Am I Getting Enough Escape?

So I recently bought the Primer and have been working hard at it. I’m working on the Pickslanting Primer Intro Lick and I’m wondering how I’m doing. Specifically, is my pick clearing enough on the upstrokes? Sometimes I feel like my pick trajectory goes out the window in the middle of the lick. Not sure, though.

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I don’t have eagle-eyes like some of the people here, but if you don’t have enough clearance you’ll hit the string that you’re just trying to climb over by accident, and said string will ring out against your wishes (unless well muted).

I think as @kgk mentioned if it feels good and sounds clean, great! As long as you’re clearing the strings it doesn’t have to be by a lot.

One thing that may be helpful is playing this at faster speeds. Have you finished watching the chapters in the Wrist Motion section of the Primer? As we talk about in Chapter 7, often it can be easier to verify the motion at higher speeds — this basically forces you to use an efficient motion since only a correct one will even be capable of going that fast. When you confirm the motion basically feels right (even if accuracy varies), you can work on getting it more consistent.

Sorry for the delay! Nice work — this is not a beginner phrase, even though it’s the first thing I play!

Yes this looks fine. Lots of motions use a 10-degree “just clearing the strings” escape path. But as @Brendan says, the only way to know if this is actually working is to try to do it fast. That will tell you if the motion is correct. If you haven’t done this on a single string do that first, just to make sure the motion is moving smoothly and speedily. Once that’s happening, try and get some simple repeating patterns happening in the fretting hand to introduce synchronization.

Note also that your form here is a Gypsy-style USX-only form. Meaning, this will work fine for upstroke escape phrases like this one, but if you want to mix and match then I’d recommend using the flatter form with less supinatioin which we look at in the wrist motion chapters. But again, nothing wrong with this form for this line specifically and others like it. And getting something — anything — that works is the most important first step. You can always add more later.

Thanks, guys! Troy: what you’re saying is that I’m fine for exclusive downward pick slanting, upstroke escape with this posture, correct? I’m working with the Cascade seminar now and I’m hoping I’m okay for that stuff since EJ is a downward slant, upwards escape guy, right?

As for the lick itself, I’m about 75% of Troy’s speed in the video. All my stuff seems to tap out at 75% of what Troy does. I’m hoping for a breakthrough as I get more used to picking everything.

Thanks

Scott