This could be the case too. I’m playing with a thumb pick, so on this riff index middle just fell natural, middle - ring to be honest was not the most comfortable, totally agree this hybrid is hing is rather personal and not set in stone. I may have been a little presumptuous about the way I sometimes put things.
Either way, i glad to have revisited and old tune. Absolutely love BP.
Yes. As we know, there is no “best” guitarist…but if there was one it would be Brad lol!
Thank you, great post.
So, you’re suggesting:
Dpick(3p0), UmFinger(6), Dpick(0-highE)
Dpick(3p0, now on the B-string), UmFinger(5), Dpick(0-highB)
Or just the right hand fingering pattern:
Dpick, UmFinger, Dpick
Dpick, UmFinger, Dpick
Sonically, this actually sounds right to me. You’re accenting the pull-off and the open notes with a pick stroke, resonates nice. Using the Umfinger for the fretted 5 and 6, which (I think) are softer filler type notes.
My only problem with is, is that you have two consecutive Dpick motions.
That’s the reason i start with an up using. a finger. Unless you want to pick the open string too. So down up on the pick alone for the first two notes, or you can even pull off and use that time to escape.
I think we’re misunderstanding each other.
I’m not sure where the double-down pick problem is coming in to play here. There are never two consecutive down picks. Just as in alternate picking situations where you need to create some time and space, they’re always separated by a pull off or middle finger upstroke.
Below is my right hand pattern. A down pick is followed by a pull off. Then another down pick, followed by a middle finger upstroke. Rinse and repeat across the neck. Right hand: Done.
Pick - pull off - pick - middle (repeat) - it never changes.
My thumb/index are locked. Just like when I alternate pick. All the power and movement come from the wrist. Even the rotation of my wrist (supination) helps my middle finger. The pick rotates out of the way and my middle finger naturally travels toward the string its needed for.
I’m mostly a USX player, but for this I rotate my wrist similar to a DSX alternate picker’s normal position to create room for my fingers.
Rhythmically, the pick strokes are always on the beat, or on the ‘and’ (1 e & a 2 e & a 3…etc.). Both are natural feeling ‘down pick’ moments.
All that’s happened here is that the upstrokes are replaced by either a pull off of middle finger upstroke. The down picks are right where they should be if this were purely alternate picked (which I’ve seen someone do).
At this point - it becomes about pushing the velocity like any other learned pattern. With my right hand essentially locked in an efficient repeating motion…I can start to focus on hauling ass. 
I see what you mean, I think in the systems Troy has outlined, usually that little ‘break’ we get is not followed by a pick stroke in the same direction, but continues in alternate picking. Easy example is a USX player that’s doing some descending scales
8 7 5------
------8 7 5-8 7 5
D U p D U D U D D
That pulloff is preceded by an UP and followed by a DOWN, so it allows us to continue the alternate picking motion, just with the little break. The pattern you’re using for the Paisley tune uses this concept a little differently because there is a down stroke both before and after the pulloff. I think that has tripped others up (and myself) because…
While on the surface that might appear as not being maximally efficient…I think it actually still can be maximally efficient. It all depends on the technique used really. I think you’re doing specific things in your version, conscious or not, that make this maximally efficient at high speeds. I’ve got a theory!!!
I think this might be pretty important. I’ve been messing with this in a couple different setups and picking combos. If I do DSX and keep an alternate picking motion happening, even during the pulloffs and hybrid picked notes, this follows all the rules of single escape playing. At least I think!!!
Sorry in advance for all this as it’s super pedantic, but consider the first fives notes
E|-3--p0----*0------|
B|--------6-------3-|...etc
--------------------|
D (u) D (u) D (pattern has started over at this point)
key:
* = hybrid picked note
(u) = an upstroke that does not play a string - a "mimed" pick stroke
Imagine, during the first pulloff (our pick should be up in the air at this point as we’re DSX) we sort of ‘mime’ an upstroke that skips over the B string and comes to rest on the G string (or almost comes to rest, as per preference). There’s no inefficiency there at all. This is single escape playing. To our hand it feels like we’ve done 2 quick alternate pick strokes.
After we play the 6th fret on the B string with a down stroke, again our pick is up in the air. As we hybrid pick the open E string we can simultaneously do another one of these ‘mimed’ upstrokes. We again skip the B string come to rest (or almost come to rest, as per preference). At this point we can do the whole thing again. The pattern will repeat.
