It's kind of hard to ask for help without a vid, but whatever. I made a black metal-ish riff and I wanted to know if black metal is generally down picked or alternate picked?

Whatever sounds best. I usually down pick anything that's slower than an 8th note triplet.

Ei...Eighth note triplet...?? Don't be so technical with me, Matt, or my head will explode. Remember, i'm relatively new at guitar... XD

An eighth note is one that is half of a beat. You know how you tap your foot in rhythm while listening to music? That's generally done once each beat. So, you'd play that note for half of that. A triplet, meanwhile, is a sequence of three eighth notes (usually) played as one beat instead of its normal length, which would be a beat and a half.

I don't know if you can read standard notation or anything, but that would probably help you. A lot. Plus, that's one of the least technical things in music... so if you're struggling with that, you'll have problems.

Mmk. Thanks.

If it's a rhythm kind of thing, and you can play it at the proper speed, down picking almost always sounds better.

Eighth note triplet = gallop.

Wrong. A triplet is not a gallop.

When you count music, you count 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4. These are quarter notes. A half note is when you count 1---3---1---3--- at the same speed. Whole notes are just 1-------1--------. 8th notes are 1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and.

A triplet is when you keep the same 1-2-3-4 pacing, but you count like this:

1-pu-let-2-pu-let-3-pu-let-4-pu-let. These are 8th note triplets, because you have three notes ( a triplet ) in the same time that a pair of 8th notes usually go. You can have quarter note triplets ( where three notes take the same time as 2 regular quarter notes ), half note triplets ( where three notes take the same time as 2 regular half notes ), etc...

For a good example of triplets, listen to "Cold" by At the Gates. The rhythm guitar has a very distinctive ONE-pu-let-TWO-pu-let-THREE-pu-let-FOUR-pu-let feel.

A gallop, on the other hand, is a pair of 16th notes ( 1-e-and-a-2-e-and-a etc. ) next to an 8th note, either before or after depending on feel. It is commonly mistaken for a triplet but that is wrong.

Are you serious? So a triplet sounds like BUM bada BUM bada BUM bada BUM bada BUM bada?

Because i've incorporated that in my riff O.o

An [equal] triplet is three notes played in the time of two. Often, patterns such as two 16th notes and an 8th note will be referred to a triplet, but that shouldn't be confused with the proper and equal triplet.

Oh man, time signatures are NOT my thing...

Try out Power Tab and see how you can pair notes differently, it is a fairly easy to use and guitar-oriented software, plus it's free!

Compare a triplet of three 8th notes designated as a triplet, then two 16ths followed by an 8th (gallop!).

I'm sure you use a lot of things you don't understand or know the names for

Black Metal is pretty fucking diverse, just play what you think will sound good and scream over top of it..simple

Hey Matt, Is Cold downpicked? I play it that way ,but it's pretty fast to play at speed!

I see this a lot. Why do people say this? I've seen plenty of Iced Earth reviews that say things like "Schaeffer's riffs usually consist of fast triplets" and that sorta thing.

Cold is right at that tempo where its too slow to comfortably alternate pick it and too fast to comfortably down pick it. I usually down pick it, just for that consistent sound, but DAMN is it difficult.

Triplet = dikkidik
Gallop = dikkitah

Cool man, I've always wondered that. That has always been my downpick chop building riff because I thought those guys were some crazy fast down pickers and I wanted to play like that! And people think master of puppets is fast, hahahahaha! Awesome bro!

gotta learn that shit man.

Triplet = Di di di Di di di...
Gallop = Di didiDi didi... / didiDi didiDi...

I know... Where do I start?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VMYpWuQH5Q

Around 1:15. Is that a gallop? A slow gallop?

A teacher will help. If you look in the right places, it might not be too hard to find a teacher that likes the same Megadeth-style thrash you seem to like (if I remember correctly), but really, only one-on-one tutoring will do you any good, it's very hard to explain things ESPECIALLY time signatures over the internet.

Yes, I have a teacher... I'll ask him

That is a slow gallop.

Oh okay... Finally got it!

single tongue, double tongue, whatever works...