Thanks for putting these together! And great work on the two cameras. The trick for getting the slow motion camera to choose the correct hand is to lock focus. On the iPhone that is done by pressing and holding on the item you want to focus on until the “AEF Lock” icon appears. A similar process is available on most other phones. You can get someone to do this for you while you’re in position. Or you can do what I do when I’m filming solo - just set the guitar on a floor stand at the exact distance your picking hand will be, and the headstock will usually poke into view on the camera. Just press and hold on the headstock until it locks.
Great playing here. For the scalar stuff, you’re using a system we have generally called two-way pickslanting. This is where you assume one arm position which very briefly switches to a different position to grab certain notes, and then switches back. This is most obvious when you do the Gilbert-style patterns where the upper note is a downstroke.
Here’s Teemu Mantysaari playing a similar line. You can see how his arm position alters ever so slightly as he grabs that upper note, and reverts back when returning to the lower string:
Where it falls down a little is the hand synchronization. In the first example, I’m not precisely sure what phrase you’re going for, because some of the notes are missing in the pattern. I think it’s basically the Gilbert-style pattern, just moving through positions?
Since your foundation is fine here, it’s usually pretty easy to clean up hand synchronization issues by choosing a slightly simpler repeating pattern and ensuring that the initial pickstroke is always locked with the initial note. The other notes will tend to fall in line when you do that. The Yngwie six-note pattern is a good choice for rock players. But any repeating figure will do, including four-note units like one-finger-per-fret chromatic sixteenths, repeating in a single position.
If that all works and there are no dropout notes, then the next thing to do is to move those patterns across the strings without two-way pickslanting. In other words, you want to stick to phrases where you only switch strings on a particular pickstroke. This is how you check if your base string switching strategy is clean, because these phrase types are simpler.
In your case, because it looks like you’re making a downstroke escape motion for your fastest playing, then your go-to string change pickstroke is the downstroke. So you’re looking at phrases where the downstroke is always the final note on the string. This is probably the most bone-stock pattern I can think of for this type of string change, both ascending and descending:
The idea here again is to ensure that the string changes are clean, you’re not hitting any string you’re not intending to, and there are no note dropouts. In the scalar examples you’ve posted, it’s tough to tell because the hand synch is a little off, so these patterns are simpler and will help you iron out what if anything needs to be cleaned up.
Don’t hammer away on these all day - it’s boring, and not it’s about repetition anyway. Instead, just use them as tests for cleanliness. You’ve got the camera rig - just make sure to get the focus tight so you can really see if you’re hitting these notes. Pointing the headtock a little more at the camera will also help, because this will give you a more “down the strings” view. This will let see pick/string contact and spot which notes are really being hit.
For the arpeggio stuff, that actually strikes me as somewhat cleaner because it’s a slower tempo where you need to be more particular about the note choices. It’s also a slightly different picking motion. You’re using a crosspicking motion for that, similar to what I’m using here:
This is the wrist-based crossicking technique we discuss in our lesson on the topic, which you can find right here:
I recommend watching it because you’re essentially doing it already. Some more clarity on how these motions work might just make you more aware enough of your motions that you’ll naturally have a little more control over them.
In general, you have a wrist technique which is capable of just about any complexity level you could want, at most speeds you could want. Not only that, but there is not a dramatic difference in appearance or feel between the shred-style pickslanting motions and the crosspicking motion you’re using in the crossroad clip. That’s the nice thing about wrist motion - it’s all one big happy family with a similar arm position, similar picking motion. Your clips demonstrate that pretty clearly. You’re just looking to become more aware of these motions and clean them up a little.
Again nice work here and let us know if we can help.
Did I mention picking makes me tense?
