Upstroke
A pick stroke that moves upwards across the string, from the high strings towards the chin.
The upstroke is the return half of a picking motion and, on its own, sounds slightly weaker and brighter than a downstroke because the pick rides across the winding differently. Where it matters most is in strumming, where downstrokes land on the beat and upstrokes fill the off-beats, and in alternate picking, where it must be trained to sound as strong as the downstroke or the line limps. Players who habitually avoid upstrokes hit a hard ceiling on speed.
Example: A folk strumming pattern such as down, down-up, up-down-up only works if the upstrokes are as confident as the downstrokes.
See also
Related
- PageDownstroke
- PageAlternate picking
- PageStrumming pattern
- PageAccent
- PageAction height
- PageAmp modeler
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley