Triplet picking exercise on the low E string
Three notes to a beat on the palm-muted low E, the first of each accented. Triplets feel different from straight eighths and 16ths, and keeping them even trains your time and the rolling feel heard across metal and blues. With alternate picking the accent falls on a downstroke one beat and an upstroke the next, which builds control of both.
Opens in the player looped and counted in, with the metronome on, and speeds up 5 % every 2 loops to 120 bpm. No account or microphone needed.
- Goal tempo
- 120 bpm
- Starts at
- 72 bpm
- Length
- 2 bars, looped
- Tuning
- E standard
How to play it
With alternate picking the accent falls on a down, then an up stroke.
Three palm-muted notes to a beat on the open low E, the first of each three accented. The end of the second bar moves to G and A at the 3rd and 5th frets.
With alternate picking, three notes to a beat means the beat falls on a downstroke, then an upstroke, then a downstroke again. Accenting an upstroke is the skill this exercise is really about.
Mistakes to watch for
- Accents only on the downstrokes, so every other beat is weaker.
- Switching to down-up-down on every beat, which feels easier but trains the wrong thing.
- The triplets drifting into a swing or a gallop.
A speed plan
The player starts at 60 % of the goal and plays each tempo twice before stepping up:
- 72
- 78
- 84
- 90
- 96
- 102
- 108
- 114
- 120
That's 16 loops and about a minute before you're playing at 120 bpm. If it stops being clean on the way, stop the ramp there and loop that tempo until it is. With a microphone or an audio interface you can record while you play instead: Demiurg checks every loop and steps up only after two clean ones in a row, and back down after a poor one.
Questions
How fast should I play Triplets on the low string?
The goal is 120 bpm in eighth-note triplets, which is 6 notes a second. Start wherever every note is clean: the player begins at 72 bpm. Signed in, you can set a goal of your own, slower or faster, on the Exercises page.
What's a triplet?
Three notes in the time of two. Here it's three eighth-note triplets in each beat, so every beat is split into three equal parts.
Can I pick triplets down-up-down every time?
You can, and some players do. Strict alternate picking is harder at first but keeps the hand moving at an even rate, which usually holds up better at speed.