Ok, so here is an exercise I use to improve my alternate picking speed as well as my left and right hand coordination. I picked up this little exercise from John Petrucci’s instructional video Rock Discipline and just modified it a little bit to my liking. It is a chromatic pattern, but a little bit more interesting than the standard 4 note, 4 fret up and down pattern. The following should be played using alternate picking, or up/down/up/down.

E||----------------------------------|
B||----------------------------------|
G||--------------------------3-4-5-6-|
D||------------------3-4-5-6---------|
A||----------3-4-5-6-----------------|
E||--3-4-5-6-------------------------|

--------------------------5-6-7-8-|
------------------5-6-7-8---------|
--7-6-5-4-5-6-7-8-----------------|
----------------------------------|
----------------------------------|
----------------------------------|

--9-8-7-6-------------------------|
----------9-8-7-6-----------------|
------------------9-8-7-6---------|
--------------------------9-8-7-6-|
----------------------------------|
----------------------------------|

----------------------------------|
----------------------------------|
----------------------------------|
--5-6-7-8-7-6-5-4-----------------|
------------------7-6-5-4---------|
--------------------------7-6-5-4-|

----------------------------------|
----------------------------------|
--------------------------5-6-7-8-|
------------------5-6-7-8---------|
----------5-6-7-8-----------------|
--5-6-7-8-------------------------|

----------------------------7-8-9-10-|
-------------------7-8-9-10----------|
--9-8-7-6-7-8-9-10-------------------|
-------------------------------------|
-------------------------------------|
-------------------------------------|

--11-10-9-8-------------------------------|
------------11-10-9-8---------------------|
----------------------11-10-9-8-----------|
--------------------------------11-10-9-8-|
------------------------------------------|
------------------------------------------|

-----------------------------------|
-----------------------------------|
-----------------------------------|
--7-8-9-10-9-8-7-6-----------------|
-------------------9-8-7-6---------|
---------------------------9-8-7-6-|

--------------------||
--------------------||
--------------------||
--------------------||
--------------------||
--5-----------------||

Download this tab for Guitar Pro 5

You can see with this pattern, each time you complete it you have moved up 3 frets. I usually start this pattern on the 1st fret and repeat it all the way up the neck until I cant go any further. John Petrucci does this riff at 200bpm. I can’t do it quite that fast. But remember, the key is not speed, it’s accuracy. Play it at a pace where you hit every note perfectly, and then speed it up just a little bit. Once you get comfortable with that speed, go 8 beats faster and then master that.

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