Help! Alternate picking fretting hand speed/ coordination

Beexter

I've been trying to practice alternate picking and have got my tremolo picking up to 16th notes at 200bpm.

The 2 big problems I have are:
1) I can't instantly switch to that speed from the off and :

2) my fretting hand is WAY slower, I can't fret notes at anywhere near that speed so there is a chasmic divide between the left and right hands and synchronisation is a real challenge.

Any suggested videos or exercises that can improve things? 

Woodenhead

It's usually the 3rd and 4th fingers that need bringing up to speed. Try playing on one string and a small group of notes/bar at a time.

I found this section of Machinehead's Halo useful for building strength between 3rd/4th fingers and increasing picking speed.

1st bar fingers 1,3,4
2nd bar fingers 1,2,4
3rd bar fingers 1,3,4
4th bar fingers 1,2,4

^^^You could use different combos but that's how I'd practice it. It's around ~150bpm in the song but it's a good workout for the fretting hand!

sweepy

One routine that always tightens up my coordination after a period of not practicing is to pick chromatically for example frets 1 2 3 4 using all 4 fingers both ascending and descending, you’ll find either ascending or descending easier than ascending so the trick is to maintain even volume and timing, trust me, it’s a LOT harder than it appears 

clarkefan

@Woodenhead thanks, looking forward to working with this

Barney

What I have founds helps me a lot is just spending time picking upstrokes ...it seems as though that is most people's weakness....so maybe everything you play for a week use upstrokes until they are easy as the down ...then try alternate picking again