Economy Picking

Economy picking is a guitar technique that is designed to maximize picking efficiency by combining two picking techniques: alternate picking and sweep picking. With economy picking, when picking multiple notes on the same string, alternate picking (alternating between downstrokes and upstrokes) is used, and when moving to a new string, sweep picking (picking in the direction of travel to that string; down picking to move to the next string down — from the A string to the D string for example, or up picking when moving from the B string to the G string) is used.