Classic Paul Gilbert Lick Critique

Technique Critique
#1

Hi all. Super impressed with the awesome community and playing here. Have been really struggling with my alternate picking for a while but I think have made some slow progress having watched many many of the Cracking videos and on this forum. In essence, I can’t get faster than 16th notes at 120bpm. I’ve tried chunking, playing faster than I can, slow, building with a metronome etc etc. So this is a cry for help!!!

I’d love to get some feedback on this video (I hope it comes out ok) and how I can improve. I’ve slowed the slow bits down to 25% on iMovie. I’m not sure if this is slow enough for a critique so any advice on general recording would be helpful too.

This is the classic Paul Gilbert lick. First played starting with a downstroke. Then starting with an upstroke. I’ve played it on the D and G strings however because it feels cleaner and easier on a higher gauge string (for now). I’m looking to see what I can do to make my string changes better and also improve my picking in general.

My assessment: I’m a natural upward pick slanter / downward escape picker. I feel like I ‘loop’ the string change. I’m not sure whether it’s efficient or not and think it can be improved. Downward pick slanting is definitely not my forte and on 2nps I really bounce (another video for another time).

Thanking you all in advance. Best wishes, Andrew.

#2

That would be a problem but the clip you’ve posted is way faster than this. You’re somewhere in the ballpark of playing 6’s at 102 - 108 bpm. That’s more like being able to play 16ths at 150 - 160 bpm. That’s definitely the lower end of ‘shred’ but it’s far beyond inefficient. So, the future looks bright for you :slight_smile:

What I think you should do is concentrate on licks that only require string changes after downstrokes. Let me know if you need examples. You should also try, using the same motion you are now, to do a tremolo as fast as you can just on one string. Experiment with some different angles, anchors and grips as there are various combos that will produce the best results for different individuals. If you can get a tremolo going around 16ths @ 180 - 190 bpm you’ll probably start to feel a smoothness you haven’t felt yet. You’ll want to reference this and make your picking always feel like this, in terms of the effortlessness. Even the motion itself shouldn’t change. People tend to think of tremolo as a technique in and of itself only used for certain “effect” but it really should be the same motion used in fast playing where the hands are synced.

Anyway, I suspect with your motion, there’s no reason that you can’t play plenty faster than the clip you’ve shown us. It’s just that you need to get really comfortable with the one-way escape stuff so you can lock into what it feels like to play truly smooth and efficient. Then, you can start doing the more ambitious stuff that requires occasional escapes in the other direction. And that to me is the only deficiency I see in your playing - the portions that require upstroke escape are the bottleneck. Rather than try to get better at that, try to get even better at the part you’re already good at - the things that change exclusively after downstrokes.

I see you posted in another clip about not being able to play and Andy Wood pattern. Don’t worry about that yet. Once you nail the stuff above, that can be step 2. Good news is your core motion will translate just fine to the way Andy plays. If someone showed up that was an elbow player or a forearm rotational motion and wanted to play things exactly the way Andy does…they’d have their work cut out for them because they’d have to learn a totally different motion. You’ve got the motion, you just need to learn how to maximize it.

Also, not sure if you have access to the Pickslanting Primer or not, but the new “Reverse Dart Thrower” section would be hugely beneficial to you.

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#3

And sorry, I know I wrote you a book already lol! But are you aware that when Paul plays the lick you’re doing, he doesn’t even make the string change cleanly? He “Swipes” it.

That’s another thing you could try because it will allow you to keep the upward pickslant (downstroke escape) throughout the lick. Again, once you’re comfortable with all this, there’s nothing stopping you from doing the licks that require mixed escape. That’s step 2 though.

3 Likes
#4

Joe, thank you so much for taking the time to put in such a considered and detailed analysis, commentary and reply. It’s really very much appreciated!

Thank you for being so encouraging!!!

Any examples would be gratefully received. I think I analyzed my slow motion correctly therefore. This is definitely the more awkward movement. I feel it myself. It’s definitely easier when starting with an upstroke. So to get the terminology right, it’s an outside string change that’s the problem right?

I’ve just started doing this with my more natural upward pick slant but then with a downward one too. Should I be doing that or just try to find the fastest most natural movement?

So this is interesting! I assumed I should focus on my bottleneck?

Will do!

Will definitely check it out.

Thank you so so much again… :pray: :pray: :pray:

#5

I haven’t seen this video but will watch. I sort of understand what swiping is but didn’t realise there’s a video of Troy actually playing the lick. Thank you so much. Again.

#6

Upward pickslant and downward pickslant, though they sound simple, are not quite that easy to move between. There’s much more involved than just angling the pick up or down. The important part isn’t necessarily the slant, but the escape trajectory they create. It’s a completely different set of joints/muscles that would make either happen. Most individuals gravitate toward one or the other but rarely both. Troy never recommends to get awesome at both. He recommends getting awesome at the one you’re already good at because that’s a foot in the door of fast effortless playing. Even then, plenty of amazing players just stop right there. Yngwie doesn’t do changes after downstrokes, neither does Eric Johnson. Andy James and John McLaughlin don’t do changes after upstrokes.

Is that when you’re doing pentatonics maybe? Since you’re already good at changing strings after downstrokes, playing 2 notes per string are usually done starting with an upstroke when people have the upward pickslant (downstroke escape or “DSX”) preference. I’d definitely imaging someone with your technique having a fit trying to play fast penatonic licks starting with a downstroke.

There are some players that seem to go out of their way and challenge themselves by playing things they can’t yet play, but from what we’ve seen, more players tend to just capitalize on what they’re good at.

