Starting Pick Stroke and Picking Technique Options
By Carvel Avis in How-To Guides
Open the Settings Menu and select “Notation”. At the top, you’ll find two options that affect pick stroke direction.
- The “Starting Pick Stroke” setting tells Riff Lab whether to start with a down or up stroke. This sets the pattern for the rest of the sequence.
Not every riff has to start on a downbeat or with a downstroke. Switching the starting stroke can totally change the feel—and sometimes starting with an upstroke just flows better. For each riff you build it’s a good idea to experiment with both to see what feels right.
- The “Pick Technique” setting lets you choose between Alternate Picking and Sweep Hybrid Picking.
- Alternate Picking means strict down-up-down-up, no matter what.
- Sweep Hybrid looks for chances to reuse the same pick direction when crossing strings—like mini sweeps—and falls back on alternate picking.x
Between those two settings, you can find lots of new ways to play the same riff.
That’s how you set the starting stroke direction and choose a picking technique.
