Attack angle inquiry

Hi everyone! After watching the Teemu interview several times, there was a small note he makes roughly 20 min into the interview.

He talks about the “attack angle” he uses to hit the strings (and how he uses a piece of foam to help some students with it).

It was a clarifying moment for me as I’ve came to realize at that point that this is one of the problems I have while playing that prevents me from reaching desired speeds.

I was wondering if you can refer me to more information about this topic.

THANK YOU!

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Hi! Teemu is pointing out that a lot of players use wrist flexion, like the Gypsies, to promote a certain hand posture that is common to downward pickslanting style players. However there is nothing inherently “faster” about this, and lots of players don’t use this type of arm setup. You can be almost perfectly flat on the strings, with no “foam support” posture, and your wrist and elbow will still move just fine that way.

To be clear, Teemu’s insights are amazing, and this advice is what he uses to get players learning the “Gypsy” (for lack of a better term) form that Teemu himself often uses. I have no doubt it works. But it is simply one way of setting up on the instrument, and not really a speed concern per se.

If you’re having issues related to speed, I would look elsewhere. Posting a clip is always helpful.

Thank you so much for the insight and quick reply! You’ve given me something to think about (and try) :)) Cheers!