Double escape methods

Playing Technique
#1

In different videos you have described various approaches to dealing with the potential problems of trapped pick strokes. One was to create double escape with two-way pick slanting. Another was to create double escape with curved pick strokes. You have also described the preference of players to use either dart thrower or reverse dart thrower movement.

Your videos and explanations/recommendations are very helpful. I do observe some differences between videos and explanations which could benefit from clarification:

  1. You recommend people practice double escape with the pick roughly perpendicular to the guitar top (for even sounding strokes) but you show David Grier using double escape with a pronounced upward pick slant.

  2. You describe certain players as being dart throwers or reverse dart throwers but in videos I see a certain amount of switching between these according to the phrase (at least with some guitarists). In Molly Tuttle I see a very consistent approach but a little bit of lean in the direction of the stroke. But with other Bluegrass players I see outright technique switching. You haven’t videoed Bryan Sutton and Jake Workman though you have mentioned them. In both I see two-way pick slanting with the down slant phrases accomplished by reverse dart and the up slant phrases by dart. I think there is really a spectrum of moves and sometimes it’s pure deviation. I also suspect that the forearm rotation which changes pick slant is sometimes the actual mechanic of the pick stroke.

Your comments are appreciated.

#2

David doesn’t use an upward pickslant for his DBX playing, his pick is vertical. When you see David doing that, he’s using his DSX technique.

In general, I think the best approach is to follow the sequence in the Primer and use whichever joint motion works best right now, rather than trying to choose a specific tehnique.

  1. Test joint motions to establish performance baseline
  2. Whichever one is best, translate to instrument via tremolo
  3. Establish hand sync at high speed on simple repeating patterns
  4. Move to string switching lines that match your escape
    4a. Best options for single escape lines are evens phrases
    4b. Best options for dbx are simple phrases like ascending sixes, NOT complicated arpeggios. No focus on trying to “do a semicircle”, just play the phrases using the form

This is the quickest route to making sure you’re getting maximum performance. At any point in this process we’re happy to take a look at where you’re at if you make a TC on the platform!