So recently I discovered this amazing YTB channel of Troy and his videos on downward pickslanting and I realised that this is what I’m missing. I was only rotating the pick on 1 axis, to use more edge, but it was still perpendicular. Now i’m trying to play with downward pickslanting and it really is better. I dont get caught in strings as much as before, but there is only one problem: I encounter patterns where I don’t know how to use downward pickslanting.
For eg. how do I play 10 and 12 on B strings and 10 on high E? No matter what I do I end up on a downstroke on the high E.
I was waiting for people that are better versed in pickslanting to chime in, but until they do, I figure I’ll give it a shot!
If you’re strict alternate picking and start on a downstroke, in your example above, downstroke on the high E would be the next move regardless. Are you starting on an upstroke instead?
When you say “anything”, do you mean you want to play any phrase even when the final note is a downstroke? You can’t. That’s the point. This picking style only works for phrases where the last note on the string is an upstroke. When players like Eric Johnson or George Benson play in this style, and they do pure alternate picking, the last note on the string is an upstroke most of the time. The phrases are arranged that way on purpose.
Also, keep in mind that slanting the pick doesn’t do anything by itself. The idea is you have to make a picking motion that moves on a diagonal where upstrokes go up in the air. The way the pick looks is just a side effect. That’s why we now call this playing style “USX”, for “upstroke escape”. Meaning that the upstroke escapes, or goes up in the air, allowing you to switch strings.
Different joint motions move along different escape paths. In order to use the USX picking style, you have to choose a joint motion that has a USX path. You have lots of options for this. Here’s what some of the most popular USX picking motions look like:
I know of 3 ways of playing that specific example that you mentioned (10 and 12 on B and 10 on high E). First is to use the concept of “swiping” which is basically to go right through the E string the pick in your example and play it on an upstroke (while muting it with your left hand naturally ) Here is a link for that:
The second option would be to play the last note (12 on B in this case) using a hammer-on which would give you time to jump over to the high E and play the one note with an upstroke.
The third way is something that just popped into my head and that could be to pick the two notes on B and do a “hammer-on from nowhere” on the E. The first two suggestions were what I learned on the site and the third is just my idea, I personally prefer swiping as it allows me to technically still pick every note and use the Yngwie system for a lot of phrases (USX or DWPS in old terms ) .
For single notes on higher string Yngwie (who I suppose is the Platonic Ideal of a USXer) will use an upstroke. I can’t recall Troy talking about this in the Volcano seminar, but Chris Brooks refers to it as the “single note exception” in his book on the Yngwie system.
Not sure if anyone has ever tried to work out if Yngwie swipes or not, I imagine that would be tricky for 1 note. I generally try to do a clean upstroke, with a slight motion modification to lift the pick over rather than going through. But at speed it can be tricky to know if that’s happening or you are actually swiping but can’t tell.
That is correct but that’s double escape motion, not USX any more. It’s not an “exception”, it’s a different joint motion entirely.
And totally, with outside picking it can be hard to hear the mistakes because the note that’s ringing covers up the sound. If you can somehow can make the errors more sonically obvious through muting or phrase variations that are easier to hear, then you have a shot at fixing them. Otherwise you can’t fix what you can’t hear or feel.
) Here is a link for that: