Does my wrist motion work?

Technique Critique
#1

Hey guys, hope you’re doing well. I recently came back to this great forum after a long time of job-related absence.
As I have more time to practice now, I wanted to improve my technique.

I would be glad if you could give me feedback on what I got right now. Does it look like I can use this motion for further exercises or should i continue improving my motion? Here it is in normal speed and SlowMotion.

It feels comfortable and I can get this motion on a single string to about 190 bpm, 180 bpm is my limit when changing strings with a basic six note pattern (USX with UPS).
However, I dont think it looks like the “wiggle zone” is moving very much when at higher tempo.

Thank you for your time.

Patrick

#2

Hello,
since it has been about two weeks since i posted here and did not get a reply yet: Is there anything wrong with my videos or my request? If so I would be glad if you told me so i can fix it.

Have a nice day!
Patrick

#3

The motion looks good, very consistent USX. If you were a student of mine, I would want to see more powerful accents at the start of each group.

You can and should start working on building USX vocabulary.

2 Likes
#4

Thank you for your input, Tom.

Are the accents important to the motion itself or is it necessary for grouping notes at higher tempo?

#5

Both.

Accents test your ability to generate power with your movement. If a movement is low on available power at a lower tempo, the power will be insufficient at higher tempos. The caveat is that power has to feel easy.

The more powerful movement creates a clear sensory separation between “bad” and “good”, both for the movement itself and for the impacts with the strings.

The accent also provides a clear haptic and sonic landmark for chunking and synchronisation.

1 Like
#6

Can I see and hear it at regular speed?

1 Like
#7

Hey Fossegrim, I’m sorry i didn’t see your message earlier - I was learning the whole Cliffs of Dover piece by Eric Johnson to build some vocabulary. It took like a month or so for me to learn and memorize, now I practice this song every day until I get it as clean as possible.

I will be posting the motion in real time asap.

Edit: Here’s the clip:

#8

Honestly I think it looks and sounds great for most of what you are doing. When you start doing the “5’s”. You have a slight “hesitation” or “catch” leading to the last few notes on the lower strings, because your hand position shifts a bit at this spot.

It looks like you are naturally rotating your hand to a more neutral or downward escape position in order to keep it in roughly the same area without shifting your elbow and shoulder too far in order to reach the lower strings using the same slight USX position you use for the higher strings.

#10

Thank you! It’s good to hear that I’m on my way.

You are absolutely right. I watched it multiple times now and I can see and hear what you mean. Is this a good or a bad thing? It feels somewhat comfortable to me, but I often find that the feeling of the lower strings is very different - so I change the position. For what I learned it shouldn’t be that way, right? I’m experimenting with shifting my arm position on the guitar (where the arm is resting) slightly while moving up and down the strings (I would say just a few centimeters). This feels different, but also comfortable. With this I would say I can keep my wrist motion consistent.

What I find hard is to use this exact motion for my everyday playing. I will upload a video of me practicing cliffs of dover in another thread - I think my motion (that looks okay in this thread) changes when playing the song and I hop around much more and use my arm much more than my wrist. :confused:

Practicing Cliffs of Dover - Motion Check