Dart Thrower Picking Motion

Playing Technique
#1

Greetings everyone!!

I have a question regarding Troy’s video on Dart Thrower Picking Motion.

At 20:47, Troy says that if you rotate the hand the other way, it’s not usable.

I think I might be doing that — I can tremolo pick fast, but it doesn’t seem to work for downpicking in James Hetfield’s style.

Here are two videos of me playing:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6Mm59wCOyyw

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ydkRzL4jL1U

If you can help me understand what I’m doing, I’d be eternally grateful.

Thanks in advance!

#2

As I was trying to figure out wtf I’m doing, I’ve noticed that dart throwers seem to lift their hypothenar eminence (the side of the palm by the pinky), while reverse dart throwers just keep it on the guitar.

Does this make sense, guys?

#3

Do you have anymore videos of your technique where you can see the whole arm? I can’t work out if your using primarily elbow motion or not, either way its working great :slight_smile:

Yep that tends to be the case, typically RDT players use the pinky heel as the anchor while DT players use the thumb heel

This would also make a lot of sense @milehighshred has an insanely fast DT technique for things like tremolo picking but I believe switches to RDT for downpicking which is showcased in the Obsidian Seminar:

#4

Thank you for the reply Brother, that clears things up a lot.

Here are two more videos:

  • This one shows a close-up of the right hand (at the second time).
  • And this one shows the whole arm.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gLAEfbm9dKg

#5

Awesome playing man, reminds me of Dallas Toler-Wade’s DT technique so I think you’re onto something!

Interestingly he seems to of switched to RDT these days:

#6

Thanks again, mate.

I’ll try to find more clues about WTF I’m doing and report anything I find, maybe it’ll be useful to someone here.

Cheers and Beers!!

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