Am I on the right track?

Playing Technique
#1

I’m working my way through the Pick Slanting Primer and am trying to incorporate it into a couple of runs that have been giving me trouble for years. These are, I’m sure, easy to many of you but, do to my severe string-hopping and poor mechanics, I’ve never been able to play these cleanly at even a moderate speed.

The first one is a 3-note-per-string run that I’ve been trying a couple of different ways, either by using DWPS and starting with an upstroke, which feels very odd to me since I’ve always started with a downstroke, or by using UWPS and starting with a downstroke. The latter feels more natural but I am struggling with maintaining the UWPS throughout the run.

-------------------------------------------13-12-10----------13-12-10-
----------------------------------12-11-10----------12-11-10----------
-10-9-7-------10-9-7-------10-9-7-------------------------------------
--------9-8-7--------9-8-7--------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------



---------------10----------------10-----------------------------------
12-11-10-11-12----12-11-10-11-12----12-11-10-7------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The second seems to be coming along better than the first. I’m using only DWPS with a downward sweep on the last note of one string and the first note of the next string, except when going to the 4th and 3rd strings, which are just straight DWPS and changing strings after the upstroke.

---------------------------------------------------------------14-16-17-19-
------------------------------------------------------14-15-17-------------
---------------------------------------------13-14-16----------------------
---------------------------11-12-14-16-14-16-------------------------------
----------9-10-12-14-12-14-------------------------------------------------
-12-10-12------------------------------------------------------------------

Am I understanding this correctly or am I way off base with my approach? Thanks in advance!

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#2

Hey there! Your fist example requires two-way pickslanting, so that is perhaps why you find it difficult with both UWPS and DWPS.

The second one is perfect for DWPS so you are doing the right thing :ok_hand:

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#3

Thank you for the quick response. Would the change of the pick slant happen before the last note on each string in the first example?

#4

Well, the transition from the g to the b string requires a slant change (and back afterwards of course). You could move one note from the b to the g string or vice versa, Then it would be pure DWPS.

Tom

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#5

Exactly! but there are some parts of this lick where you may get away with “swiping”, if you are familiar with the term (i.e. hit 2 strings but make sure the left hand is muting the “wrong string”).

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#6

You are right for alternate picking, but if one includes sweeps as the OP suggested it should become doable with pure DWPS

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#7

Just watched the Vinnie Moore Pepsi lick video. That is very similar to the lick I posted. I’ll try that tonight.

#8

Oops, yes you are right. I overlooked that. Still I would recommend my solution.:grin:

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