Hi @Jeff_Passmore, I have only learned alternate picking, so I really canāt compare to economy (is that what you are doing?) picking or anything else. But, it seems to me an advantage is that you are always down-picking on the beat and up-picking off the beat. This helps me to feel the rhythm and stay in time.
When you do alternate picking you can keep the pick moving constantly up-and-down at the same pace (analogous to keeping your strumming hand moving steadily during various strumming patterns), which I find very beneficial.
(Now that Iāve written this I see that @dave.pritchard101 said the same thing above).
Sea, you are dealing with a beginnerā¦ lol. I can see a symmetry in what you posted, is that the main point? Thank you!
JJ, Actually Dave said the following āThere are so many reasons why strict alternate picking is preferable to economy pickingā and then outline one such reason. My question was to know a few more benefits to this strict approach. In reading through this again, it seems like some are discussing alternate picking vs down picking, that is not my question. I can play the major scale relatively fast and in time with a metronome using the more natural feeling technique (which I guess is referred to as economy picking?) but, I am fearing, from the comments, this could end up being a very regrettable habit that I would need to break at some point. I hope that clears up my question from the original post and apologize for any confusion I may have caused.
As I understand it, economy picking is this: when you change strings, your pick direction is the same as the direction dictated by the string change. When you donāt change strings, you alternate pick. So, the C major scale in open position would be:
C D E F G A B C
D D U D D U D U
is that the way you play it? I just tried it and it doesnāt feel natural to me! 
In any case, I will leave it to the more experienced players/teachers to weigh in on whether it makes sense to switch to alternate picking or stick with economy or learn both.
Personally Iād stick to Alternate picking when learning scales. It keeps your hand moving in a rhythmic pattern. Playing scales fast to me is a waste of good practice time, your better of learning Licks and Riffs to increase speed. Most soloās never go below the D string and if there are lower notes it usually played by sliding down the D string not jumping to the A. Just my 2c
Stitch and jj, thank you. here is how I play using your method of notes and U & D motion with the pick:
CDEFGABCDEFG
DDUDDUDUDDUD
I just an article on letter spacing and wow, they were not kidding, sorry it looks horrible spaces or no spaces, jeez!
I am following along with Justinās excellent tutorials and am far from a āspeed demonā on scales. My playing the C major is rhythmic or so says the metronome and it feels natural. Perhaps this is not a big deal, but Justinās warning about practicing something incorrectly leads to very hard habits to break, resonates in my mind.
One poster mention āseveral reasonsā why practicing like I am is detrimental and did list ātimingā as an example. Since I am āin timeā I wondered what some other detrimental results were. Frankly, I am dreading relearning a technique that is now habit. Thanks again for your time!
Donāt need any other reason.
Justin has taught a lot of people to play and has also played professional in front of 10ās of thousands of people. To me it sound like youāre looking for justification not to learn Alternate picking. Do you know a 5 patterns to the Major scale?
To my beginner understanding economy picking is an advanced form of alternate picking and in the words of Mr Miyagi first you accomplish paint the fence 
Stitch,
Wow, I hope I am misunderstanding your post and if so, great if notā¦
I have followed Justin for years and find him an extraordinary instructor. I am a meager player, but what little ability I do have I owe to Justin. I thought I was clear and certainly not saying Justin or anyone else is āwrong.ā The suggestion about rhythm was noted. There was another poster that mentioned several reasons not following the specific U D patterns were problematic.
I asked what some of those other problematic things were, as in a question, not any form of challenge. Lastly, you are 100% correct about the need to relearn something that seems natural and normal. āJustificationā is sort of an odd word (to me) as it has a challenge context, you know, sort of like your first partial sentence āDonāt need any other reason.ā
Ah well email and posts are two dimensional and perhaps I am missing something here. If I am I apologize if my comments offended you in anyway, or if you thought I was questioning Justinās methods. I think if Justin saw this post he would tell me straight away, the 10 reasons not following his picking pattern will cause me grief. I seriously doubt he would say that I donāt need a reason because I have taught a lot of people and played professionally in front of thousandsā¦
Hi @Jeff_Passmore. I think you might be overanalysing this one a bit. Economy picking is OK. All down picks is OK. Alternate picking is OK. All depends on the song, riff, sound you want.
