First magnet footage

Technique Critique
#1

This is my first video with the magnet. I am generally upward pick slanting with a downward escape motion, and I’ve been trying to work on incorporating a cleaner upward escape motion so that I can do more precise crosspicking. I think when I compare my tremolo in both those directions it’s clear that my downward escape is a lot smoother and more comfortable and precise (closer to the adjacent string without hitting it).

This is not great footage and I didn’t try too hard to make it nice but I am posting it here for some amount of “breaking the seal” to be involved with the community more! This seems like such a great tool and I really think I’m in a place where it will benefit me. I don’t want to perfect is the enemy of the good my technique journey !

Any notes are welcome here and I have one other question…

I really like that I can connect the iphone to the mac while playing and view in real time but I wonder if anyone knows how to take high speed video that way, or if it’s possible. Do you just have to control the camera on the phone for each video? Thanks!

3 Likes
#2

Cool footage! The way your hand moves when you tremolo looks like you are using some forearm motion, can you show an angle where we can see the full arm? Really interested in your arm setup here because wrist/forearm isn’t typically DSX. You might have a rare wrist/forearm DBX motion with some configuring! :grin:

1 Like
#3

Hi! Thanks for the feedback, I had some time to set up obs with multiple camera angles, here I am playing some trash over some vaporwave garbage I listen to when I don’t want to think:

does that give you more information? I am going to try to setup better angles this is a very first attempt as well (but again I’m just trying to post more not think to hard about it!)

Like I said I’ve been trying to work towards a more usable downward direction rest stroke which implies upward escape, I’ve always had an awful time trying to do any significant crosspicking and I think its a lack of any upward escape that has held me back…

Btw I am a little fuzzy on all the new terms, just so I know what I’m reading… DBX is double escape motion, and DSX is… downward? Is there a glossary? :sweat_smile:

edit: lol I just realized this is the cisco hold music. rock and roll.

1 Like
#4

Can you just do a tremolo on one string? If possible in the 170-180bpm 16th notes range? If you can do that then you’re good, you just need to work on using it in all your phrases :grin: It’s looks like there is some potential with that motion but it’s hard to tell if your using it outside of your tremolo picking.

Yep DBX is double escape and DSX is downstroke escape, definitely worth working on DSX as DBX players tend to switch to it subconsciously when speeding up!

1 Like
#5

Here you go,

I’m comfortable at this speed with DSX, but struggle a bit with the fluidity using USX (is that the right acronym? :slight_smile: )

I’ve been working on developing my economy picking and also balancing with legato phrasing (I have a whole set of exercises I’m doing for that) but a huge part of it is becoming comfortable with both of these escape motions… kind of like being ambidextrous I think…

Thanks for the feedback and lmk if you have any tips with that context! :slight_smile:

1 Like
#6

I’ve never seen wrist/forearm DSX before but that is what it looks like! I wouldn’t like to say for certain without @Troy confirming whether or not it is, he would be able add more insight about what is going on here :grin:

Yep!

When you try and apply this motion to DSX lines what are the results? This video is full of great DSX-ified pentatonic ideas if you need some DSX phrases to apply your motion too:

When you do your tremolo and stop, is it because you feel like you’re gassing out or more like you had it feeling nice and effortless and then you lose it and starts to becomes more tense? What you want is the latter and just by doing it more often you will be able to keep locked into the correct motion :grin:

1 Like
#7

Up until about 20 seconds I’m just doing demonstrative bursts, I stay really loose and could probably do that for a good while. Of course it’s just tremolo so syncing with the LH is a limiting factor in real playing…

You can see at 24 seconds I switch to a downward rest stroke / USX and there I’m a lot less comfortable, just feels like the angles are off a little bit, and the pick is a bit more grabby through the string… I’m still working on that although the basic forearm rotation feels workable there…

The Eric Johnson video is a great shout, thanks! I will take a look at it, and I will spend some time this week trying to pin down some pet phrases that I tend to use that use this DSX motion, which is definitely my default. I’ll try and make a cleaner video with the magnet to investigate that!

The downward rest stroke - I’ve been trying to incorporate more and more as I am noticing it everywhere in heavy jazz players, now that I know what it is… of course there is the django style where it’s super prominent but there is also Joe Pass,

and even Benson who had a heavy downward rest stroke in addition to the weird backward pick attack angle he’s famous for…

2 Likes
#8

I have no magnet, but you’re the first player I’ve seen on here who has what really looks to be my identical motion with the same foibles and “challenges” on trying to get a USX working with it. You’re far more accomplished with yours than I am, but it feels like I’m looking at my hands doing that.

One of the things that I sincerely can’t grasp is how people make other motions actually work. Troy especially, to my mind, is a legit freak of nature, mastering so many different motions. I feel absolutely imprisoned within my limited ability to even use the motion that I use, much less make any other motion work.

@jfo , I’m curious whether you have challenges with your usual motion on your low E string? I find I can’t get my motion to work on the lowest string (I play 7-string, so my B string). Wonder if our similarities extend that far.

2 Likes
#9

@coldforged yes, now that I try it specifically the motion is definitely less coherent on the low e string because there’s no lower string to rest stroke against…

I tend to avoid that string in faster passages or use legato phrasing down there, I’m just realizing this as we talk though…

Interestingly, my nascent upward escape rotary motion (with the down ward rest stroke), despite being worse in general than my “normal” motion, is better just on the low e string and maybe equal on the a string… hmmm.

I agree about the different grips and motions… it’s hard enough to master 1! but I think I do use a sort of adjusted wrist dart like motion when palm muting or otherwise resting the hand on the bridge or something, although to me it still feels a lot like the rotary forearm you see in most of these videos.

My ultimate goal is just to have my technique “calibrated” and tuned up enough to be really reliable and expressive, I don’t really want to play fast as much as I wanna be able to play fast… and I’ve really struggled with this for many years, and in my formative years tried all sorts of different grips and motions that never clicked or worked right, meanwhile having teachers say “just play until it feels good”… yeah that might have worked for them but it’s useless advice if you’re not lucky to naturally have an efficient technique!!

The more I am trying this out though the more I see some potential in a gypsy jazz adjacent USX motion to pair with my DSX default… I just need to work through making the articulation tight and efficient and comfortable…

2 Likes
#10

Wow! That DSX rotation looks really good and you are the first one I’ve seen doing DSX with rotation. It looks really relaxed and sounds smooth. Would love to see you go deeper with it and work out some lines.

And great playing in the earlier clips as well!

2 Likes