Video is a single take. Filmed and recorded as if I were doing a proper take. Which is why I seem more tense than usual. My vibrato/bends are wilder/wider more expressive without the red blinking lights 
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That was so good. I’d be interested in understanding what specifically you took from the learning material that was the aha moment or aha exercise that opened the door to this kind of fluency.
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Terrific! Great job.
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I don’t know if Troy said it or I just came up with it, but throughout the cascades lick, I just thought, “Everything is basically a downstroke, but the upstroke is a perfect excuse to cram another note in between.”
It’s funny because the upstroke movement basically facilitates this folding over of notes that leads to this sonic effect of flurried notes, but the downstroke is basically what gives the sound a tight and percussive feel even if it’s not alternate picked. It’s basically my favorite picking method.
So what initially seemed very daunting and unapproachable was made very easily accessible by thinking of the most rudimentary mechanics: down down up down down.
That was the mental part.
The physical part of getting it down so that I could do it in my sleep and not embarrass myself took many sleepless nights. Still working on it like anyone else.
But back to the mechanics itself. The fives chunking part, once i had that down it basically gave me freedom to do three down strokes on three strings, which then can be combined with other five chunks and add a different feel to the same EJish lick. The one at 3:36 is one such example. The Venus Isle solo has a very ethereal sounding lick that goes woosh up and back down which also has similar mechanics.
For me the mechanic itself opened my way of playing because i could play different sequence of notes now, whereas previously with strictly an alternate picked approach i had to be just satisfied with what i had. It leads to different riffs and different playing.
A funny bit. The stairway to heaven solo intro bit in the descending Aminor pentatonic can be economy picked
kinda like a drummer crescendoing on his snare by hitting two times with one stroke though I have no idea what that is called.
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It’s called…
Wait for it, it’s highly original…
A double stroke.
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I knew I was just never cut out for the drums
It’s funny you should say that because I definitely aim for a similar sort of feeling with my upstrokes as the second stroke of a double stroke on the drums, the problem I run into is it’s a lot easier to get that sort of sensation at very very very high speeds, at which my left hand won’t keep up.
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Troy says something very similar and I agree. At first the right hand mechanics is the bottleneck, eventually the left hand becomes the bottleneck.
On days when I’m not feeling very well, my left hand can barely keep up while my right hand is still blazing away so it doesn’t even sound like music anymore.
I wonder if there’s any way to keep this variability under control. On some days it’s just awful.
And totally, at high speeds it’s a whole different thing. Of course starting slow is important but you need to get to a certain point very quickly to really get it down and practice even from a fast tempo.
speaking of mental/physical blocks…the whole Yngwie thing of throwing in a pulloff to force an upstroke is so weird lol. When I first saw troys vids I was kind of incredulous lol. i was like “wait, im supposed to just pause my pick in the air and then start it back up again??” lol
so right now im just trying to learn to pick EVERYTHING with 2 way or set the licks up for one way.
like with the descending fours in one position. I am just doing it the hard way, picking every note lol. Eventually ill figure out the “throw in a pulloff”
The few times I tried it a while back it was just random, I was like picking one note then pulling off two and it was just sloppy. I did recently get the feel of going d-u-p and it wasnt too bad but I think ill stick to picking everything until i get it really wired
Great stuff and I appreciate the detailed reply. I’ve been a bit overwhelmed by this site and honestly haven’t really been too sure what to focus my time on practicing or what to start with. I will go look for that Chunking lesson and maybe put some real time into it. Thanks again.
Hi Peter, Thank you so much for posting this. It is an incredible testament of what can be achieved with great instruction (this website) and great practice. As impressive as it is to see you playing this stuff, what stands out for me is the maturity that you play with. You have EJ’s style ingrained in you and a wonderful sense of time and groove…which to me is most important and something that cannot be easily taught. Do you mind if I ask a few questions…some might have been semi-answered already?
…You said you discovered this website info about a year and a half ago? Would you mind sharing the order of the DPS material that you worked on…and also possibly amount of practice or a practice routine?
…Before you discovered this, what has your background been? (For instance, Have you played different kinds of music in various bands? How long were you playing guitar?)
…Had you attempted COD before discovering DPS? How successful were you? Have you listened to EJ “forever”?
I’m asking these questions because my playing has grown considerably in the short time I have been here…and am looking for a more “formal” way to approach this info.
Thanks again,you are on to something here. Keep doing it!
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Great playing, and a very tough song to play. One thing I have never seen though, is someone who can duplicate Eric’s sound. The closes I’ve seen is probably Sam Coulson (I think that’s his name).
Hi,
Thanks for the kind words. Sorry for the late reply and I promise to get back to you within the next two days or so. It’s been a very busy week and unfortunately non-guitar related 
But thanks for the questions- they’re always on my mind and I’ll answer them all as best as I can.
Great playing, Peter C! I love it! Eric is one of my favorite players and you really got his tone and vibe down on this one…well done! 
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Steve,
So sorry for the delayed response- are you still around?
Generally I like the wider vibrato, but actually I think your vibrato here is just right for the song - at some points it was pure perfection. Finding it hard to critique this as I genuinely sat back and enjoyed the show! Very impressed and to say i’m a ‘little jealous’ would be the understatement of the year - Bravo.
@Troy and @Brendan, I would really like there to be a showcase place on the forum so that we can be inspired by clips like this and I think that it would encourage people (like myself) acknowledge their own acheivements. We would then be able to link the video to another thread for reference. For example there are a number of people on this forum that are hitting the ball out of the park with regards to any particular picking style and would like them to post more of their efforts. That being said I strongly agree that we need to avoid these types of video getting in the way of any teaching and critique videos.
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Give this man a diploma!
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Definitely a good suggestion! We’ve actually talked about this a bit here:
We can continue the discussion in that topic if you like! Short story is I agree it could be useful and it’s on our radar just haven’t gotten around to it yet
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Awesome job! Congrats for nailing this on tone, technique, tempo, touch, and taste. You’ve motivated me to give this a try.
You’re right about Troy’s lessons. He takes the awkwardness out of learning these amazing techniques.
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Fabulous! I love it. Thank you.
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