Descending 4s and a circular motion

I noticed something a bit weird - perhaps - when I try to do this lick. It looks like my picking hand does some kind of circular motion. I am not sure I can get it more clean and some swiping is probably going on. Now, to hold on to that circulair motion and the sweeping? Or can i be done “cleaner”?

Sorry for the lighting, it is evening.

A bit faster here.

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It’s quite hard to tell from the videos, but it seems to me you’re using a downstroke escape motion. And that you are playing a 2 nps lick, starting on a downstroke. This spells trouble! You’ll be trapped on every string change.

I think the cirkular/jumpy motion comes from trying to get over the string. Try starting the phrase on an upstroke and see how that goes.

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Hi Johannes. I’m sorry bout the videos, I’m don’t always get the chance to film in the day because of kids and work :smiley:

I will try again and I did back the magnet campaign - so then I’ll be in a far better position to film.

Regarding starting on a downstroke - I am starting on a upstroke excape here, so the last stroke moves away from the guitar and then the 4 note is the one that is trapped and needs a rotate to get over the string – or – maybe a swipe. I am not totally sure if that is what is going on when playing fast. I will try and film it again in a better lighting and with a guitar with a black picguard - I think it will be easier to see.

I think what @Johannes is getting at is that it looks like you are picking two notes per string. I was confused about this too. We can’t see the left hand. Are you doing two notes on each string with position shifts for each group of four? Or are you doing three notes per string and staying in one position while moving across the strings?

If you do another clip of this, try pointing the headstock a little more toward the camera so we can see a more “down the strings” angle. And see if you can get the camera a little closer up. It’s a little hard to see the strings, they’re almost invisible - it’s weird. If you have a 60fps or 120fps mode on your phone, I would use that too. This will have less motion blur even when played at normal speed.

Once you have that setup, I would also try filming your motion just playing a single note at the speed you’re using here. This will give us a better idea what your core motion looks like before you start trying to play more complicated lines.

Thanks for backing the Magnet!

Yep, that’s exactly right. I wasn’t sure, and I didn’t really hear any position shifts, but the picking looked like two notes per string so that’s what I went with. However, I’ve now changed my mind! See below.

No worries! It just makes it a little harder to see what’s going on. I’ve realised that I was wrong in my first post.

I’m not sure I follow you. But I’ve watched the first video again and see that you’re actually playing without position shifts, 3+1, 2+2, and 1+3 notes per string. Sorry about the confusion!