DWPS Arm/Wrist Setup

How do you set up your arm/wrist for DWPS? My UPWS form consists of a heavily pronated forearm and a wrist-based motion while picking with a slight leading edge. Which of those aspects do I need to change for DWPS?

Welcome fellow lefty. OK so they are going by USX upstroke string escape and DSX downward string escape now just an FYI but if you are pronated you need to supinate your arm a bit. Also, check to see if your hand rests on the thumb side or the pinky side or both. If your leaning on the pinky side and can see air under the thumb side you may have a good USX position already. If you are using a wrist nothing you need to do really besides changing the approach angle meaning when your downstroke goes into the string and the upstroke now goes away from the string which is reverse of DSX.

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You could check this section of the Primer out

The whole forearm motion section would work, and so would the Mike Stern section. It’s going to be more supinated, usually.

UWPS and DWPS are all but deprecated though, in terms of how all this stuff works. Rather than aiming for a slant we need to be concentrating on a joint motion and understand what escape is created by that motion. The newer terminology is USX (upstroke escape) and DSX (downstroke escape).

‘UWPS’ was always paired with changing strings after an upstroke, so if that’s what you’re after, all the sections in the Primer I outlined should get you what you need. The biggest thing is joint motion though. You can slant your pick any which you want but that doesn’t mean in will inherently give you the escape you’re after if your joint motion doesn’t allow it. One of the biggest things we see (and I’ve been a victim of this myself) is people who pick with their elbow driving the motion and thinking they can do USX because they slant their pick down. While it is possible it’s not the norm (see Zakk Wylde) and it can mess the smoothness of the picking.

Lastly, I’ve seen it recommended on here countless times to avoid trying to select a motion that you think you want. The approach should be to see what you’re naturally fastest with and use that as a base.

You can always learn more motions but if you’ve never felt the elusive ‘fast and smooth’ that Troy always talks about, you need understand what this feels like so you can compare any other motion you attempt to this.

Anyway, welcome!

EDIT: I see @Judmeister already mentioned some of this stuff in his response that I didn’t see as I was typing up mine.

Thanks for the reply! I’m definitely resting on my thumb so I’ll try supinating my arm as you recommended.

I’ll be sure to check out those videos. Your advice is much appreciated!

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No ‘DWPS’ was haha. Otherwise carry on, just a small correction for clarity.

Sorry, typo on my part. I am moderately dyslexic though :slight_smile: Thanks for pointing that out though!