Help! My Right Hand is Becoming Confused

Technique Critique
#3

Welcome to the forum Jgor!

First of all, you’ve got great fretting hand knowledge so it seems like you have got a great musical foundation to build upon there.

When it comes to you picking hand, what is happening is what Troy calls “string hopping”. Troys complete body of work is built upon this common picking problem. It basically boils down to your picking hand not doing a true alternating motion (like you do when you tremolo pick) but instead the same movement for both up and down strokes, which in essence cuts you picking speed in half.

Since Troy has done a lot of great and entertaining tutorial material on this picking problmem, it’s my best advice to check his work out instead of me or someone else trying to explain it here in text.

If you don’t want to pay for Troys in depth work, you can always watch his brilliant series on youtube which covers this. Here is a link to the complete series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKiO3VhdNmY&list=PLQXEjMNYjt2xBu99q1O9SVN4Eq0mDv50C&ab_channel=TroyGrady

If you don’t have time to watch every episode, you can probably start with episode 3 which adresses the feel of string hopping and episode 9 which covers Yngwies picking strategy.

I should probably also mention that your tremolo motion, which is great, is a “Downstroke escape” motion, not to be confused with “downward slant”. Your pick motion path is actually the opposite motion path of Yngwie. You’re motion very much resembles Vinnie Moores, which Troy has done som work on as well.

I don’t know how much you have delved into these concepts yet and it can be somewhat of a jungle I guess. One ot the problems with the terminology is that it has developed with time. So the term “pick slanting” is more or less out dated and the term “upstroke escape” has taken it’s place. It is in essence the same thing. So you need to be aware of this change in terminology.

Good luck and looking forward to your progress!

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#4

Thanks for taking the time to respond so thoughtfully @qwertygitarr.

Firstly I’ll preface this by saying that I’ve watched the entire CTC series a few times. I am a pretty slow learner and understand that undoing some of these 15-year tendencies I’ve developed is going to take some time.

I don’t really see the string hopping in my own playing during the 2NPS & 4NPS stuff, but perhaps during the 3NPS diatonic stuff. Is there a video you could possibly direct me to that directly address the look and feel of string hopping? I am a subscriber so I have access to the pay-walled videos. On that note… what is the difference between DBX & “String-Hopping”?

I kind of see the DSX motion during the trem picking and some of the 3NPS whacky playing, but I see USX motion during the 2NPS and 4NPS patterns. I think I’m still pretty blind to this kind of visual analysis! Damn. However, I can get a trem going pretty much either way with no issues. DSX feels slower with more of a wrist motion going on, but way, way more comfortable. UXS feels stiffer, but faster, with more of an elbow/forearm thing happening. :man_shrugging: :man_shrugging: :man_shrugging: :man_shrugging: :man_shrugging: :man_shrugging:

I have been shedding a number of the Cascade and Volcano series videos for the past couple of weeks but I keep hitting the same brick wall as I do when I’m ‘just playing’, which is a LOT of tension in my right hand that forces me to ball up my hand, right around 16th @ 120bpm. For instance, I can’t get the following exercises past about 115 - 120:

Any suggestions on where I should be looking to solve this?

Cheers,

J

#5

Ok great! Then you know all the different variations of picking in theory. Now adapting it to ones own playing is another thing entirely.

Well, the give away that you are string hopping is basically that your speed is significantly slower when playing your scales than your tremolo picking speed. Also you mention burn in your arm even at these slower speeds which tells us that the motion you are currently using when playing scales is not efficient.

To be honest, I have not really understood how to visually distinguish string hopping from efficient double escape motion. But the basic difference is that string hopping uses both flexion and extension with the wrist for both upstrokes and downstrokes, whereas efficient double escape only uses one of these motions for either upstroke or downstroke. Let’s just say this, if your top speed playing scales is the same speed as your top speed knocking on the table, which uses both flexion and extension of the wrist for each knock, then you know that your picking motion probably is string hopping.

The positive side is that you already have a great super fast picking motion that you demonstrate when you are tremolo picking. The idea for fast picking is to try to use that picking motion as your picking motion for scales as well. When practising this at first, you have to lower your expectation of what you are going to be able to play right away. You have to start easy, with single strings stuff. The common one thats recommended around here is the Yngwie six note lick (15-12-14-15-14-12).

After you got the sync going you need to find out if your motion is upstroke or downstroke escape. You’re tremolo motion has some elbow going so I would suspect it is a downstroke escape like you said earlier. So then it’s recommended to play licks that only change strings after downstrokes. This might sound limiting at first but don’t worry, there are ways around that in the future. But for now work on getting these licks going with your tremolo picking motion. Keep the licks small, like two or three strings, so that you don’t start with stuff covering all strings. This comes later when you are comfortable with the basic string change motion.

