Originally Posted by: Andrew SaYeah, I also find alternate picking rather easy...I just never did it any other way, so it just grew...
a few years back I could only alternate pick...which is a great place to start from, because once you can alt pick, you can do economy picking and such by choice (sweeping is still getting the better of me...but I'm fifally nailing it now).

I find alt picking to be the most valuable technique a lead guitarist can develop, whilst not essential, I would certainly recommend to anyone that they learn how to do it

yea alternate picking came natural for me.. in fact i leaned that before i learned bending and hammers and pulls and chords(which i later forgot). its about the only thing i can do other than 1 finger tapping and some boring legato/bends/slides.

i can not sweep fast at all. so i decided to alternate pick my sweeps.
but i don't stick to just up down up down, i do whatever takes less effort to play the next note. so often i end up economy picking more than alternate picking.. so i consider alternate picking a type of economy picking. and i also consider tremolo picking as a type of alternate picking.