Another old newbie?

Hello everyone,
58 year old guitar player, Don, from Atlanta GA area. Learned about his site from watching all the YouTube videos. I totally have not “cracked the code” whatsoever! I figure there has to be a lightbulb moment at some point? I hope. I already alternate pick, so hoping that helps. But man, I am slow on runs. Unfortunately, I LOVE Eric Johnson so trying to figure out how he plays so smoothly. Like the descriptions say sometimes…cascading. Good description! Troy does that well and the Yngwie stuff, too. I am just hoping there are others here who are not just fine-tuning their technique but are starting speeding picking 101 like myself. I know I need to figuer out the pick slant thing and I do notice my hand “bouncing” and need to figure out how to quiet that. Anyways, hope to chat with some folks, happy pickin!

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I’m with you! Good to see I’m not he only one who’s been playing for a while and is still at the starting line in many ways. I was shocked when I watched the EJ videos on Troy’s website and realized what he was actually doing. I couldn’t believe he was mixing in economy picking and using downward pick slanting. I watched Total Electric Guitar and Fine Art of the Guitar long ago, so EJ’s technique has been a mystery to me until now. I learned the opposite of what I should have when it comes to picking technique from those (bouncing, leading edge picking, etc.)

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Nothing like waiting almost a year to reply! I just signed up for the premium membership because I want to get serious about this. Passed the tap tests and I found out I am using elbow technique to get high speeds on the tremolo test. That stunned me. I t looks so robotic with the stiff wrist. My brain wants me to string hop and bounce my hand all around. I need to duct tape it to the guitar body or something!