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Technique Critique
#1

Hello Everyone!

These videos are of a student of mine. He can play very fast, but I have a feeling there is some unusual technique issues going on here. I recorded him doing a simple 4 note repeating pattern found within the minor pentatonic at around 50 BPM. In several repetitions, he is hitting the top one once and the bottom 3 times. He told me that he practiced hammer-ons a little, so I think its possible that he is locked into 1 stroke on the first string but 3 one string doesn’t seem economical in this context.

My questions:

  1. Can anything be taken from this and incorporated into any CTC type stuff? IE mixing economy and alternate picking.

  2. I’m going to ask him to practice the pattern with pure alternate with a metronome in an attempt to sync him up a bit. He says he likes to do everything alternate all the time so I figured I would focus in on it. Does anyone disagree or have anything to add? I’d love to hear your feedback.

I hope its okay that I ask you to use the Youtube feature to slow it down. My apologies.

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#2

So this is a 4 note sequence with 1 note on the a and 3 on the d string, right? I think it’s obvious that he has quite some trouble with crossing the strings here, especially the last string change is either ‘swiped’ without the proper muting or he seems to use wrist flexion/extension to hop over it. To me it seems like the first string change from a to d is done quite nicely in uwps manner but after that you have to change positioning to escape after the third upstroke which is not happening. I find this picking pattern to be quite challenging already so I’d start with a simpler system like dwps or uwps and get comfortable in there before tackling twps licks.

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#3

You are correct. He played 1 note on the A and 3 on the D. He was supposed to do 2 on each. I am glad you mentioned starting with one string at a time but I was a bit decieved at how well he played. He can knock out some fairly complex riffs (he loves Black Veil Brides and after learning a couple of thieir songs I gauge them to be at least intermediate). I think your advice is right on. I am also stressing the importance of playing slow until he understands the riff completely before ramping up.

I REALLY appriciate your input. Thank you.