All Downstrokes

Strum a chord down, then up, then down, then up. Now strum it down, down, down, down. The second one sounds heavier, and it is not your imagination.

A downstroke hits the low strings first and drags across to the high ones. An upstroke does the reverse. Play all downstrokes and every single hit has the same weight and the same attack, and the part stops sounding like strumming and starts sounding like a wall.

This is why so much punk and hard rock is played entirely with downstrokes, at tempos where it burns. It is a stamina exercise as much as a technique one, so your forearm getting tired is information, not failure.

Keep the motion coming from your wrist rather than your whole arm, and keep your grip on the pick loose.

Eight downstrokes on an open E5

Every stroke is a downstroke. Same two strings, same weight, eight times a bar.

e
B
G
D
A
E

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--2--2--2--2--2--2--2--2--|
--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--|

This track is angry rock in E minor and it wants exactly this. The changes move around E, C and D.

Play power chords, all downstrokes, eight to the bar. When your arm gets tired, drop to four to the bar and keep going rather than stopping — the goal of this lesson is to reach the end of the track still playing.

Driving rock in E minor. All downstrokes. Reach the end without stopping.