Brad Davis: Double Down- California

The “double down” technique is something that guitarist Brad Davis has become quite well known for…

Here’s a video that features him playing his original instrumental tune “California.” This performance displays just how valuable this technique is for getting out fast lines without breaking a sweat. Imagine asking Doc Watson or Tony Rice to play up to speed note for note on this song. It would be impossible without using this technique.

Okay you ask, what is double down?

Well if you notice in this video, his right hand is not moving as much compared to the amount of notes he’s playing. That’s because Brad is doing a form of ‘sweep picking” on two strings, then pulling back up  (really the technique should be called down, down up). So instead of going down up down, Brad is going down, down up…

So imagine strumming on only two strings, you wouldn’t lift the pick, it would be one continuous motion down, then doing an up stroke on the way back.

I have another video that slows all of this down… it look so simple but it takes a long time to get this technique down. Check that video out here.

Another guitarist that has this “down down” (sorry couldn’t resist) is Beppe Gambetta. Beppe doesn’t use the technique quite in the same fashion as Brad, and also uses it backwards (up, up down) and on more than two strings down down down, up up up… Check Beppe out here…