thanks i have a to try this out love explorer's I have an Epiphone explorer great to play.
That "bouce" technique is very interesting. I'll definitely try it out!
thanks alot i will try it out and update u on what happens
Thanks for the tips bro I’ve been playing for 8 months and my favorite band is Metallica and thrash metal in general but like the older stuff and I’m tryna learn hit the lights is possible u can do a lesson one but the lights cuz there isn’t a lot of good ones
Love the guitar by the way.
that tone is godly and i need it in my life
It's built in Amp Locker by Audio Assault! The preset is available on my patreon :)
for me it helps havng a higher gauge like 52/11 makes me bounce of the strings easier and i can get back quicker
Correction: he is not a down picking king. He is a down picking *God*
Thanks. Good stuff. Might try it with my bass. Ever tried the orange Snarling Dog picks?
I havent!
im gonna do this today thank you bro👋
Don't sacrifice quality for speed, kids.
Yup, creeping Death and Master of Puppets are my two that I practice but for the 27+ years of playing, I've never been able to "master" the down picking speed of Hetfield
Speed slays!
I recently purchased a Harley Benton Amarok 7, a Fusion 3, and a Strat copy and they are 3 of the best guitars I have EVER owned. They are mind blowing.
That sounds like an amazing haul haha, making me jealous over here!
The Snakebyte is also great for this 🤘
Thanks alot for this interesting advice! Do you 'bounce' on every downstrokes or just once in a while? Best regards
Depends on the speed of the riff tbh, i find myself doing it mostly on the first and last stroke when there´s sections of downpicking, but when it´s a full 8 bar i do it almost every stroke to combat the fatigue :)
@@DjentBeard Thank you so much! :)
@@stephanpetersen8386 very welcome!
The Bouuuuunceaaaahhh🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
I just started to learn some old Metallica and Master happens to be the song started with. So inevitably I went to google and typed in "How to downpick lik......That's all I has to type in of course. I was wondering if I was doing something wrong and maybe it was my grip, and come to find out we pick exactly the same, except you've already put in the years of hard work that I have ahead of me. Good to know I'm doing something right. lol.
Eyyy lets go! Good thing you already have the picking down, time to practice!
Have you heard between the buried and me cover of blackened?
I’ll give it a try and get back to you
Only way to get better at downpick is practice , with songs.
Not with some intentional hand motion
Mhmm, noticed how i said that this is how i personally got at this level? People are different, there´s no one fix for all
I figured out the bounce technique on my own but good advice and please viewers follow his advice use a metronome it does help. Also i would love an explorer but just can not afford it.
The Bounce 4:27
Gotta try this! Metallica riffs got so much harder when I realized how much strict down picking there is
It gets harder, but oh so much more rewarding to play
“And ur Lower gets numb and shit I’ve been there 😂”
Thats what Hetfield was advising himself in some interview. He made an analogy with marathon runners, who run for hours and their secret is being relaxed.
Great and fat tone, great playing and advice.
By the way, have you seen there was a guy on youtube, he made a whole channel about Hetfield's technique, he had an old style yellow bone color explorer, he also had Mesa Mark 2c+
I dont know where he is, i tried to search now and looks like his channel is gone. He gained many views, videos were high quality. He would pop up first if you search about Hetfield technique. He got popular like 1-2 years ago, very likely you have seen him
And I dont mean "szablo". Thats the other guy
FabianEXP-84. found him. but he had videos with technique, now they are gone for some reason. he got a new channel apparently, now its smaller
What kind of pick are you using to downstroke? Because im using the pick which is 1.5 Millimeters. Does it make a difference from downpicking?
I use the White Fang signature picks from Hetfield! I notice a big difference in accuracy and endurance when using tighter picks for sure
@@DjentBeard so which pick do you recommend for me to get in downpicking?
@@purplebelike5510 honestly, i can´t recommend the White Fangs enough, get yourself a set
@@DjentBeard alright thanks
THANKS MUCH! forearm pain.. man wondering if i should make a fist...
Never make a fist
Anchor or no Anchor ?@@DjentBeard
The crazy part is that James holds the pick with 3 fingers instead of 2...
He is one of a kind.
Gonna try these out, i have been playing since august 2022 and i can play MOP fully with no issues, im just aiming for blackened rn but the first thing you said to start with intensive songs that such a usefull tip for anyone starting out in my opinion
You gotta push beyond your limits in order to improve!
