Been working somewhat on my picking during this summer, will probably be a lot less later (there’s a stroller in the back, due date (8/8) So thought I’d record some short clips. How does this look? What am I doing? 
First clip is just some ascending scale stuff. Feels quite good.
Second clip is descending. Feels so so. Usually it breaks down around the G or D string.
Third is both ascending and descending with a backing track.
Fire away.
Hey @David ! Good luck for the new arrival
The ascending scale sounds great! The descending one sounds pretty good too, so it’s not obvious from this angle what may be giving you that feeling of discomfort (for lack of a better word!)
Would you be able to film these again with a “down the strings” perspective? IF you phone has a slow-motion feature it would be a plus as well. Attaching instructions on how to get good lighting on the pick and strings and a few other tips!
Ok. Second try. Had to get my girlfriend to film, so you can blame her.
Lots of clips, so here goes. Every clip is first at normal speed then at 50%
Clip 1. Single string 100 bpm. Clip 2. Paul Gilbert lick 100 bpm. Clip 3. Scale over 6 strings 100 bpm.
Clips 4, 5, 6 (I’ll put them in a second post) The same thing only in 120 bpm. That’s when it starts falling apart.
I’m not that technical, so I’m going to have a little lie down right now. I’ve barely watched the clips myself. Feel free to criticize them.
Clips 4, 5, 6 The same thing only in 120 bpm. That’s when it starts falling apart.
Thank you for making these! This is all pretty good to be honest, but I’ll have to have a closer look tomorrow.
In general, do you feel that it’s easier when you change strings after an upstroke?
Ok, I had a closer look!
in 1-str-120 and 2-str-100 the motion appears like a solid USX (upstroke escape) to me. I don’t think anything is “breaking down” here: it sounds good and the repetitions are fairly consistent with each other. (I think you forgot to upload 2-str 120 by the way).
Of course USX means that you will “swipe” the Paul Gilbert lick - but no biggie, I think you have good muting happening so the extra string is almost inaudible. With time you can try experimenting with avoiding that unwanted string using additional wrist motions. But the key here is to stay smooth - no bouncyness allowed - and in any case it’s nitpicking as your current version sounds good
With the scale (6-str 120) it’s a bit harder for me to see what is going on. Is this 3 notes per string on each string? I see only two picked notes on the lowest string. In any case, the ascending side sounds pretty good. It may be that you are using a USX form also here, which would allow you to pick the whole ascending scale by using some downstroke swipes. Again you are managing to keep swiping noises very low - if there are any.
The descending side is a bit more ropey, which again would be expected if indeed you are a mostly-USX player. I think you are swiping on the downstroke string changes - i.e. on the inside picking parts of the scale - maybe watch it again to check if you see the same thing. This would indicate that you are not clearing the strings after downstrokes - maybe knowing this can already help you to clean it up? let us know!
In parallel to trying to clean up the fully picked approach, one strategy you can try for the descending side is Down-Up-Pulloff on each string (Yngwie style). I’d give that a go and see what happens!
Also, when you have time, it would be cool if you could try to film again the ascending and descending scale with slightly better lighting and possibly pointing the headstock a bit more towards the camera. Ideally we’d like to see the interaction of pick & strings as clearly as possible. you can even try to use the phone’s flashlight if that helps.