First Dive into TWPS with Under a Glass Moon Solo

[Fretphile]

Hello everyone! I’m brand new to this awesome forum and I wanted to get input from the brain trust on how to approach learning TWPS technique.

I’m currently trying to master the solo from Dream Theater’s Under a Glass Moon, and this 3 note per string lick with 16th note triplets at 144 BPM is forcing me to take a dive into the world of TWPS to try and get close to the pick articulation that Petrucci achieves on the recording.

Here is the lick:

My preference is to start the lick with a upward pick-slanted downstroke on the 2nd string, and then from there on each subsequent string starts and ends with alternating stroke directions. (Up on 1st string, Down on 2nd string, etc.) This picking pattern requires that the sequence on the 1st string ends with a downward slant, so that I can be above the strings and move to the 2nd string. The lick continues with three notes on the 2nd string down up down, and the last one on that string must be a upward slanting downstroke to be above the strings and travel to an upstroke on the 3rd string.

My struggle in learning the TWPS technique is finding the fluidity in transitioning from an upward slant to a downward slant, and vice versa during the lick. At first my instinct was to try and make the slant transition during the first stroke of the new string being played, which sets up the pick in the proper slant to play the notes on that string and be properly positioned to head to the next string, but I find myself feeling like I’m going to miss or whiff on that first note while changing the slant angle.

Now I have been trying to feel like I transition the slant angle midway through the sequence of notes on the string so that I end up in the proper slant orientation just in time to pick the last note on the string and hop to the next string, but in doing this I always feel like my slant changes are lagging behind or getting lost completely.

My plan is to upload some slow mo video of myself playing the lick at different tempos and upload them here, but I’m looking for some insight into when the actual slant directions change with 3 note per string licks, and also when it FEELS to the player like the direction changes, if at all.

Cheers!

[tommo]

Wow, 6s at 144bpm is a hell of a first dive — equivalent to 16ths at 216 I think!

At that speed, it is probably easier to do that thing with UWPS + swiping. It is a controversy that we haven’t yet resolved with experimental data, but I have suggested a few times that the great JP himself may do this from time to time when playing at his fastest speeds!

[aliendough]

It’s a big task for sure, the only guy I’ve ever seen play it cleanly is Martin Miller. Maybe this clip will give us some clues as how to tackle this monster solo.

[Danedbrown98]

Personally, I change my pickslanting direction on the last note of a particular string; for example, in the lick that you referenced, I would start with an upward slanted downstroke (just like you), then move to the 1st string with an upstroke (because of the fact that I don’t change slant directions until the very last moment, it doesn’t really matter which way my pick is slanting in the middle of a sequence of notes on a particular string). Once I reach the last note on the 1st string I rotate my forearm to a downward pickslanted orientation and pluck the last note simultaneously. This is my personal approach to twps. For me, changing slanting directions in the midst of a sequence of notes on a string feels incredibly awkward.