You have to be careful when you say things like “improve”. How do you know that whatever you are doing on your table tap tests is as fast as you can do them?
You can’t assume that just because tapping on a table appears like a simple activity, you’re automatically doing it right. We frequently request actual video of the tests themselves, and I’ve seen some pretty wide variation in how people actually perform these seemingly simple requests. If the numbers are fast enough to play what the player wants, then I don’t worry about how they did the tests. But if the player posts test results that are low relative to what they’re trying to do, I like to see actual video of the tests themselves to see what motion they’re actually making. This has been very helpful.
Second, the table tap tests aren’t all motions, just a few that we use as benchmarks. They’re easy enough that most people can do them pretty fast. But there’s no reason to assume that these tests represent the complete range of motions a person can do on a guitar. As an example, John Taylor’s “dart thrower” wrist motion technique is not really represented on the tests, and I’ve been able to do this one upwards of 260bpm on actual guitar. Not only is this faster than any of my table tap tests, but it also feels easier when I get it going:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CXO0EvulLnt/
I’ve had some TC players also stumble across this motion through pure experimentation and they’ve been able to do it faster than the others they know.
John Taylor can do the dart motion over 300bpm. So when I say that there may be individual differences between humans, this is the kind of thing I’m referring to. Very few people play coordinated guitar lines of any kind at 260bpm. The fact that one player can do it even faster than 260 starts to seem somewhat academic.
We’re working on a spacebar tap test for the same section of the Primer, so that players who can’t figure out how to do the table tapping have an even easier motion they can try. I was able to get about 250 on the spacebar with my right hand. Then I tried it with my left hand and got 280. The motion was dart, not reverse dart.
My partner Reyenne was able to do 330. Looking at her technique, it’s very clearly just a completely different technique — it looks very similar to John’s hyperpicking motion, with some kind of interplay between elbow and wrist. We have some shots of her “hyperbutton” technique in the Primer. She uses it in gaming. I can’t do it, but it’s clearly a technique thing. I have no idea to what extent it is genetic. But it’s clear it’s just different than whatever I do, so I wouldn’t make any comments about her being “faster” until I can actually do the same technique she does.
So I think once you account for the fact that some people are actually just doing different techniques, that window for “genetic differences” gets even smaller. I think the window will still be there, but again, it becomes super academic because it occurs higher than will impact most real world playing.
So again, lots and lots of variable here. The tap tests are not conclusive of anything, they’re just supposed to be motions that are easy enough that most people, even if they’re not doing them optimally, and even if the tests aren’t the fastest motions that person can do, will still get a high number. This way if they get a very low number on actual picking, we know 100% conclusively that this is not because they “are slow”, and that more experimentation can produce a better result.
I know curiosity killed the cat, but we’re all gonna die some day 