I also started playing trailing edge back in high school up until about a year ago when I started practicing a lot again and began working on CTC stuff here and there, my buddy who was a better overall player used leading edge grip, and I saw it was much more common so I transitioned to it.
Here’s a clip of my playing just as I was getting back into serious practice
I was a trailing edge player for almost 35 years (I have been playing since I was 5 and I am just about 50) and it seemed to only work with elbow for me - I was frustrated at not being able to play certain things without using hybrid picking or legato or something so I changed to leading edge, and while it solved certain things, it made some other, different things not possible without employing a workaround. Of course this was pre CTC. What works works really well, and what doesn’t is a bit brutal - thus the required workaround. I mean, I can play whatever I want I just can’t necessarily strictly alternate pick it. I suspect many others are in the same boat.
Truth. I wish I knew why we put ourselves through the struggle. I guess for me it’s that things that I can’t quite do are sometimes more fun than things I can easily do.
If you go to around 5:14 in this video and watch PGilbert blaze that lick, you can clearly see his leading edge pick.
The more “leading edge” I go, the less of a tone I get when I pluck the string. Trailing edge I dont have this problem at all. It’s very bizarre to me and Im gonna make some short videos demoing this soon. But not sure what the issue is. I really dont think Anton or Andy Wood is “as leading edge” as PGilbert
Well, for me it’s worth it to pursue it (And I assume we are talking about DBX lol) because it might open up more creative possibilities musically. Y’know, a fun staccato sound that has a certain tone that just oozes intensity. But hey, at the end of the day - it’s about playing the notes, right? I mean… I have a lot of schooling and literally decades of playing experience behind me and honestly, in my experience the audience is always completely cool with “not every note being picked” as long as the music sounds good. lol that being said, the quest for 2 way pickslanting or DBX or whatever y’all call it is a great sidequest hahah
Yeah in general as edge picking increases the tone gets more scratchy, especially on the wound strings. I think just due to natural range of motion it is easier to get that angle more steep rolling it forward (leading edge) than backward (trailing edge). Probably different from player to player.
And I agree about Andy and Anton. Their edge picking is less and they are closer to neutral. That is part of the reason Anton gets that killer attack. Troy made a really cool video outlining all the difference in tone and pick type with regards to edge picking. Somewhere in the Primer…
Bruce Buoiliette (I spelled his name poorly) is a trailing edge player and I am pretty sure he was able to keep up with Paul… George Benson is also a trailing edge player and he’s kind of awesome as well. If it works for you my man, go for it! 
Just a little update, working on refining more difficult movements. I think I have the one part of the CPE Bach Solfeggietto I was really having issues with smoothed out pretty well. The combination of ONPS and string skipping feels like an athletic feat, I have to kind of get the hang of letting gravity do the work for a lot of it and get the timing down
Also, after using 11 gauge strings on a Floyd rose and returning to 10’s and a fixed bridge, things are a lot smoother. I’m also tuned down a step. The heavy bottom 11s on my Ibanez definitely made it tough finding a pick grip that was sturdy enough to dig into the strings at all, finding a balance was more difficult. Like running around with ankle weights and dropping them.
Doesn’t look like you need any help.
At this point, I’m more trying to document progress more than anything - for anyone that wants to see in detail of how crosspicking technique is developing over time. Using it for one note per string stuff feels way less natural than any other technique I’ve worked on, so it’s easy to feel like you’re going backwards with it.
I’m a pretty anxious person in general, so I’m always going back and looking for more information/am I doing some tiny little part of this wrong/should it be taking X amount of time to get better at this etc. So I really appreciate whenever someone has heavily documented their progress with as much detail as possible.
Crosspicking has made me utterly depressed
they don’t call it happypicking
I wish I had said that
Me too! Darn DBX… grr But thankfully I can get by with some other stuff while i try and figure it out…
Update on practice routine: I’m working on Glass Prison still - may post a video later. I can play it pretty clean at 140, and hot mess at full speed.
What I’m working on now is syncing my shoulder/back with my picking for string tracking. I need to practice this at moderate or slower speed and work it up to make progress based on experimenting around so far because it’s really a sync/relaxation problem. I need to sync my shoulder/back with my wrist movement and of course my left hand, and also I need to get used to tensing my back/shoulder a bit without tensing my wrist (the relaxation component).
This is also helping my other alternate picking runs stay loose when I change strings, not just apeggios.
Okay here’s me trying to rush Glass Prison, I thought it sounded terrible, and it’s definitely not smooth but I pulled up 3 weeks ago in comparison and it’s a big improvement
Now:
Three weeks ago:
Also, here’s an attempt that’s faster but my technique felt less controlled
Dream Theater - Glass Prison Apreggio practice (alternate picked) - YouTube
Clearly gaining lots of speed!
Kind of philosophical question but I’d love to know what’s the best approach to get from where you are now, to the finish line. Lots of stuff I attempt is like this where I can get through sections pretty well, some cleaner than others. When I tie them together, I can’t nail down how to perfect it. Sometimes section 1 will have a flaw where section 2 is perfect, sometimes vice versa or same scenario, but flaws in different places. Super frustrating 
I’m wondering if this is where the more conventional wisdom comes in and it’s really good to slow it down to a speed where the whole thing can be played flawlessly. I’m sure now that you know what effortless crosspicking feels like, you could slow down to “string-hopping-is-possible” speeds, but you’ll know that you’re not string hopping because you have the technique down. The benefit would be flawless (or near flawless) repetitions, ingraining the correct motions and control.
We know classical musicians preach slow practice and incremental tempo BUT I highly suspect they are doing this with rock solid technique.
All that’s just me thinking out loud Excellent progress, and thanks again for all these transparent videos that’s showing us the progression.
I am absolutely practicing this stuff slow and concentrating on relaxation. Also I’ve found that this is the stage where consciously thinking about helper motions and synchronization is most important.
I’m working on incorporating shoulder/elbow into my motion to get across the strings. I’m finding that also working in some pronation when an arpeggio ends on two notes on the low string, even if that low string is G, helps keep it even as well. I do that for the diminished arps in Glass Prison.
For string skipping, especially going from low to high like in the Solfeggietto, I’m incorporating forearm rotation and also practicing letting my arm/wrist drop and catching it at the right spot to hit the string, then shifting to that back/shoulder/elbow motion to cross pick E B G smoothly.
I think it’s all about synchronization at this stage and helper motions. I need to get a smoother tracking motion and I need it to be precise and second nature. I don’t need to “find” a motion that goes fast here, I need a bigger but we’ll coordinated motion, and to make sure I make it a habit to keep my wrist relaxed and fluid while engaging that helper motion, because adding any unfamiliar motion makes you tense up while you get used to it until it’s no longer a conscious thing.
I think playing faster than you can accurately play at this stage for long periods of time is absolutely bad practice and will result in bad habits. The fast playing thing only makes sense to me in bursts to familiarize yourself or check your motion.
Another Glass Prison attempt, making a lot of progress but it’s slower going. Plus I’m spending more time on writing and covers right now (and work has been taking a lot of time up)
