2 posts were split to a new topic: Bill Hall - Picking Licks and Runs Lesson Part One
Well, I haven’t really been playing as much as I’d like, but here is where I’m at with my picking. Just posting to see if I’m on the right track, it certainly feels ok, although it feels like my hand is spasming before I start off picking. Like I have problems just hitting the speed all of a sudden!
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Dude, that is such a rad improvement. Like if you go back and look at that first series of videos you posted and compare to this, it’s night and day. So awesome!
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@aliendough I agree with @JB_Winnipeg, you made great progress!
Whenever you get time to play, a new objective could be to add variety,
As in: try as many different downstroke-escape licks as you can! This will probably help you to consolidate the motion (and make it more controllable), while avoiding excess boredom!
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Thank you!
@tommo Thanks mate! I have been working on different licks over the past week that I posted this. I found some Andy James licks to work on so I have plenty to keep me going.
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Ah cool, Andy James is a good one for DSX stuff (we probably discussed him in the past, good reminder!).
Another thing you can do is check whether some “difficult” licks you already know can become DSX by using some pulloffs and/or by starting on an upstroke. That Bark at the Moon thing for example, start it with U instead of D and BOOM 
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It’s been months since I updated this, so here is where I’m currently at.
I find it very difficult to play on the lower strings and I think it’s due to my actual arm position. I’m not sure what is happening there.
I’m using a mixture of legato and alternate picking - I’m not thinking about this, this is something that has become automatic and if I was to pure alternate pick some lines I find myself having to really think hard about them.
I am out of practice a little, but I had a week off work and worked on my picking a bit.
I’ve also noticed the camera in the MacBook Pro is terrible!! I had a Microsoft Surfacebook and it was a much better camera. I will set up my Huawei mobile phone and get a better video.
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The core picking motion looks good especially from the D string onwards!
But I think you are still playing phrases that are not an ideal starting point for your elbow mechanics - because you had quite a few upstroke string changes in there.
I’d suggest trying to play a few riffs on the low strings that only change strings after downstrokes. I think you mentioned Andy James and indeed he may be an excellent source for that.
In other words, downstroke-only changes are the easiest licks to get started with fast & smooth elbow mechanics. When you got a few of those working I’d try again these more complicated licks with both types of string changes.
Let us know if that helps!
Totally agree on the MBP camera. Weird that such a high-end laptop has this blatant weak point.
Thanks, Tommo, I’ll keep this in mind and post another update in a few months.
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Here’s a little exercise I just came up with 
A---------8-11-10-8----------------------6-10-8-6--------------
E-8-10-11-----------11-10-8-10-11-7-8-10----------10-8-7-8-10--- (loop)
I hope I tabbed it correctly. It should be 3 notes on the low E to begin with, then alternating between 4 notes on the A and 8 on the low E as you loop it
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What are you using as an anchor point for picking, if any?
my little finger.
That’s what I was guessing. Do you feel that most of your picking comes from your wrist?
It’s looking like your wrist is floating, with your forearm touching the body of the guitar and the pinky touching as you said. To me, it looks like this makes your wrist “oscillate” between the two anchor points, so not the most effective.
Have you tried anchoring with the wrist (and no pinky) to see what happens?
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Hi @Pepepicks66, sorry I’m only getting back to you now.
I have never tried anchoring my wrist, not knowingly anyway! This seems like a reasonable suggestion and I will try and let you know how I get on.
Many thanks!
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