Cascades Eric style with DSX

Playing Technique
#7

It’s something I’ve developed since I first discovered cracking the code, I realised that for whatever reason it was, I naturally found it easier to change strings after a downstroke.

I got into Eric Gales, he has an Eric Johnson ish style with the cascading type licks so I decided to try it out, and just built a vocabulary around mixing patterns of 3,4,5 & 6 together.

If you are trying to go for a note for note approach some things will translate quite easily, whereas others maybe more difficult especially if you wanted to pick every note, I find if I do this it can create really tricky left hand fingerings, but on the plus side you do come up with new ideas which are fresh and maybe not to common/used!

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#8

Wow
Thank you so much. I see the ideas here, let me give this a good and report back!

#9

Ok thanks
It’s encouraging that you have found a way to play DSX and mix it up with other strategies to get around the strings. It gives me some hope, thank you!

#10

No problem, I’ll share a few more ideas at some point when I get chance. :+1:

#11

That would be awesome. Anything you have that you can help me with. For context I can pick on a single string at around 170bpm 16th notes. I can do the Dsx changes pretty cleanly with open strings but I really struggle with left hand speed and sync.

So I have a core mechanic, but I need A LOT of work to actually turn that into music. I am million miles away from you and most other ppl on here.

#12

I’m in the same camp and was always inspired by posts from the late great Adam Przeździecki. Here’s one of his classic posts: Tornado of Souls solo for DSX players (DSX + hybrid trick) and some Tumeni Notes attempts.

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#13

Wow, thanks for these. Yes I like the phrase ‘limitation breeding creativity’ for this. He was a great player!

Do you have any samples of your Dsx playing I’d love to see

#14

Hi @Joep36

Could I ask you a question? I’ve noticed this theme in this lick:

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It looks like if you have a single note on one string followed by a note on the string below it you make sure it is played with a downstroke, so that you can escape.

Therefore you seem to play the previous note with legato so it gives you time to hop over the string you need to, even though according to the rules of DSX you should have picked the note because you still could have escaped. But you would have escaped ‘in the wrong direction’ as that single note on the upper string could only have been played with an upstroke, leading to you being stuck.

Have I got this right? It’s a very clever way of getting around a limitation of DSX…

I just read in another thread from @tommo that one way of playing 5s is

U-D
U-pulloff
D

So maybe that will need to be another picking pattern I need to learn to get over

Thanks!

#15

Ha! Thanks for digging that up :slight_smile:

I realised another pattern is in principle available if you are willing to do hybrid picking, and in particular do upstroke followed by middle finger pluck. The pattern is like so (say on the e-B-G strings):

e string - middle finger pluck + D
B string - U + D
G string - U

after the isolated “U” on the G string, you’ll connect to a "middle finger pluck on the B string and start over. For me the tricky bit is to do upstroke + middle pluck, but I have’t experimented much with it and I know many players that can do that well

#16

Nice!
It seems like if you have a one way pick motion, these hacks that are not strictly alternate picking are really useful for licks where your picking motion won’t work, but you don’t want to embellish the lick or want the same pattern. So far it looks like they are

  • sweeps
  • legato
  • hybrid picking

I’m just starting out here but when you first did, did these ruin your flow and add tension to your hand, did you have to get over that? I find hybrid picking ruins my flow, makes my hand a bit tense. Do I just need to relax and chill when doing it?

#17

If you get any tension then your body is telling you right away that whatever your doing is not going to work.

Jon Bjork has a good video on light touch (this goes for both hands) from the other day, which he picked up from Kiko’s interview on Rick Beatos channel. It’s really good and instantly can improve your technique.

#18

Thanks

Do you have a link or a title? I’m searching on his YouTube channel but I can’t seem to find anything that matches your description

#19

Just a pedantic “correction” :grin:

What you call “hacks” I call “techniques”! :wink:

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#20

This is essentially the DSX mirror to what Chris Brooks calls “the lone note exception” in Yngwie’s USX strategy. Eric Johnson often does something similar also to maintain USX.

If you’re comfortable with hybrid picking, you can solve most bad string changes in USX or DSX. In USX, following an upstroke with a hybrid pluck solves many of these “lone note exception” cases. In DSX, following an upstroke with a hybrid pluck allows for an ascending string change while the pick is trapped.

Not all forms are compatible with hybrid picking, but combining hybrid picking with single escape mechanics adds tremendous capability.

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#21

It’s this video, but you should watch the Kiko interview too on Rick’s channel as he talks more about the picking stuff in addition to the light touch.

These things are often neglected here, but are just as important as picking hand technique. They’ve helped me immensely in the last week or so. I was having so much problems because of hand sync which I thought was a picking issue but it was “confusing my brain” as he mentions.

I’ve been relearning technique from the ground up now for a couple of years as I had developed tons of bad habits.

I’m also a DSX mostly player with a bit of crosspicking and wrist turning now, so I definitely understand the issues. It doesn’t come in a day though, just keep experimenting til you find what works and don’t be afraid to jettison anything, even if you’ve been doing it for years.

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#22

Oh Brillo
Thank you for finding this for me. I will watch it and try this.

Cheers!

#23

Of course, apologies you are right

#24

Yes that seems to be the case. If you were to pick those notes with a down stroke, then an upstroke on the lower string it would put the rest of the phrase out of sync in terms of it working with DSX. This isn’t something that I use in my playing generally, but was just the easiest way for me to play this particular lick. Definitely worth developing though!

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#25

Ok nice. Right I’m going to work on that too.

#26

It can be done another way without any economy or legato, More of a single string approach, and played in different positions.

I’ll put the tab up for it later.

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