Bounce is key
drink everytime he touches the volume or the tone knob 😂
OKAY LISTEN 😂
I started playing 3 years ago and I ONLY know how to downpick 🤣
MoP, Blackened, Fight Fire, Disposable. No problem.
I need help upstroking and playing Mama Said
That was me the first 3 years i played hahahhaa
@@DjentBeard Haha any tips?
@@abenli I literally practiced upstrokes and alternate picking by taking songs that i knew how to downpick and switching up my picking style hahaha
beginner here:
So i had problems with the most basic techniques in general.
for example, i didnt hear or notice any difference with the electric when i didnt place my fingers close to the frets or further away.
and my brother (who is a pro drummer) pushed on me to buy something acoustic.
i think acoustic guitar is boring so i bought a bouzouki just to get the feeling of the strings and fretboard etc.
with the bouzouki there is this certain style of picking, you really grabbing the pick for example, and you really have to use ur wrists instead of youre fingers.
now 2 months down the line with that bouzouki, i picked up the electric guitar and started working on metallica songs.
and just like you mention in this video with the bouncing, this happened to me by accident when i wanted to pick faster... i was like holyshit is that it?
now im here with more wrist power!
so for all you beginners, buy something acoustic! :P
That's an awesome story hahaha! I never picked up something acoustic myself, and i do feel i could have even more endurance if i did that!
@@DjentBeard well, indeed you dont have to, and in this case with the bouzouki that has 2 strings per note, you really have to play hard with ur wrists compared to guitar, it really helped me + i am a beginner (started last september) but anyway, thanks for you reply🔥👍🏻
End Of The Line
You definitely no matter what if ur practicing as a beginner will experience fore arm pain, take those picking hands to the gym!
Can you do the same with power chords?
Are you asking for a tutorial or are you asking if i can downpick powerchords just as fast?
@@DjentBeard Haha, good one! 😁 In fact both 😉
@@balrogDCLXVI i gotchu 😌
Wait...the FIRST song you learned was Master? That's probably one of the hardest songs to start with 😂
It really is hahaha, i also didnt use my pinky for the first years i played, BUT, it made me more skillful in the long run! Lesson: don't be scared to try super hard stuff!
"My first song was Master of puppets" - I had problems with smoke on the water on fat E... who takes the first song to learn master of puppets?!! like who really?
I just wanted to be in Metallica so bad man hahaha, they´re the reason i started playing
Thank you for the tutorial BUT after 30 years of experience I would recommend everyone a single way to learn this: take Megadeth's RUST IN PEACE and play it entirely, just the rhythm guitars. If you can do it, you know how to do palm mute like the master (Mustaine, not Hetfield)
Twitch tattoo?
Thats where it all started
Well, you can’t, you can’t play classics not according to the notes in an educational video. Tears from such teachers. Play IN the guitar, stopping at the next string and that's it. success
It triggers me that the tallica riffs are played wrong 😄
Yes i know the issue is with me 😁
It´s on purpose to not get copyright slammed 🥲
Your downpicking is just insane....I bet you're faster than James with that.
That´s way too kind! Downpicking has been my main playing style for years so i def have more speed than the average player, but i wouldn´t dare put myself on the same level as James
Learn your favorite songs! *proceeds to play two riffs wrong*
Good video tho
I cant play the riffs due to copyriiiightttt 😭😭
When I first started playing, James was a huge inspiration. Back then down picking came pretty natural. Once I learned how to alternate pick, down picking now has become a nightmare lol
Feel this hahaha
Man playing the Metallica riffs wrong
Cuz of copyright
@@DjentBeard they would copyright you ? :D wtf
@@martingaspar8364 Their label will yeah, i had it happen before
WHY do this?:
-_-
What the guitar model?
Harley Benton EX-84
@@DjentBeard 🖤
Creeding death sounded bad
No it didn´t, there´s literally no flaw except at the final stroke. It´s also a raw tone. You also spelled it wrong. :)
Bwahhahahahah 🤨
@@DjentBeard so you the guy who melts right away if you challenge him slightly. All I’m saying is that Creeping death sounded awful with lots of unnecessary noises
@@Zenkovev I don´t melt. I´m pointing out that what you´re saying is just not true lmao. But i´ll post another video just for you with better audio since you´re tilting about it so hard. :)
@@DjentBeard Dont get me wrong plz. You play very good. But creeping death is not a simple riff to play. Ive seen lots of ppl claim that they can play it. But once you hear it, you like omg, you just butchered the song