Chris Brooks - Speed Strategies for Guitar

Playing Technique
#1

I picked up a copy of Chris Brooks new book today. Very in dept detail on the Yngwie method of picking. There’s a lot about downward pick slanting, edge picking and a lot of other terminologies created by Cracking the Code. Troy get’s a mention in the opening of the book as well! There’s a lot of detailed diagrams of how to hold the picking hand, anchoring and how to archive the various pick slants. It’s very good, very in depth and almost feels like an extra part of the Volcano seminar. Would definitely be of interest to any Code fans! (He’s not paying me to advertise this by the way! Haha!)

http://www.fundamental-changes.com/book/neoclassical-speed-strategies-for-guitar/ You can get a copy here.

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#2

Looks cool!!! Here’s a preview on Amazon too. I’m gonna get a copy.

I’m glad to read Troy get a mention because, without him, I don’t think any of this level of analysis would have been brought to light.

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#3

Yeah I have one of his instructional videos as well and he talks about pick slanting quite a lot. Glad to hear it’s becoming standard terminology. It’s interesting to see the pick slanting concept in written form instead of video, the diagrams shown in the book are a new way of teaching the subject, so i’m sure will be quite interesting to everyone here.


He once did a hyper speed version of the famous Pop Tarts lick as well!

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#4

His picking is unreal! Question - am I seeing it wrong, or does it look like his pick is slanting upward here?

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#5

Just a bad angle I think. Other videos show a downward slant for YJM’s bag, and mixed slant for Gilbert and Vinnie Moore stuff.

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#6

Yeah, I can totally see it (the DWPS) in that first clip with the YJM circular lick.

#7

Yep. Got my copy. Great stuff! I played around with the Magnet today too.

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#8

I was wondering the same about the upward pick slanting. I have to agree with Jakku, I think it’s probably just a weird angle. Can’t think of another explanation. Great playing there Bruce!

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#9

I second that. And the Kindle price is a steal. Well done Chris Brooks!

#10

Is this book good to get if you haven’t seen Chris’s videos and you’re an upward pickslanter?

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#11

yeah looks like it to me too!

#12

Definitely! It’s pretty much a whole book on that style, from the very basics of single string lines, moving to more and more advanced stuff. It’s a whole course in downward pick slanting really. It shows a lot of what the Inside the Volcano seminar shows, just in written form. Personally I think both the seminar and book go hand in hand.

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#13

Mine just arrived. Can’t wait to dig in beyond the skimming I just did. It’s code-compliant but he has a lot of his own insights.

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#14

I picked this up on a whim (mainly because it had neoclassical in the title on amazon) not knowing it would be basically the book form of the Volcano seminar. Totally cool.

#15

I’m halfway through it. I like that he is D E T A I L E D, more than any other picking book I’ve seen, and the slanting discoveries allow him to get very precise in his explanations. So far it seems like a great summary of practical approaches to the Yngwie approach to dwps. Also Chris seems like a cool guy who is doing good work. I follow his instagram channel and he posts fun stuff and sometimes licks etc.

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#16

I once messaged Chris on Instagram to ask why he preferred the “Yng-way” of downward pickslanting when his old licks showed that he could clearly economy pick in either direction and two way pickslant incredibly well. He told me that as of late he actually preferred pure dwps because it had a flow and conservative energy that really suited him and the dynamics it provided allowed not to sound like everyone else. He did say he still would practice 2wps and pure economy picking because when he did his lessons he needed to be able to play/teach whatever was required.

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#17

It sometimes looks to me like Chris is using finger movement, but he’s denied this. Does anyone else think he’s using finger movement?

#18

I wasn’t aware he denied doing so. It certainly looks to me like he is.

#19

He says here he isn’t using thumb movement:

It looks like finger and thumb movement for sure.

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#20

You’re quite right, I hadn’t seen this video before. I’m not sure. It looks like theres some finger motion but I’m not really sure to be honest! I’m not as knowledgeable as a lot of other people on this forum!