Getting Wrist motions to 180 BPM 16ths

Technique Critique
#1

Although I made a topic a few days ago about focusing on elbow motion, and while I think that me figuring out single string tremolo for all six strings with elbow motion is very useful for +200 BPM, I actually changed my mind and want to focus more on my wrist motion. I have far more control over it than my elbow motion and have a much easier time switching strings with it, since it’s roughly the motion I’ve been using since I started playing guitar.

My goal has always been 180 BPM 16ths, and my wrist motion is so close to reaching that tempo that sometimes it conflicts with the elbow motion when trying to play at strictly 180 BPM. Carrying on from the first topic I made on technique help, I’ve realized that most of the strain I experience seems to be coming from that motion instead of the elbow.

I didn’t do it to a metronome in this video, but when I usually do it, it’ll be like in this video, where I can hit 180 for a moment or two before dipping back down to ~170 BPM. Any pointers you guys have to optimize this motion and get in those extra few BPM would be greatly appreciated.

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#2

Quick feedback: it looks like you have two motions in your video.

Your first motion seems to be wrist deviation DSX, while the second half of the video you slightly supinated your forearm, and looks like DBX using wrist deviation, maybe a little bit of forearm rotation. Hopefully others that have a better eye for this will chime in. If these are indeed two different motions, did you do that on purpose?

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#3

Yes, there’s two motions on purpose. The first motion is a DSX wrist motion and the second is a USX motion. I want to bring both up to speed, and I’m better with the first motion than the second. I feel like there’s mixture of different motions in both motions, like you said about the second motion having a bit of forearm in it. Thinking back to the Primer, I remember one of the examples having issues with endurance and strain due to that.

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#4

I’ve been practicing for the last couple of days and I’ve seen no improvement. Any feedback?

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#5

Could you post an updated video to see what might’ve changed?

#6

I took this video earlier today. I seem to be struggling with the exact same problems as in the first video.

#7

My gut reaction is to say you’re not holding the pick close enough to the tip. I’m not at the guitar right now to take a video, but something I used to do: without a pick, play using the nail of your index finger, with your thumb placed on the side of your index finger (same position as if you were holding a pick). Obviously it won’t sound good, but the point of it is to take the pick out of the equation to see how fast you can go.

#8

I don’t have long enough fingernails on my picking hand to be able to play like that, unfortunately. I tried using the point of my finger and got the same results as before. I know that I can reach 180 BPM with DiMeola because I did the motion tests and was able to reach 210+ speeds, granted only if I warmed up or started at 180+ and worked my way up instead of slower. I’m not expecting to get to 210+ speeds picking, but I’m close enough to 180 that it feels like it should be simple enough to reach that speed.

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#9

I may have just gotten it. Would you believe all I had to do is move my arm back a bit? Much less strain, too.

I didn’t do it to a metronome in the video, but before I filmed I tested with it and I’m hitting, if not 180 16ths, much closer than before. Is there anything else that I can clean up between these two motions here to make this completely strain-free and effortless or is that just something that comes with time?

#10

Hi @jwl028, judging by the last video, this is an excellent starting point for some great playing.

At this stage I would start playing some “real music” by using these motions: try some riffs, licks or etudes that you like and focus on sounding good! If you get stuck on something, let us have a look :slight_smile: