Hey all, I’m Brian, and my new years resolution is to fix my string-to-string movement! Saw CTC 6mo ago on Youtube and figured I’d give it a go! I’ve been playin for over 28+ years, but peaked about 10yrs ago. Since then I’ve been stuck where I switch from wrist to elbow at high speed. I can do single string flurries fine (though not super clean) but the mechanic is so locked it’s hard to move from string to string. Hopefully this site can help me develop a wrist movement all the way up…as I’m damaging my elbow muscles/tendons.
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Welcome to The Forum Brian. It’s common for a lot of players to start incorporating the elbow once they reach a certain speed. People will say elbow is fine. I don’t think it’s good to use it all the time. I think my elbow starts moving above 180bpm 16ths. I hardly ever play that fast for a long time though…
@Hanky_Pooh I’d seen a few others transition too, but didn’t realize it was more common than I thought. It had always seemed that the pros stuck with one or the other, and thought something was wrong with me. My problem is my wrist stops at 140bpm. After that I have to switch, and while I can do 190bpm 16ths, I don’t have the same…control and tempo lock as I do with the wrist. If I could get my wrist up to 180bpm, I’d be so darn happy!! (BTW saw a few vids of you playin’ and I thought they were excellent!!)
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Thanks man, I was stressing over my alternate picking for a while but something clicked and I got it, and then I quit stressing over it. I’ve been working on my theory and improvisational skills lately because everything I play is made up on the spot (because I’m lazy) and I get disappointed at my Improv material when I’m not thinking. So my focus is think more when soloing.
My point is the music side of things gives me more satisfaction than the techniques. While both are cool. Don’t forget to play and enjoy the music. That’ll keep you motivated when learning the technical stuff. Blah blah. I got to go to bed. lol
Nite
Welcome Brian! I am looking forward to seeing some videos of your playing!