Great picking exercise from the ubelievable Anton Oparin from about 1:04:40 Good Luck!
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Not only is Anton capable of the most technically challenging stuff there is, but he is one of the first I heard that really captures the aggressive but at the same time sleek and elegant picking sound of early Gilbert. I’d give both my hands to be able to play like that.
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He realy is extraordinary!
I definitely think Anton should be interviewed at some point!
That is a cool picking exercise. If someone can’t do that exercise efficiently, what needs to be changed? Is that an exercise only someone who uses primarily wrist deviation would be good at or is it mostly a string tracking exercise? Hoping some of the real good shredders in here can chime in. Seems like a good warmup exercise too
I’m hearing muted triplets across strings, which is a simplified version of a 3nps scale. I recently commented about this:
I talk about why I like it and my perceived benefits. I think the only “requirement” would be an ability to perform mixed escapes, either with DBX or swiping.
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Okay cool I’ll check that out. But if I understand correctly the only two ways to traverse all six strings is to either use wrist motion/deviation OR you have to somehow involve the shoulder to string track properly right? And it seems like Anton Keeps his hand in one spot and just uses his wrist
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The most difficult thing in this exercise is that when going from high to low it starts wit a downstroke, but when going from low to high it starts with an upstroke. To execute this so precise at Anton’s speed is realy veeeery difficult.
Yes, he keeps his hand in one spot, everything is from the wrist.
@carranoj25 To traverse all six strings you can use a combination of motions from the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and even fingers.
@Andjoy I think the difficulty associated with that is just more of preference with regards to starting on an upstroke vs downstroke.
Yes exactly, most players have a preference and with this exercise you have to be able to do both at blistering speed.
@Andjoy just so we’re on the same page, do you mean starting a phrase on an upstroke, or specifically starting on the high string with a downstroke / low string upstroke?
Starting on an upstroke / downstroke is a matter of personal preference and technique. You don’t need to practice it if you don’t want to.
That’s cool because I like to start runs from low E to high E with an upstroke too haha
That’s true I forgot about the fingers I should’ve clarified that I was referring specifically to alternate picking stuff. You can use elbow too yes but I kind of throw that in with shoulder in terms of using your “arm” to cover distance on simplified terms
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It is about starting on a downbeat with an upstroke. Most players including myself like to play a downstroke on a downbeat and an upstroke on un upbeat.
@Andjoy gotcha. I don’t believe it’s necessary to develop the ability to play upstrokes on downbeats unless you’re a strict USX / DSX player.
I always believed the same thing, but since i am learning to play down beats with upstrokes i am much more free and able to play things with alternate picking i could not do before. It does not feel natural yet though.
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Just watched again, his hand does move a teeny bit
Awesome player. For anyone wondering what guitar he is using - it is an Ibanez SA120. It is a shred machine. I have one. It has an SA neck which is essentially a 3 piece wizard with radius 400mmR/ 15¾" . The key difference on the SA models as opposed to other Ibanez speed machines is that they have medium frets as opposed to jumbos. So you really feel close to the fretboard. Also has a hardtail bridge. Another difference to other Ibanez guitars is it only has 22 frets as opposed to 24.
I have found you can play this guitar for long periods without the fingertips getting sore. He appears to be using stock pickups as well.
That does look like a really good exercise…
3 notes per string, so it forces you to alternately address each new string with an upstroke, then a downstroke.
His technique is really amazing.
He talks about picking ‘in a straight line’, which absolutely applies to pickslanting as well.
Perhaps he means his style does not employ bounce, or ‘pendulum’ picking.
For him to achieve that degree of speed and articulation, there has to be some degree of pickslanting in there (IMO).
Especially where he performs the ‘Paul Gilbert lick’ and completely eliminates swiping.
You can hear the difference between the swiping and non-swiping examples.