I've read a few discussions about picking that include a sentiment like "If you want the down stroke sound, but need alternate picking speed, practice until you can't tell the difference between up strokes and down strokes."
I can see the wisdom, but how? Practice what? Is it just a matter of brute practice, and once you've up stroked enough it'll build strength or something until it sounds the same as a down stroke? Or is it a pick technique/angle thing? Or would I play a month of sixteenth notes all up stroked?
Ok, so here goes,
Have been away from this forum a while and figured to reply your post.
I agree with the responses above, and add,
I wouldn’t take a ‘brutal’ approach … picking is a craft that takes a lot of work and effort to grasp effectively.
down strokes provide a good solid foundation , whereas upstrokes as in alternate picking promote fluency and speed …
pick grip plays a big part as to how well both, up or downstrokes can be executed
pick angle which is derived from grip, is the other key factor.
those two things will determine how well you can get both to sound the same …
but the other challenge is tone …
bass strings are completely different proposition to guitar strings… so certain approaches using a pick on guitar, may or may not translate to a bass …
pick slant is one example,
For me it’s been slow progress, I often went through situations where I couldn’t stand how I sounded with a pick so I would go back to fingers ….. and then I would get the pick bug again
Whilst other players have pointed out to me, fluency come first, speed will follow … which I agree is true, tone, particularly on round wound strings is a big challenge …
a firm grip, combined with a ‘relaxed’ technique, contributes to gaining control over the pick so it doesn’t slide around or slip out, whilst also providing a way to subtly shift angles of the pick attack and allow the pick to flex, hit hard when needed, or flow with fluency on any type of stroke …
so I would say, no, to practicing 16 th notes with an upstroke for a month … you can try that by all means, but there is more to it than trying to do it like that…
Example, you may also need to consider strap height which can impact on the angle of your hand which effects pick grip and slant …. Playing with your bass lower, isn’t so much about as looking ‘cool’ as some might have it… it can be very functional for the picking hand, but with that it changes things for the left hand.
That took me a long time to work out because I was stuck in a mindset that having the bass higher is the so called correct way to play, according to some people.
For me, I think that holds true for finger style, but I am finding for pick attack lower can have its advantages … maybe it’s same for you, or maybe it’s not. We are all different shapes and sizes and some people have hands naturally attuned one way, whilst others don’t …
all of these things will influence as to how well we can get the upstroke to sound like a down stroke … and with both having a decent tone, in context of the genre we are using these techniques …
a general rule of thumb, is start out slowly, downstrokes, up strokes and alternate on one string, then multiple strings, etc and focus on not letting high tension become a feature of your technique …
high tension slows us down …
One other thing, regarding upstrokes, is that if you do practice them repetitively, but slowly to start out, will highlight weakness and vulnerability in your grip. The tendency with upstrokes when learning pick technique can be that the pick pulls away from the grip …
so if that happens, and you think about all of the above, you will soon enough figure your grip out, and once you have that the sound will naturally even out or at least improve.