All I’m describing here is the common practise that has been developed by Troy and forum members. There should be a lot more to read about this if you search the forum and I’m sorry if I’m just repeating stuff you already know.

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#6

Thanks again for your reply @qwertygitarr,

There should be a lot more to read about this if you search the forum and I’m sorry if I’m just repeating stuff you already know.

Agreed, more homework to do for sure! No need to apologize, I appreciate your input and perspective.

To be honest, I have not really understood how to visually distinguish string hopping from efficient double escape motion. But the basic difference is that string hopping uses both flexion and extension with the wrist for both upstrokes and downstrokes, whereas efficient double escape only uses one of these motions for either upstroke or downstroke.

Thanks for this clarification, I still don’t quite get it but I’m hoping I’ll get there eventually. I’m still lost on the whole concept of flexion and extension as it pertains to picking. I understand it from a theoretical perspective but I can’t really identify it visually yet, in my own hand or in watching others. Stuff like this usually takes me a lot of time to assimilate.

You have to start easy, with single strings stuff. The common one thats recommended around here is the Yngwie six note lick (15-12-14-15-14-12).

I have been, ala the Yngwie/Volcano series, such as the video: https://troygrady.com/seminars/volcano/clips/single-string-fours-ascending/
However, I get totally stuck doing this. I can’t seem to get any descending and/or more than three notes happening in a row. I will continue to work on this but I am lost at what I am doing wrong here; it seems to be easy for most people to get this happening.

Lastly, I just had some success finding some speed on 2NPS+4NPS. Here is a new video showing my results:


00:00 160bpm
00:12 170bpm
00:22 170bpm (2NPS 7th Chord Arpeggios)
00:41 180bpm
1:04 190bpm
1:12 200bpm

Damn sloppy and totally lacks dynamic control and articulation at the moment, so apologies to your ears! However… I could have never played this fast with my “old technique” as seen in the previous video. Am I on the right track with this…?

Thank you,

J

#7

OK, WOW!! That is amazing development in just a few days! This is shred level of speed and really great picking. It already looks really confident, like you’ve been doing this for years. I’m sure you can feel the difference in efficiency between this new style of playing and the style in your first video. This is great alternate picking motion with no string hopping tendencies.

Now, how does this feel? Is it effortless or does it feel like work? Reason for asking is that it is important that you don’t develop a technique that is based upon excessive force. You want the fast playing to feel easy and fun.

Another reason for asking is that all the licks you are playing here are changing strings after upstrokes, in other words, the opposite of what we guessed would work best for you. I don’t hear any problems or noises from clashing into unwanted strings, so your motion might actually be upstroke escape motion. But when playing with a clean tone like this, it can sometime mask som noise that would be accented with distortion. So therefore, the most important thing is that it doesn’t FEEL like you are fighting the string changes. If it feels good and sounds good, then it is good!

Three things though… First, I would ask you to at least TRY a few licks with string changes after downstrokes just to see how that feels. You might already have done this but since you didn’t comment on it, it would be interesting to hear your experience with it.

Second, even if your goal is to be able to play over all strings in the way you are shredding the chromatic scale here, I still think it is important that you get comfortable playing simple things first. And when I say simple, I mean simple and infinitely repeatable. The Yngwie ascending or descending fours along a string is NOT a simple lick, since it requires a lot of focus on the changing left hand fingerings which defeats the purpose at this stage. The point with a simple lick is that you DON’T need to focus on the left hand but on the sync, consistency and smoothness of you picking. Choose whatever ostinato you want but keep it really simple.

Thirdly, it’s great that you can sync up so well to the metronome during the chromatic playing. And when it comes to that lick in particular, you are already so good at it that you might be in that phase of practise. But for new licks, turn of the metronome so that you can focus on smoothness and not have to worry about time keeping as well. There is a definite risk of tensing up if you force yourself to play in time at that stage of learning. You clearly have great time so no need to worry, you can work on that later.

Looking forward to more videos!

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#8

One more thing… The two note per string lick you practise, you are practising using bursts. I would suggest that you also try that lick as an ostinato, repeating it over and over. It is great to be able to do and also helps with finding a comfortable way of playing them. Bursts can sound really fast but can often be a little spastic and not as relaxed as the ostinato forces you to be.

