00:00Hey everyone, I'm Dre Demira, here today with Guitar World, and in this video lesson,
00:03we're going to master tremolo picking on electric guitar.
00:11You'll learn how to apply this versatile technique to your guitar playing from surf rock to black
00:16metal. Tremolo picking is a guitar technique where a note is repeated rapidly using alternating up
00:20and down strokes. Its origins go back centuries in both Eastern and Western musical cultures,
00:25commonly used on acoustic instruments that don't sustain, like mandolin or oud, to create the
00:30illusion of a long-held note. First, let's look at a few basics. When tremolo picking, we use alternating
00:37down and up strokes, with the motion coming from the wrist, not the forearm.
00:50Imagine your wrist is like the seconds hand on a watch or clock,
00:53mechanically ticking back and forth in rhythm. The pick angle is important. Holding the pick
00:58flush with the strings makes the technique unnecessarily difficult.
01:04Tilt your pick 15 or 20 degrees toward the higher strings.
01:11This eliminates resistance and creates a better tone. Tremolo picking isn't always just about playing
01:15as fast as possible. Rhythm and syncopation are important. We'll be using two primary rhythms,
01:20a sixteenth note tremolo, notated by two diagonal slashes through the note stem,
01:27and an unmeasured tremolo, notated by three diagonal slashes through the note stem.
01:36The unmeasured tremolo instructs us to squeeze as many notes as possible into the given note
01:41duration, while the sixteenth note tremolo tells us to play sixteenth notes in the space of the written
01:46note. For instance, in the space of a quarter note, we'd have four sixteenth notes. When playing sixteenth
01:51notes, the picking motion will be more controlled and precise. However, when playing 32nd notes or
01:56sextuplets in the space of an unmeasured tremolo note, it'll become mechanically impossible to
02:01control each individual stroke, especially at high speeds. For this, we'll need to rely on the
02:05twitch technique, which is like a controlled spasm of the wrist. To nail the twitch, exhale and relax your
02:11shoulder and elbow. Then focus on shaking your wrists back and forth as quickly as possible.
02:19The second you feel the muscles in your elbow or collarbone tighten up, relax, reset, and try again.
02:26Example one, surf rock or Dick Dale style.
02:37The surf rock craze in the early sixties is one of tremolo picking's first big moments on electric.
02:42Dick Dale uses a springy clean tone with his pick close to the bridge.
03:11This riff uses a controlled sixteenth note tremolo throughout,
03:15notice the accents on the seventh fret B. Dick Dale wanted to emulate the sound of big band drummer
03:20Gene Krupa, and uses syncopated accents to mimic the bombastic dynamics of a fast tom fill rolling
03:26across the drum kit. You don't have to copy my accents exactly, feel free to add your own feel to
03:30the groove.
03:33Example two, Van Halen goes classical.
03:41On the little guitar's intro, Eddie does his take on a classical tremolo technique popularized by composer
03:46Francisco Tarega. This involves holding a long drone-like tremolo on a high open string,
03:51while hammering onto notes on the lower strings to create a counter-melody.
03:57piano plays in bright rhythm
03:57piano plays in bright rhythm
04:02piano plays in bright rhythm
04:37For the unmeasured tremolo rhythm, we'll need to rely on the aforementioned twitch technique,
04:41to squeeze in as many notes on the open string as possible.
04:44You can isolate just this part of the example to practice, again gradually increasing speed,
04:50and then resetting and going again each time.
04:52This example also uses the hammer-on-from-nowhere technique,
04:58where we hammer on to a fretted note without first plucking another note on that same string.
05:03If you're having trouble with this particular part of the lick,
05:05my 10 guitar tips also on the Guitar World YouTube channel can help you with some exercises.
05:11Example number three, Johnny Greenwood of Radiohead.
05:21Johnny Greenwood uses tremolo picking in many of his solos and lead guitar parts,
05:25and octaves are what set his style apart from previous examples.
05:28Spread across three strings, we need to use a wider wrist movement to tremolo pick across this distance.
05:34This means the hand is positioned more like a funk guitarist,
05:36with the wrist out and the hand tilted towards the strings.
05:39Now rhythmically, we start with 16th note tremolos on the octave A,
05:45then switch to unmeasured tremolos, first on C sharp, then on a false note C,
05:50where we're playing two of the same note across different strings.
05:53In the final bar, we have rapid unmeasured tremolos through the A minor pentatonic scale,
05:57ending on a gradually bent note 20 to 22.
06:20This example really shows us how we can combine different articulations,
06:24timings, and techniques like octaves and double stops with the tremolo technique.
06:28Now let's get heavy.
06:29We're going to look at tremolo picking in different styles of metal, from thrash to black metal.
06:33These more extreme styles really began developing in the early 80s,
06:36and have more or less persisted into modern metal, all of the core genres,
06:40and things like progressive death.
06:41There are a lot of similarities when it comes to tremolo picking across these styles,
06:45but also some idiosyncrasies that make them unique that we'll look at in each example.
06:51Example four.
06:52Slayer!
06:59Thresh-style tremolo picking relies on a measured 16th note tremolo against a blistering double-time drum beat,
07:05using dissonant intervals with a distorted tone, often across a single string.
07:09Slayer-style tremolos like these can be heard during the outros of Postmortem and Raining Blood.
07:43Like I said, the riff uses measured 16th note tremolos except for the last two notes,
07:48which switch to an unmeasured rapid tremolo for more intensity on the turnaround.
07:54Example five.
07:55Death Metal.
08:01Tremolo picking in Death Metal uses more unmeasured tremolos for an ultra-aggressive,
08:06extreme, and angular style.
08:07It often alternates between fast, tremolo-picked riffs, punctuated by chordal stabs or accents.
08:12In this sense, we've gravitated far and away from the unbroken,
08:16percussive style of tremolo-picking found in example one.
08:39This riff offers a fun challenge that's widely applicable in more modern metal style, switching between muted power chords and
08:45fast, tremolo-picked runs.
08:46Something you can easily incorporate into your riffing and songwriting.
08:49At 200 BPM, the unmeasured tremolos in this example can be tendinitis-inducing.
08:54To avoid this, try angling your pick at an even sharper angle, which will further reduce tension when cutting through
08:59the strings quickly at speed.
09:03example six.
09:04Black Metal.
09:05Black Metal.
09:15Black Metal.
09:36Melodic arpeggios and
09:37scalular lines are the unique attribute of tremolo picking in black metal.
09:40Pioneered by players like Euronymous of Mayhem, this style uses tremolo picking across arpeggiated
09:45chords and monophonic lines to bring an aggressive edge to the melody, often over a very dissonant
09:50or dark chord progression and blast beats at extreme speeds.
09:53At 220 BPM, this example is actually using measured 16th note tremolos, although it can
09:59feel unmeasured just due to the sheer speed.
10:01But if you listen closely, you'll hear that I'm playing a measured and controlled number
10:04of notes on each tone.
10:06For an authentic black metal sound, don't mute the strings.
10:09This gives you a razor sharp and very metal sounding attack.
10:12I really do recommend chunking this one out and practicing it bar by bar before you try
10:16to attempt the entire thing.
10:18The line changes keys so the fingerings can feel a little alien and mess with your perception
10:22of the fretboard.
10:23So practice each bar and then combining one bar at a time.
10:26Thank you for watching, drop a like and a comment if you found this lesson helpful, and don't
10:30forget to subscribe to GuitarWorld.com.
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