Help me improve my picking please

Technique Critique
#1

Despite improvements in my picking, still feel like I tend to get stuck between strings. It seems that my wrist deviates towards my thumb, but it feels like this is the most comfortable way to play for me. I also use my middle finger to stabilize my index finger from behind. Any pieces of advice are highly appreciated :slight_smile: .

First, here is a video from the side; in the end I tried to let more of the pick stick outwards of my hand so that it’s easier to see if I angle it correctly. :

And here is another one from the front:

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#2

Looks/sounds like a solid DSX = downstroke escape motion to me.

When alternate picking, this will work well when the last pickstroke on every string is a downstroke. You seem to be aware of this since your start your groups of 4 on an upstroke — are you? :slight_smile:

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#3

I absolutely am aware of that :slight_smile: - I mostly play Black metal, so I don’t need a lot of picking diversity, but the string changes gave me trouble for a long time.

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#4

Awesome! Sounds like you know what you are doing :slight_smile:

To be honest, I didn’t see any signs of “getting stuck on the strings” in your video. Or are you referring to the fact that the upstrokes are resting on the lower strings?

Rest strokes are very common in single-escape styles, and nothing to worry about for the picking patterns you are doing here.

#5

Well, if I get stuck, it usually happens to me while ascending from the higher note strings to the lower strings, whereas it almost never happens while descending. I was wondering if it is just generally more difficult to ascend or if that might have something to do with technique issues.

#6

Is it happening in the above videos?

In general, in a single escape motion like this you wouldn’t expect to get stuck unless you do the “wrong” string change (in this case we are doing DSX, so the “wrong” string change would be after an upstroke)

#7

It actually hapoens there at about 36 seconds between the G and the D string during the ascension (when compared to the sequence before, there is an audible lack of smoothness at that point). Sometimes it feels like the wrong application of DSX isn’t my main issue, but rather that I accidentally change the picking depth during the string changes and that contributes to the “getting stuck” feeling when there is a sudden difference in resistance of the strings. Anchoring with my pinkie finger actually helped a lot there, but it still seems to happen sometimes.

#8

Hey,

Sorry for the delay on this! I’m catching up on my forum work now, but I think your videos are no longer available. If you want to reaupload I’ll be happy to have a look again!