Am I missing something really simple and fundamental with alternate picking?

[Knottyhed]

more often than not, most everyone does the same thing when they alternate pick without realizing it...i guess i'm just one of the few that makes a concentrated effort to do it

 

 

I think you might be right on that score, most people when they start and try to play rythmic groups to a metronome probably would start each beat with a downstroke because it makes it easier to separate in your head.

 

Then again, most people left to their own devices would down pick everything.

[cobrahead1030]

triplets are a bit of a different beast tho (which i tried to explain before)

you pick a triplet rhythm on one string: down-up-down...
then you get to the next one: up-down-up...

but due to the nature of their rhythm, that first up pick on the 2nd string is now on the downbeat rather than up...so when playing triplets i keep a strict up-down-up-down pattern even tho every other beat my down/up strokes are alternate between on/off beats

i should've been more clear earlier the that the up/down beat doesn't apply the same way for normal 8th or 16th notes as it does for triplets...but even then i know that the first set will be on, the 2nd off, the 3rd on, the 4th off, etc. i just have to focus on the off beats as much as the on ones

i can barely do 16th note triplets @ 120 if i'm playing on different strings, even the song on my myspace page (link below) on that part it took SEVERAL takes to get right

if i'm playing a pedal tone kinda thing, i can do 16th note triplets @ 140-150 pretty cleanly...180 i can do but it's sloppy, 200 is too fast for me

the benefeit for me is that it keeps my timing solid, i know how to pick what with every beat and i concentrate on being dead on that...like i said my hand gets in rhythm with what i'm playing and (ideally) stays there; if i just pick up/down whenever, i can stay in time alright, but the overall solidity is lacking (that's me tho, it's not the same with everyone)