I've been having the same picking problems for years... help!

[Thor Von Clemson]

I've been practicing for close to an hour around 5 days a week. I have nailed my band's songs pretty well after practicing them for a few months but there are some parts that I am simply struggling with. There's really one large problem I have been having and it involves galloping or triplets. with my picking hand. Pretty much anything having to do with them and I get all caught up. Either that or I play a four note group (I forgot what they are called... 16th notes?) instead of a 3 note sequence. I know to the untrained ear it does not matter but it is starting to drive me nuts. I can them sometimes and sometimes I get caught up. I can not seem to develop a solid technique that lets me play them consistently. I believe that is what I am going for.

I've tried watching myself in a mirror to see what I do when I play triplets correctly and I have not really noticed much other than some movements in my wrist and shoulder.

I wonder if my rig has anything to do with it? I am using Jazz III picks, tuning to drop C, and using 10-52 GHS Boomers. I wonder if a different pick would work better for me.

I'd like to post a video of my ailment but I have no camera. If I can figure out how to work the camera on my wife's digital camera, then how to post the video, I will post a vid of what I am talking about.

Otherwise, can you guys offer any serious advice?

[HoWheels]

My advice is to s-l-o-w it down ... practice with a metronome. Start at a very slow speed that you can nail the notes perfectly and cleanly every time, and slowly work your way up.

-a

[slayer32390]

how are you counting them? for straight 8th note triples count along to them with a metronome like "one-and-uh, two-and-uh,three-and-uh,four-and-uh" this really helped me learn triplets in band at school where i play percussion. PM me and ill try to send you a GP explaining more in detail.

[VitaminG]

is it triplets or gallops you're struggling with? Because they are different

[Thor Von Clemson]

oh... I thought they were the same thing...

Isn't galloping just series of triplets?

[levantin]

Nope, gallop is a 16th pattern with a rest on the 4th 16th note. Triplets are 3 notes strected over a single beat.

[VitaminG]

gallop is a 16th pattern with a rest on the 4th 16th note.

or with a rest on the second, if you want to land on the "one"

funnily enough, I have more trouble playing it with the rest on the 4th 16th note than on the 2nd. Must be all the Iron Maiden in my diet growing up

[hawkerbc2]

Can't got wrong listening to some more maiden....especially their new one.

[Newc]

Galloping = William Tell Overture (Lone Ranger Theme) or The Trooper

Triplet = intro riff to Holy Wars

[slayer32390]

Nope, gallop is a 16th pattern with a rest on the 4th 16th note. Triplets are 3 notes strected over a single beat.

or with a rest on the second, if you want to land on the "one"

funnily enough, I have more trouble playing it with the rest on the 4th 16th note than on the 2nd. Must be all the Iron Maiden in my diet growing up

Actually, a gallop doesnt have any rests in it it is just an eighth note connected to two sixteenth notes or the other way around. It sometimes sounds like a rest but it isn't.

[metalhead28]

I agree, galloping is not necessarily "triplets" as far as notation goes...but we all know what you're talking about. It is a grouping of 3 notes. Most people still call that "triplets"

Like someone else said, you should really slow it down and work out the mechanics of it and then build speed from there.
When I do galloping rhythms each 3 note grouping is really treated like a single note almost. At least with how I move my picking hand. I'm either counting the first note on the beat or the last note. (Slayer's Raining Blood - counting the first note, Iron Maiden style gallops - counting the last note, make sense?)
By the way, Jon Schaefer of Iced Earth = The Gallop/triplet master!

[shredmonster]

Hey Zack if you want to get together and work on it sometime PM me.

[Inearthed]

Make sure you're picking the gallops as "Downstroke-Upstroke-Downstroke." I was in a band with a guy that refused to do that (and went on and on about economy of motion, etc) and his gallops always sounded like straight picking.

[Spidervenom]

Make sure you're picking the gallops as "Downstroke-Upstroke-Downstroke." I was in a band with a guy that refused to do that (and went on and on about economy of motion, etc) and his gallops always sounded like straight picking.

So instead of maintaining alternate picking, he'd play d-u-d, u-d-u, etc? Geesh.

Galloping is about the only thing I'm any good at. I can nail most of Iced Earth without problem. Part of it is that I initially learned galloping wrong, and used up-down-up. I corrected the problem eventually, but it seemed to help considerably. I attribute it to the Paul Gilbert upstroke phenomenon.

But slow it down, and work up. The universal solution for all technique problems.

[Thor Von Clemson]

would picks have anything to do with it? I am using Jazz III's. I think a lot of metallers use them. I notice the pick gets somewhat hard to grip due to sweat or whatever and I have to continually squeeze it harder and harder. At some point it seems like I have to re-grip.. I have found that squeezing the pick harder helps me pick more consistently but I have problems with pinch harmonics. When I squeeze the pick harder, my index finger curls in more and exposes more of my thumb to the string. I have more control

Is it easier to use your wrist or use your arm? I have found that using more of my wrist is more comfortable and it feels more natural but I keep getting caught up. I will try to pay attention to see if I am getting caught up in a certain spot consistently..

Is it true that as long as you develop a technique that works for you and allows you to play/hear what you want to hear it does not matter how you do it? I know different guys pick differently.

If that is the case, I guess I will just have to take it a little slower and try to develop a technique that works for me.