Strumming — eight downstrokes
Downstrokes only, in eighth notes, on three power chords: E5, G5, A5. It's the shortest pattern to describe and one of the hardest to sustain. All-down gives metal and punk their tight, even attack (alternate picking wouldn't bite the same way) but it works the forearm twice as hard as alternate strumming. The limit isn't technical, it's muscular: past a certain tempo, the arm gives out before the fingers. The exercise exists precisely to push that threshold back.
Tips
Start at a tempo where you could hold five minutes without tensing your shoulder: that's where endurance is built, not in pain.
The motion comes from elbow and wrist together, not the fingers: keep the hand loose enough for the pick to bounce off the strings.
Raise the tempo in tiny steps and drop back the moment the last stroke of a run stops sounding like the first.
Strumming pattern
D = downstroke, U = upstroke, — = the arm keeps moving without touching the strings.
Chord progression — E
Chords
Related sheets
- Power riff — descending in E (Level 3)
- Metal in D — syncopated rhythm (Level 3)
- Metal in G — syncopated rhythm (Level 3)