Having better progress with Eric Johnson

Playing Technique
#1

Maybe leading off with the Yngwie Malmsteen seminar wasn’t the smartest LOL

I was really getting frustrated at not being able to get accuracy and speed on the Malmsteen licks, but I completed that and have moved onto the Eric Johnson seminar. I’m having much better success playing these licks cleanly …though I can only play them cleanly at 80% of full speed, I’m a lot happier and less frustrated.

I figured I’d mention this in case any other noobs to Cracking the Code are having a similar experience.

I’m definitely going back to Yngwie at some point though!!

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#2

haha, im the opposite. I have my 3nps stuff rolling pretty fast and smooth but my pentatonic stuff is noticeably slower.

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#3

LOL well there goes my theory.

#4

yeah 2nps is super hard for me. You have to move hand positions so quickly and for MANY years i am more used to finding one good spot and letting the fingers fly. of course I havent yet really just dropped everything to specifically work on 2nps stuff either so its not too surprising

but your theory may be exactly true for many people!

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#5

I’m glad to hear this, and I had very similar experience. I really think that 2nps stuff is really ideal for practicing, because it requires a larger stroke, and a bit more time ‘above the strings’ but is not completely overwhelming like 1nps stuff.

And EJ’s form really kinda pushed me in the right direction. He talks about how his real breakthrough with picking was when he started to use his fingers to add a bit more ‘connection’ with the string, and I totally picked up on that as well.

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#6

For me, string tracking is the make or break of most picking styles - some people seem to be able to do it easily and can move any chunks around with no real bother, which may lend itself pentatonics being easier…
@hamsterman and @JonJon have both summed it up well for me:
Pentatonics are simple and require less effort on ones each string, but to go from each string (especially with sequences) can be a bit of a bitch!

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#7

yeah, among the methods we all sometimes use is the “make it harder for a while” method. for instance if you suck at the Paul Gilbert lick, add in a string skip and/or double up on the hard note…so that when u come back to the normal lick it seems easier by comparison

In that regard I wonder if working on 1nps alt picking, with all of its insane “each pick is a pick and a string track” would make pentatonics easier by comparison lol

#8

I think it probably comes down to what’s more natural to you, based on the stuff you already play.

For me, a lot of the Yngwie stuff was a real struggle less for the picking and more because it felt weird to my fretting hand, whereas I didn’t have that feeling with the Antigravity stuff or the EJ stuff at all.

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#9

Yep, is definitely a good method, it allows you to do the same technique, but feels like you are doing something different…

There may be a point where trying to make things much harder, you may actually end up doing a different motion and actually end up not practicing what will help with the pentatonics. I suppose as long as you can guarantee that you are making the same movements it might help

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#10

I just now picked up my guitar to try to practice while reading an article online. I pretty much realized at least one reason why im having issues

its exactly what u just said. When I pick 2nps stuff i have been using a totally different picking style. Whereas normally my good fast 3nps or whatever is pretty neutral and a certain sort of flat wrist motion etc…when I start to practice pent stuff I, for whatever reason, start picking more like a Troy or Zakk way.

I somewhat noticed it the other day because I NEVER hit the pickup when normally playing but when I go to work on pent stuff all of a sudden I am picking with way more dwps and going way deeper into the string

geez, no wonder ive been struggling. If I just float across the strings way more neutral i see its easier right away. I still need to develop that fast tracking needed but I think I just solved the major part of the issue lol

#11

Cool! Let us know how you get on. Sometimes its hard to separate what you see from what you feel you are doing. For a while I have been practicing double escaped picking and getting small scaler licks at around 180 bpm (16ths) and I swear it feels like I am not changing my motion mechanic when going slow and fast, but after filming myself, i’m not sure whether I’m actually doing a 2WPS motion or a haphazard hybrid of the two! I need to get better lighting and angle sorted for a critique post…

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#12

What part of the lefthand was tricky, the escaoe hatch shifts/pull-offs? I find it hard to do either Yngwie or EJ picking, because I couldn’t bake the non-picking of the legato notes and I cannot economy pick when ascending - I elmost fall off my chair when I attempt!

#13

well for years I have been able to do this type of lick pretty speedily. this goes back to way before I ever heard of the CTC stuff

B—5–6--5----------
G-------------7–5--7 loop etc

so its obviously a type of 2way lick. but for whatever reason when i have been trying pent stuff for the last few months or whatever i always tend to start off with more of a pronounced dwps trying the basic pent descending stuff. Dunno why because its totally foreign to how i pick

im actually quite a bit better at doing desc pent stuff with uwps as long as it matches the lick you know

so its a bit weird and it shows how string our mental perceptions can be

for example I can do this type of lick decently (though I have never worked on it, but I will going forward)

16ths

B–12–15–12--------------------------------------------------------
G-----------------14–12------------------------------------12–14 loop etc
D---------------------------14–12------------------12–14---------
A--------------------------------------14–12–14--------------------

so its sort of a mindset thing and since I have been doing the little 2 string sextuplet lick for years, I feel more comfy doing the type of lick directly above and I think of it as more of a 2 way lick where ill keep the pick pretty neutral

The fact that a large part of it is 2nps pent stuff is sort of disguised lol!

But if i started off to do the following lick id probably, for whatever bonehead reason, all of a sudden go into a more pronounced dwps thing, because “omg, its 2nps pent stuff!”

B------15–12-----------------------------------------------
G-----------------14–12------------------------------------
D---------------------------14–12--------------------------
A--------------------------------------14–12---------------

its a mental thing because that lick is hidden inside the lick I showed above. I need to just start using my normal “neutral” type pickslant that ive worked on as opposed to some deeper dwps that i suck at

#14

Maybe subconciously, you know you can blaze through that sort of lick with 1WPS - a safety net of sorts. One way to force the issue is start with that lick with an upward pickslant… it will feel weird!

#15

Since were discussing pentatonic runs, has anyone found an ideal way to frett it?

One problem with 2nps runs, is that you don’t get that nice ‘overlapping’ cascading sound that you get from 3nps runs. With descending, it’s not as much of an issue, since I just bar it, but with ascending, it sounds a bit choppy. Right after I hammer-on, then I immediately move that hammering finger to the next string… and it just doesn’t sound smooth.

#16

I’m not sure what you mean, do you have any examples?

#17

nah, I just essentially suck with deep downward slanting. Anything im good at has evolved more to really small slanting

for whatever reason my mind wants to associate pent stuff with deep slanting like troy or Zakk or EricJ or whomever lol. ive watched too many pent vids I guess lol

I actually dont do a ton of 1way licks. the main one I can think of would be like the Paul Gilbert ascending 16ths thing, which i do with uwps

G-------------------------------------------------9–12–9--11–12 etc
D--------------7–10–7--9–10–9--10–12-------------------------
A—7–9--10-----------------------------------------------------------

my pure dwps is weaker than my 2way

#18

That was definitely part of it… but, even playing those lines legato felt weird to me. He just groups notes on the fretboard very differently than I do. And I struggled with the Yngwie 6s pattern a lot too, less on one string than switching strings, particularly ascending. Still do a little!