suggest a target speed for alternate picking

[welly_59]

ive been working on my alternate picking a lot lately as ive found that i will shy away from song suggestions from other people i jam with if i think part of the song might be too fast for me.

what kinda speed would put me in a comfortable range for your bog standard rock song - i dont mean anything as heavy as metallica etc

[beed84]

Personally I'd begin with 80bpm and work up to 120bpm. Make sure your up and down strokes are fall on the beats consistently before going up a notch, and be careful not to fall into economy picking, which can be an easy mistake to make without realising it.

[thereformant]

16ths at 120bpm is pretty sedate. Even a hard rock player could probably set their sights a little higher.

[littlegreenman]

What songs have you shied away from? To give an idea of the speed you're talking about. My alternate picking is fastest on scale runs, less so on arps and slower again if string skipping. That's why I usually use sweeps for arps and legato on skipping, but I practice them all with alternate as well.