The universal picking workout: one finger per fret, 1-2-3-4 up every string and 4-3-2-1 back down, every note strictly alternated. Four notes per string is an even number, so every string starts on a downstroke — which makes every crossing on the way up an outside crossing and every crossing on the way down an inside one. One drill, both hard cases.
Start at 70 BPM — slow enough that every upstroke is as loud and as clean as every downstroke — and raise the tempo in small steps of about 5 BPM only once a full pass is even. Press Play exercise to hear the drill and watch it move across the fretboard, then play along with it or take the tempo to the metronome. Speed is a by-product of accuracy: if the notes start to blur or the hand tightens up, drop back down.
- Pick a drill — start with Single-String Repeats to groove the motion with no string changes, then move to the Chromatic 1-2-3-4
- Choose a home position; around fret 5 the spacing is comfortable, and the fretting hand stays one finger per fret so the picking hand is the only thing being tested
- Press "Play exercise" and follow the step strip: ▼ is a downstroke, ▲ is an upstroke, and every note that starts a new string is tagged inside, outside, or sweep
- Play along with strict alternation — down, up, down, up — right through the string changes, and listen for upstrokes that come out quieter than downstrokes
- Raise the tempo about 5 BPM at a time once a full pass is clean, or turn on Loop for continuous repetition
- Switch the picking style to Economy to feel the difference: the same notes, but string changes rake through in one direction instead of reversing
About Alternate Picking Exercises
Guitar Tool Hub's free alternate picking exercise tool drills the picking hand — the half of guitar technique the hub's fretting-hand drills leave alone — with six structured exercises on an interactive fretboard. Pick a drill and a home position on the neck and play along: single-string repeats that isolate the pure down-up motion, the chromatic 1-2-3-4 run, two-notes-per-string and three-notes-per-string patterns, and a matched pair of drills that isolate outside and inside string crossings — the same notes, opposite opening strokes. Every note carries its pick stroke (▼ down, ▲ up) and every note that starts a new string is tagged as an inside, outside, or sweep crossing, so the mechanic you are practising is visible rather than guessed at. Each drill plays in time with real guitar audio at an adjustable tempo with a suggested starting BPM, highlights each note as it sounds, and hands the tempo to the metronome in one tap. A picking-style toggle switches the whole sequence between strict alternate picking and economy picking, so you can hear and see what changes at the string crossings. Where Pinky Exercises trains the fretting hand and Scale Practice drills patterns through a scale, Alternate Picking Exercises trains the pick.
- 016 picking drills: single-string repeats, chromatic 1-2-3-4, two notes per string, three notes per string, outside picking, inside picking
- 02Pick stroke shown on every note — ▼ downstroke, ▲ upstroke, strict alternation
- 03Inside, outside & sweep string crossings labelled on every string change
- 04Alternate / economy picking style toggle over the same notes
- 05Movable home position — drill any spot on the neck from fret 1 to 12
- 06One finger per fret so the fretting hand never becomes the bottleneck
- 07Adjustable tempo (40–240 BPM) with a suggested starting BPM per drill
- 08Note-by-note playback highlighted on the fretboard and step strip
- 09Loop mode for continuous repetition
- 10Tap any note or step to hear it
- 1127 tunings · acoustic, electric & classical sounds
- 12One-tap hand-off to the Metronome at your practice tempo
- 13Free — no account needed