Stamina is the issue. If I try repeating those 16th note arpeggios at the end without the 8th note breaks, my fingers fall off my hand in two seconds.
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Long time - no posts, but I’m still alive.
If I want to be honest with myself, I made zero progress in the last 9 months. I was very busy mastering the repertoire for that cover band I’ve played with (they have 50+ songs) and although I managed to learn almost all of them including solos, my technique has not improved at all and I never felt comfortable performing anything in a standing position. I quit the band and I feel happy about this decision. That type of music (70’s stuff) is far from what makes me really happy, and two weeks ago I started practicing again, but only in a standing position.
I tried everything - lowering the strap so the guitar is hitting my knees, pulling up the guitar to my neck looking like an idiot - nothing worked. I know Petrucci is using a stand for his left foot when playing live but I’ve seen a lot of his 90’s performances and he was playing perfectly well without any foot support. So I decided that if I can’t play something in a standing position - I can’t play it at all, period. Also a good point my teacher made, which I keep forgetting - if Petrucci can pull off something at 200 bpm in a live situation, probably he can play it at least at 210 bpm in his bedroom, if not faster.
I’m getting more and more comfortable playing like this but the whole picking feels very different to what I’ve been doing for more than a year while sitting. I also have problem going beyond 180 bpm 16th notes. Maybe that’s my top and I need to accept it one day.
Just some practicing of one of the runs in Scarred, going from 120bpm to 210bpm 16th notes. It falls apart around 180. At 210 I’m off the beat…
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Good to see you 
Random answers:
I don’t think so. I love JP but we also have to be realistic. In the famous “Rock discipline” video he is struggling to play his famous USX-optimized chromatic pattern at 216bpm. I suspect 200-210 is the top end of JP’s comfort zone. Also, JP’s live perfomance are a little hit and miss when it comes to these runs. Definitely more hit than what I could do on my best day, of course 
Same here. Both you and I can pick faster than that, but in my case 180 is pretty much the end of my comfort zone. Playing runs at 190+, even simple ones, feels like hard work to me.
Again, same here
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Well, that’s the problem. I’d be happier if the actual top end of my comfort zone would be 200-210. We will see how it goes, it’s an improvement of course how I can play this run for example in a standing position compared to how I could last week.
Also, these guys are not using a footrest for the infamous This dying soul run, but I’m wondering why they split the duties. 28m30s:
I personally never liked the idea of a footrest because it requires a certain stage setup (and one more thing to lug in the car) so definitely feel you there.
I found the LP shape to only be playable (for my technique) with a strap while sitting down. The good thing about this is that standing up it feels the exact same, but over time my upper back gets sore (which is why I got a new guitar that feels good without a strap).
My recommendation, assuming you play the best while sitting, is to throw on a strap while you’re playing (sitting), and shorten it until it starts to transfer weight onto your back. When you stand up (assuming the guitar has good balance and your posture doesn’t drastically change), your playing should be the same. You could take this a step further and shorten the strap even more, to see if the shorter length changes some angles and positively affects your playing.
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Oh okay, I’ll give this a try. I always plays with a starp even while sitting, although the weight is on my feet, not on my back for sure.
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Not sure if it’s visible to all of you, but wondering if he’s picking all the notes in the beginning part (3 notes on high E and B strings). It seems so effortless.
Tonight I was messing around with the infamous repeating 6s on two strings. Well … I have a feeling this is something I’ll never nail. Even on 120 bpm is a slopfest, but on 130 it’s falling apart completely. Played in the bridge pickup to make the slop more audible.
120bpm, one position, amped:
120bpm, one position, dry signal:
120bpm, position shifts, amped:
120bpm, position shifts, dry signal:
130bpm, one position, amped:
130bpm, one position, dry signal:
130bpm, position shifts, amped:
130bpm, position shifts, dry signal:
I watched the Vinnie Moore Pepsi lick video, and I know he has a helper motion to jump back on the high E string, but meh … I can’t believe how easily he’s doing it at 145bpm, and I’ve seen Troy can also do it.
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Cesario plays scales with economy picking 3nps dud ascending and udu descending. As long as the fragment of the phrase in question is 3nps scale shape he economies. It is why in the Vinnie Moore instructional playthrough hour long video if you find the lick that starts changing the pattern to inside string changes. Coincidentally the part I am on currently soundslice tabbing the short video is the lick. You can tell how much trouble it is causing him cause he knows in order to play long periods of shred you got to start using economy. skip to measure 66, and watch for him really trying to accent the turn on the inside stroke on the next lick. you can watch the longer live stream video and he goes into more detail.
Are you playing D U D U D U?
If so, what happens if you do U D U D U D?
That would allow you swipe outside changes, which is the more happy path. That would give you DSX the whole time, no need worry about helper motions or anything.
It’s always rough when we compare ourselves to other people. Sometimes finding our own ‘easier’ version is the way to go. If nothing else, at least it gives us a reference point if we want to try a more challenging way.
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I would say you’re much closer to doing the thing than you think. Just keep practicing it and finding little improvements here and there.
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I always play the Vinnie Moore lick U D U D U D but thats because I’m a USXr and the downstroke is the hard part to restart the lick but is getting smoother for me.
However ascending 6s I use the DSX PG method of
D H H U D U. Been working on it for a while and the picking part is pretty good now, it’s the left hand that’s the problem, on all these 6s
I think it’s because my left hand is so used to playing Vai and Petrucci 7s and 5s rather than 6s. Maybe it’s the same problem for you ?
what also happens if you do
d u po, d, u, d? :laughing
or if you slant the other way i think its u, d, u, u, d, po
and heck even the very last 3 notes you can fake it and do d, u, d like you did it all 
i get it if you wanna do a perfect take for recording but lets be real here if you are playing an entire shred live concert you gotta start easing up on yourself. cut some corners so your fretting hand can get some work, and lessen the work on your 1 pick.
i have done enough analysis on cesario to know he does all the secret economy tricks. even i dont think he knows he does it all the time. because i believe in his hotmart sparkle modern neoclassical 10 solos with backing track and technique licks, he notates things wrong, and i believe it is not intentional because most of the time he notates the economy tricks right. but every once and awhile he slips up, and the only way you are going to see it is if you do the research yourself. you have to really slow things down, and analyze it to see the exact strokes and manuevers used. although he gets it right about 95% of the time.
Pull a Jason Becker and play with a yo-yo while you do legato runs
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i am trying to encourage him not scare the hell out of him. 
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For me the tab ends at measure 65
I can do this lick pretty confidently around 130 bpm if I do D - U - D - D - U - po. But I want to pick it all
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i hadnt finished tabbing it. but if you analyze the video you can see how the inside stroke is tripping him up significantly compared to everything else he had been playing up to that point on that lick at measure 66, it has a rest for now in the bar. i am still working on this transcription. and during the ascending portion of that he begins to accent that inside stroke turn cause he knows its just wasted movement. he knows its stupid cause he starts looking at his picking hand in frustration thinking here we go again with this inside stroke madness.
Try grouping it in twos or emphasising the last note on each string, seemed to help my hand sync
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