Hi! I’m a new member. I couldn’t find a post that really answers my question about this. The thing is, i’ve recently watched the video about USX technique and when anchoring the wristband zone to the strings I find it totally great while playing the 1st to 3rd strings, but when it comes to the lower strings, I can’t really seem to get it right, I either palm mute unintentionally or I need to lower my hand and anchor it to the start of the 6th string at the bridge, is this correct? Also, I’ve discovered that from the 4th string to 6th i can sort of tilt my hand a bit and anchor my fingers to the strings instead, would that be correct? If not, I can’t seem to understand how Troy Grady solves that. Thanks in advance!
All good questions!
I haven’t watched (pun intended) the USX video in a while so I don’t completely remember everything we cover in it, but in general, for USX technique, your anchor is a little bit more on the pinky side than the thumb side, and it should stay there.
I slide the whole arm up about 1-1.5 inches, onto the bridge and/or body. Lots of wrist players that we have interviewed do this — Andy Wood, Molly Tuttle for example. The amount of motion is not much and it’s really only when playing on the low strings, and only if I don’t want palm muting, as you correctly point out.
For USX technique, you would not want to do this. This is going to turn the arm, and then your upstrokes will not escape. At least not with a sideways wrist motion, which is how this technique works.
Do you have access to the Primer? If not, and if funds are an issue, you can also consider checking out a scholarship. Reason being, you ask good questions and the new “identifying wrist motion” section gives a good big-picture overview of all this wrist technique stuff:
Beyond that, what I would say is before nerding out on the details, just make sure your picking motion is fast and smooth, and is really the motion you think it is, i.e. it’s really the “sideways” wrist motion of USX. If it’s not fast and smooth, or if it’s not doing the escape you think, then all these little details don’t really matter. Getting that smooth single-string speed is really the first step of the process. Instead of deliberately trying to “do” a particular picking motion, get that single string speed first, and then look at your form and determine which motion you’re making. That’s the most realiable and quickest approach.
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Oh man! Thanks very much for your answer, I certainly didn’t expect to receive such good feedback from Troy Grady himself!
As you suggested, I first tried getting right the motion in the third string and I think I got it, or at least I’m on it (your video about starting with finding comfortable motions while speed picking, “like riding a bike” really helped). About what you say about sliding the arm, I’ve recently found that that movement of sliding the whole arm is much more natural and easy for some stuff like getting from the higher to lower strings, or sweep picking, all while keeping the pick at the same angle with the strings (I had problems before this that really affected my tone while changing strings and I didnt understand the reason behind them, and again your videos have been very helpful). I’m trying to better train conciously that movemente, because I’ve never done so before, and your advice just helps me a lot! I though that the pivot point was more on the side of the thumb, so while sliding the arm, my pivot point wasn’t anchored anymore and “spinning in the air”. I’ll look into it. Thanks very much!
Regarding the access to Primer, as much as I’d like to pay it because I appreciate a lot the work you and your team are doing, I’m afraid I can’t really afford it (I’m a college student in Argentina, and the currency exchange is like 150 to 1), so I truly truly appreciate that you offer scholarships. I will apply for sure! Regardless, I want to thank you very much, the material that you offer for free is just priceless.
This isn’t really what I’m doing. However I understand why people do this for sweeping simple patterns where you are moving the entire arm in a straight line across all the strings. But if you have to move around between the strings, you can’t be sliding your arm back and forth quickly like that, it’s awkward.
So what happens in wrist technique is more of a blend between sliding the arm a small amount, and also bending at the wrist joint. It’s not completely one or the other. For playing complicated lines that move across 3 strings, there is almost no arm adjustment, it’s all wrist. For lines that move across 4-5 strings there might be a very small adjustment. And if there is a phrase that happens mostly on the low strings, or mostly on the upper strings, then you might slide the arm a small amount just reposition the hand to that location. But once you are in that location, there is no more sliding.
With this approach you never have to slide the arm more than a small amount, and the more complicated motions are handled by the joint that is better at that that type of rapid motion, i.e. the wrist.
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Great insight. I’ll look into that. Thanks!