I came across another one of Alex Hutchings’ videos on economy picking. This time I noticed that he seems to have a DSX motion. He also seems to keep that motion the same when he’s using economy picking or sweeping to ascend. I haven’t seen this too much before, and I have always assumed that most players use a USX setup to ascend. Maybe I’m wrong about his motions.
What do you all think? Is he using a DSX to ascend?
@0:22
Looks like down stroke escape and a hammer? For the ascend.
I can’t slow it down. From what I see his pick is kept in a dsx position without moving so there are some hammer to make it work? As that’s a 3nps run right?
Maybe down up hammer
Index down
Middle up
Pinky hammer
So it’s full dsx with the hammer at the end?
Do you think he is using a legato escape technique, like Yngwie does?
The pull off? That he does?
yes, you said downstroke escape and a hammer. I’m guessing you mean he’s using a hammer like an escape?
So, you cannot use DSX and have downstroke sweeping: if a downstroke is escaped, clearly it is not in position to sweep. What’s happening here appears to be a lot of trapped playing, and from there the ascending economy stuff becomes possible.
If I had to hazard a guess, DSX/descending economy is probably a little easier for him, but like Gambale he can make both work.
I’m wondering if his choice of pick, Dunlop Sharp, makes it easier for him as there is less mass at the tip of the pick and therefore less resistance?
I am a fan of pointy picks, particularly Jazz IIIXL, but man, I tried some Dunlop Sharps coming up on 20 years ago and hated them. They were like the worst pick I’d ever used. haha Those completely straight edges are all disadvantage, for me at least.
FWIW, Gambale uses picks that are quite large and curvy-edged.
I completely agree with this take. I have no idea how Loomis plays at all with Sharps, let alone so well.
Can you post a vid of him using them? As I’ve tried fully straight sides before and had the same issue.
They get stuck.
if he’s still using them, then… Any video of him playing? I don’t understand what you want from me here.
My DSX motion comes less from my pick angle and more from my wrist motion, which from what I can see is the same as the guy in the video. One of the effects of this is that I don’t really get the “garage spikes” problem on ascending string changes so it doesn’t really interfere with sweeps/rakes/economy picking. Admittedly, I have not done a lot of work on sweeps so I may not have enough firsthand info yet.
Do you have much of a pick angle when you’re playing?
When doing alternate picking lines, not really. In those kinds of lines my pick points pretty much directly at the body of the guitar. I just spent a few minutes arpeggiating some chords and doing some sloppy attempts at sweeping while looking down to see what my hands are doing. I am noticing that if I know I am going to be picking across multiple adjacent strings I tend to introduce some pickslant as the pick comes in contact with the first string being picked, almost like I am letting the resistance of the string inform my hand as to what direction the pick needs to slant to make things a bit easier as I move from string to string. I am also noticing that this is far less pronounced and sometimes non-existent if I am arpeggiating a chord instead of strumming it. One thing that is becoming obvious is that USX/DSX only become a factor in my playing when I am picking fast enough that I automatically go into my most efficient motion for alternate picking. When I’m not alternate picking they don’t really matter because I don’t need a motion that allows me to change the direction of my picking hand so quickly and as such I have a lot more room for adjusting my pick angles to best suit what I am doing at that moment.