This lesson in particular is about alternate picking, though, so if youāre doing the lesson practice, alternate pick. Itās also at a point in the course where many beginners are expected to have been using majority downpicking previously. Is your alternate picking as developed as your other picking? If not, perhaps give it a bit more practice. Otherwise, if youāre fine with alternate picking, no big deal.
Thank you jkahn! yea, you are probably correct. I have followed Justin from his young days and greatly admire him as a teacher. One saying has always stuck was his comments about practicing the āwrong techniqueā and groving bad form.
I hope you looked through the posts and noted the comment about numerous bad things occurring from picking in the manner I do. That remark is what drove my questions and persistence to find out what else I would mess up by not alternate picking exactly as he described. Heck, to be truthful, I didnāt even know I was doing it as I have alternate picked for some time and if felt fine.
You are correct, the world will continue to spin regardless of how Jeff picks and the numerous bad things that could happen by not following the U and D pattern to a T will remain a mystery. I do sincerely thank you for your time. Cheers!
What is preferable depends on the individual. In this lesson I suggest it is preferable because that is what is being taught if you see what I mean. It may be a good idea to watch The Captains Privates section watching Lee practising his scales with Justin explaing why he was trying to get him to do it his way.
Are we supposed to be memorizing which strings get picked which way? Or is it just an exercise to get used to the alternation?
No need to memorize āwhich strings get picked which way.ā This is just an exercise to get used to the alternation.
In fact, when I practice scales, I alternate starting with an up-stroke vs. a down-stroke so I get practice both ways.
Jkahn and others, I am the person that annoyed some by hanging onto my question of UP Down picking vs seemingly to me, a more natural picking apparently called economy. I am happy to announce Justin addresses this in his rut busting series with the lad from Albertsonās in the UK (forgive me if I spelled that incorrectly). Justin has blossomed into a superb instructor and is presenting the WHY behind proper UP and Down picking of the scale. So I shall eat some crow and relearn. Thanks to all for the comments to this question. Happy Holidays!
This exercise was really the most challenging for me so far.
I learnt to play guitar by myself when I was 15 (now I am 33), mostly Hard Rock & Metal and played on a band. I learnt fast riffs and fast solos but back then there were no guitar courses on the internet (and if were there, not in my native language, I learnt English later on) so basically I didnāt know what I was doing. Later on, I began college and abandoned guitar.
Now, more than 15 years later, I am trying to remember and relearn everything properly, and when I got to the āC Major Scaleā lesson I was like āOh, thatās pretty easy, and I can do it fastā and then I got to this lesson and learnt the difference between āalternate pickingā and āeconomy pickingā and right now my neurons are melting down.
Thank you very much Justin, your course is really helping me getting what I couldnāt when I was a teenager!
I think i have watched this video about 100 timeĀ“s and i must be stupid, i have no clue when i should pick open string and when not like what is he doing with the left hand ? IĀ“m having really hard time on many lessons when i have nothing written down in front of me so most of the lessons i write down what he says, done this lesson a few times now but iĀ“m just randomly picking up and down and doing the C major scale up and down
Hi Kristjan @cptnobeard, welcome to the community!
First off - youāre not stupid. Iām a fellow beginner here to say that learning guitar is difficult for everyone, and is difficult in different ways for different people.
Regarding open strings the C Major scale: Hereās the TAB for the scale from Module 9 - C Major Scale. Any place you see a 0 (zero), pluck the open string. Otherwise your finger should be on the fret number appearing in the tab. It took me a while to be able to read tabs (I still canāt follow complex ones very well) - I had to review the How To Read Guitar Tab lesson (Grade 1 Module 4) several times.
Not sure I answered your questionā¦if not, please ask more questions!
If you can do the C Major scale with all down picks you can do it with alternate down/ups. Start with a down on the first note and then an up on the next, then an up on the next & keep going. Do it slow to start with! Took me a while to get this but you will get there.