To me this is no different than a DSX picking pattern like this, where we play straight 16ths and always change strings after the first picked note of each beat
E|x-------------------------|
B|--x-x-x-x-----------------|
G|----------x-x-x-x---------|
D|------------------x-x-x-x-|
D U D U D U D U D U D U D
Now I think if someone tried all this in a USX setup, OR they sort of hesitated between the down-stroked-picked notes (during pulloffs or hybrid)…it could turn into a hot mess.
This is pretty much exactly how I look at it.
Yeah after thinking through it this could be even more efficient than involving the ring finger. I’m rusty on hybrid. Even though I can play this both ways, I don’t know which is more efficient. Again, probably different strokes for different folks at the end of the day. I really like the simplicity of your approach. The less ‘things’ we have to tell our hands/fingers to do sometimes wins.
What we need to do is recruit Marshal Harrison to play this at 230 bpm for us, played each of these ways, under a magnet camera and see what we see lol!
EDIT: I guess at that tempo the song should no longer be called “The Nervous Breakdown”. Calling it “Sudden Death” might be more appropriate.
perfect, got it, thank you for the tab!
I was watching this interview with Brad today and right at the 10:00 mark he plays the intro to Nervous Breakdown and we get a great camera angle of the picking:
Looks to me like he’s doing it like this:
m D m U D m U D m U D m
-3 p 0 ----0 -------------------------------------
---------6----3 p 0 ---0--------------------------
---------------------5----3 p 0 ---0--------------
---------------------------------5----3 p 0 ---0--
---------------------------------------------0----
--------------------------------------------------
Kinda weird as I’d never think to play it like that, but I’ve watched it several times ultra slow and played along and my pick strokes are matching what I see him doing. The first four notes are sort of an anomaly and even have an upward sweep (EDIT: there is no upward sweep, as per the insight below from Riffdiculous), but the main pattern appears to be “Up (pull off) Down middle”. Why he didn’t do that first four notes…either he wasn’t even thinking about it during this interview, or maybe he really wants the first note to pop.
I think that’s sort of a “mirage”. If you count the middle finger plucks there, it’s 5 in total - the 4th note is plucked, too.
I think you’re right. So you reckon the first 4 notes are “m (pull off) Down m” ? Then after that “Up (pull off) Down m” ?
Yep, I’d say that’s right. It’s just the first note that doesn’t conform to the pattern - could even just be a fluke.
This isn’t the first time you’ve helped correct some boo boos in my tabs. I should hire you as my transcription editor. Pay increase is 50% after the first 6 months. The down side is the pay in general is $0 so even such a hefty raise nets you nothing.
Well spotted though! It’s so clear now that I look at it again.
My pleasure! A second set of eyes (and ears, I should add haha) usually does some good.
I definitely see what you guys are seeing in the video (great video btw, watch the whole thing):
But D U m feels good to me. Downpick the pulloff to get that accent, come back upstroke to catch the third note, middle finger to ring the fourth open note. Feels right.
Never in a million years would I have thought (or heard) him starting the phrase with his middle finger. But…it makes some sense in context of something he says earlier. Which addresses this question…
“think in terms of always like the sound of things on a guitar snapping…”
Snapping seems to be his term for pop… see 10:16 here…
The upstrokes seem out of place…unless you start the phrase with the middle finger. Then it carries through.
Although…now I’m gonna have to (re) learn it that way…
…thanks for that. /s
Have been rethinking this:
I think he really places it as
m 3p0
D 6
m 0
And then repeats the picking patern: m D m
It would make sense. You grab every pull off with the middle finger, getting that plucky sound that you want. The picked (D) note is just a bass note, which is much less audible than the pull off.
My takeaway from this thread is, just like there is more than one way to skin a cat, there are multiple ways of pickin a chicken. As long as the method can go his speed, the options and possibilities don’t matter as much 
Sure, you can play anything anyway you want.
But this thread may have morphed into the more interesting question, what is the artist doing, and what was his intent?
In this case, I think BP really wants to emphasize that pull off, hence he’s plucking it hard off the bridge with his middle finger. Likewise with the last note in the 4 note sequence. The third base note is hardly heard, down picked, you can almost even throw it out. Seems like its filler there to give the m finger a break.