Hey everyone,
I’ve been following the forum and the cracking the code videos for a while and decided to post some videos and look for some help with my playing technique. I’ve been playing for a little more than two and a half years but had huge gaps in my practicing “career”. First I’ve picked up the guitar when I was 14 and played for 1,5 years and stopped. I’ve picked up the instrument again when I was 24 and played for an other year and stopped again for different reasons. I’ve moved to my home country last September and picked up the guitar again in October the third time in my life (and hopefully I won’t abandon it ever again). One of the multiple reasons for the breaks was frustration. I simply couldn’t feel I’m making any progress and my picking technique was simply terrible.
After my restart in October I feel I’m mostly there as I’ve been by the time I was before, so maybe this is a good time to ask the opinion of the dear community.
I have no decent camera but I’ve tried recording the licks in two different angles at various speeds.
- Scale on 6 strings
- starting at 120 bpm, 16th notes, which I feel comfortable with
- 130 bpm, 16th notes, still feels okay-ish
- 140 bpm, 16th notes, feels a bit uncomfortable, especially the ascending part
- 150 bpm, 16th notes, it falls apart
- Scale pattern on 4 strings
- 120 bpm, 16th notes, feels comfortable
- 140 bpm, 16th notes, still feels okay
- 160 bpm, 16th notes, it falls apart
- 170 bpm, 16th notes, absolute disaster
- 2 note per string pentatonic pattern. This is my arch enemy. I feel too many moving parts in my hand and it always feels like work. It feels okay on 120bpm but anything above that feels like a chore and my entire arm starts jumping around.
- 120 bpm, 16th notes
- 130 bpm, 16th notes
- 140 bpm, 16th notes, absolute disaster
- 2 note per string pentatonic exercise on 3 strings. This is even worse then the 2 string version.
- 120 bpm, 16th notes
- 130 bpm, 16th notes, already very demanding
- 135 bpm, 16th notes, my entire arms is going wild
- My other arch enemy, the Paul Gilbert lick. I can play it okay-ish on 120 bpm but I can’t increase the speed at all without my arm jumping around
- 120 bpm, 16th notes
- This is a lick from a Petrucci solo, involving a lot of string changes. Playing this pattern triggers my crazy arm again. I feel too much elbow movement and forearm rotation. The lick is played on the B and high E string.
-12-13-12-10-12-10-----10-----------------------10-------------10-12-----10-12-13-12-10-
---------------------------13------13-12-10-12-13-------12-13----------13-----------------------
- 120 bpm, 16th notes
- 130 bpm, 16th notes, danger zone
- 140 bpm, 16th notes, disaster
- This is an other Petrucci lick from a song I really like. I can’t really play any faster than this without getting tired quickly and hitting unwanted strings. This tempo feels comfortable but needs my full attention.
- 110 bpm, 16th notes
- Erotomania lick, played on 100 bpm. I feel the string skipping takes too much effort from my elbow, I don’t feel it as a smooth string shift at all, it’s even more cumbersome than the previous lick.
- 100 bpm, 5 notes/beat
Thank you for everyone who could take a look on any of these videos. I’m feeling quite lost with this whole thing again. There’s an abundance of content on the internet and everybody is telling you different things how to practice. I know, you should play how it feels good for you but I don’t feel I’m making any improvements and gaining any speed despite spending many many hours on the guitar literally every day. I don’t feel like I got anywhere in 2,5 years even considering the huge gaps I had in my practicing.
I feel I’m using too much of my elbow and I simply can’t get rid of this. If I try picking purely from my wrist I feel like I need to run with my legs tied together, in mud. I had a consultation with a guitarist called Matt Mills, and he insists of me getting rid of any forearm movement and elbow which I use a lot for tracking as well, and should focus picking purely from the wrist even if it feels like a chore for now. Here’s a video of Mr Mills:
I’ve also learnt he was teaching Jason Richardson who is a monster player in my opinion.
I’d also like to include a “bonus” lick which is very simple but feels quite comfortable to play on a moderate speed. On this one I rather feel my fretting hand getting tired and maybe trying to catch up with my picking hand.
I find string shift much easier after a downstroke but find changes after playing an upstroke quite difficult therefore I have a lot of issues with pentatonic 2nps patterns starting with a downstroke. I also don’t feel jumping back and forth from one string to the other playing 1nps (when Gilbert is repeating the string shift in his famous lick).
I’m grateful for any comments, suggestions. Thank you.