I bet you’d be able to crush this one:

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Start on a downstroke, alternate picking throughout. All changes are after downstrokes and you’ll also leverage the most efficient fretting sequence available.

4 Likes
#7

Incredible analysis!!! :exploding_head::exploding_head::exploding_head: My mind is blown.You’re terrifyingly accurate with your assessment Joe. It’s like you know my playing inside and out already. I don’t need to go to my guitar at all. I can confirm everything you’ve said right now.

This is 100% true. This is the worst for me. I absolutely suck at it.

And yes, these patterns, odd to even, are so much easier.

But this point about getting even better at what you can already do, versus working on your worst aspects of picking, is something I need to look into closely. Let me go and do some practice and take a few more videos and I’ll report back.

I’ll also take a vid of 2nps pentatonic starting on a downstroke as well as the lick you shared. Hopefully it’ll help others too because with the 2nps pentatonic lick, I have the world’s worst string bounce which I can’t seem to shake.

I’ll specifically work on the tremolo as you suggested and also take a deeper look at these string changes after a downstroke.

I don’t know how you got to be so good at being so good at breaking down picking mechanics but it’s really amazing to behold…

🙇‍♂️🙇‍♂️🙇‍♂️

#8

I’ve read about a thousand technique critiques that Troy and Tommo have done lol! There are certain trends I’ve observed :slight_smile: I’m wrong all the time actually, but with you I’m pretty confident just due to so many textbook things I see.

To me what’s way more amazing is that Troy figured all this stuff out. I only know what I know because of his awesome work. No one taught him though…that’s scary!

2 Likes
#9

The string change section in your video (notes F G F) is noticeably slower than when you’re only on one string. If you’re trying to use a rotational mechanic as a helper motion to make it work, I think you need to execute it a hair earlier than you are - right now, when you get to G, you are still slanted upward/in DSX mode, which makes you string hop to get back to F (this is all in reference to the outside picked attempt) . Imagine more that you are making a figure eight pick path in this situation if that makes sense, and perhaps experiment with a more aggressive/obvious rotation for the changes for the time being. When you get to that upstroke on the G, you want it immediately in position to pull away from the guitar, not to pick through the string and then pull away.

1 Like
#10

Thank you. I totally get this. The figure of 8 analogy is really helpful and conceptually should decrease the string hop. Will try!!!

1 Like
#11

Wow amazing analysis from @joebegly ! And I also noticed what @Riffdiculous said about slowing down during the string change.

I would only add that, from your clip, I get a sense that you are trying too hard to be “musically correct”, and that may be the thing that’s holding you back.

This is exactly the kind of lick where you’ll get stuck at 120bpm 16th notes for a lifetime if you follow the old school advice: “only increase the tempo when you can do it 16 times correctly” or something like that.

What you want to do is basically “wing it” and play it fast immediately, to get a sense of what it feels like to go at “Gilbertesque” speeds. You’ll probably hit some wrong strings in your initial attempts of this type. Don’t worry about it just yet.

In fact, if you feel like giving this approach a shot and posting the video, would be interesting to look at :slight_smile:

PS: more generally, beyond the scope of this particular lick, I’d definitely follow the path that Joe has outlined.

PPS: always a good watch :slight_smile:

1 Like
#12

Thank you to you all. I love this community. So supportive, helpful and most of all encouraging!!!

I definitely will!!!

Noted!!!

I’ve never seen this. I’m going to watch it now.

Thank you all again. Will report back in the next few days!!!

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#13

Really glad you are happy with the replies / community :slight_smile:

One thing I’d like to add: the only potential problem we have seen when we ask people to “just try it fast” is that they sometimes do things that are uncomfortable or tense up excessively.

So just be mindful of that, i.e. try to keep things comfortable as you speed up, and don’t push through any sort of pain or discomfort.

If you DO experience discomfort, stop and let us know, it could be something about the form that must be modified (e.g. the pick grabbing the string too much in one direction or the other, putting too much pressure on you fingers / thumb etc.)

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#14

I’m no speed demon but it looks like when u go to the G string there’s some extra movement you don’t need? I’ve done the same thing maybe just isolate the D string to the G string move? Two notes back and forth, Paul does that too repeats the outside picking to get it solid and makes licks out of it…hope I explained it right I don’t over analyze alot of this stuff I just play but I’m trying to…more hence why I’m here :sunglasses:

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#15

Hi everyone!!! It’s been just over a year since I first posted. I haven’t done a huge amount of picking-specific practice but have been playing A LOT. Mostly trying to improve my improvisation. I wanted to thank you all again for your time and insightful comments and update you with a video, as promised, to show you all what everything looks like. This is a year on. Not much progress I don’t think but i’d be interested to hear all your comments on what would be the best stuff to work on. I’m pleased i’ve managed to find a way to do a downward pick slant tremolo. I think it’s helping with everything else. All comments, as always, very gratefully received and appreciated. Many thanks in advance. Best wishes, Andrew.

YouTube video has times stamps for ease

  1. Upward Pick Slant Tremolo (Natural)
  2. Downward Pick Slant Tremolo (Learnt)
  3. Upward Pick Slant Tremolo (Natural)
  4. Downward Pick Slant Tremolo (Learnt)
  5. Paul Gilbert lick
  6. 3nps lick (Alternating Pick Slant)
  7. Andy Wood Lick
  8. 2nps Lick (Only Downward Pick Slant)
  9. 3nps then 6nps (Upward Pick Slant - AKA the thing I can play the best…)