So I just did a little video of this and the Yngwie six note lick as well. The Yngwie lick is great as you can move it along the string as well as move it to other strings. No news for you I guess but maybe good for clarification. Sorry for my 7 month old son in the background. I have the morning baby care taking shift here in Sweden. :slight_smile:

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Advice on picking technique
#9

Hey @Jgor,

Excellent progress, and I see you also got some great advice already :slight_smile:

I would just add that you can have a look at our new “picking motion” pages, they may help you recognize what you are already doing and make the most of it:

#10

OK, WOW!! That is amazing development in just a few days! This is shred level of speed and really great picking. It already looks really confident, like you’ve been doing this for years. I’m sure you can feel the difference in efficiency between this new style of playing and the style in your first video. This is great alternate picking motion with no string hopping tendencies.

Thanks for that @qwertygitarr. This is close to something I used to practice years ago, before I got into CtC. A saxophone teacher I had at the time gave me some advice on playing fast that was along the lines of “sprinters don’t win marathons, and marathon runners don’t win sprinting contests, so you’ve got to practice slowly but ultimately you also have to practice fast if you want to play fast”. I don’t feel the efficiency quite yet as I come from a mostly improvisational background, and with this new approach to picking, I can’t improvise anything! So it feels a bit like imposter syndrome at this point. But the proof is in the pudding;I can’t do what I’m doing there with my string-hopping/DBX/crosspicking/whatever motion that I’ve been doing for the last 15+ years. So I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I’m not there yet.

Now, how does this feel? Is it effortless or does it feel like work? Reason for asking is that it is important that you don’t develop a technique that is based upon excessive force. You want the fast playing to feel easy and fun.

I’ll have to get back to you on this after some more work. It definitely feels alien, but comfort is kind of a combination of physical & mental. I feel like it’s physically far less straining when I am reaching for speed compared to the DBX/String-Hopping technique of old, but it’s a physical and mental challenge to convince my hands to do it. I always say to my students that your fingers are like bad dogs; they need to be trained! In this case, it’s my right hand that needs to go to puppy training.

Another reason for asking is that all the licks you are playing here are changing strings after upstrokes, in other words, the opposite of what we guessed would work best for you.

Yes, I am completely aware of this. I have been messing around with all kinds of different wrist/forearm motions and I chose to work on this one because it feels the closest to the technique that I’ve used all along. I’m so used to starting on downstrokes, and economy picking is SO freakin’ foreign to me that this option allows me to retain more of my strengths.

I will say this though: my trem picking is faster and slightly more accurate with DSX than USX, but there is considerably more tension there at the highest point of speed. I’ve also experimented with some different pick grips (I’m a recovering tri-gripper), and different levels of supination (hope I’m using that term correctly). In the grand scheme of things, I can get almost any combination I’ve tried happening with tremolo around 16ths @ 175BPM. But I settled on a USX motion because it’s the closest feeling to what I know and most relaxed overall. My hand doesn’t feel like it needs to ball up (it does a bit with DSX at the highest speed), and therefore I have access to my fingers for hybrid picking, chording etc.

Three things though… First, I would ask you to at least TRY a few licks with string changes after downstrokes just to see how that feels. You might already have done this but since you didn’t comment on it, it would be interesting to hear your experience with it.

I didn’t try it yet! It’s a hell of a time convincing my hand to start on an upstroke. I will hit this on my next post though, absolutely. Going to take the rest of today off for some R&R and get back to the shed tomorrow evening!

Second, even if your goal is to be able to play over all strings in the way you are shredding the chromatic scale here, I still think it is important that you get comfortable playing simple things first. And when I say simple, I mean simple and infinitely repeatable. The Yngwie ascending or descending fours along a string is NOT a simple lick, since it requires a lot of focus on the changing left hand fingerings which defeats the purpose at this stage. The point with a simple lick is that you DON’T need to focus on the left hand but on the sync, consistency and smoothness of you picking. Choose whatever ostinato you want but keep it really simple.

Yes! I’m just starting to realize exactly how hard it is to get your hands in sync. It reminds me of starting over again or learning a new instrument (like the trumpet). Sure, I know all of the notes and the theory, but I don’t have the fingerings or the ability to recall them quickly. My goal by the end of the week is to get all of my 2NPS 7th chord arpeggios happening, i.e. Gmaj7, Gmin7, G7, Gmin7b5, G7#5, G7#11, Gminmaj7, etc. I think that’s a simple enough shape and one I can play fast with legato, so it makes sense to me to use that. I’m also going to focus on that one-string example you suggested and then played in the video. That is a big challenge for me, sadly!

Regarding practicing in ‘bursts’; I’m having a difficult time getting into repetitions. It seems like if I slow down to get the connecting notes (even using chunking), I switch back to my old string-hopping ways. The title of my thread sums this up perfectly; my hand is getting really confused! As soon as I speed up to get into the correct USX motion, I can’t get back to the starting note in time. Any suggestions?

Also thank you for the video, absolutely shredding mate, I hope to get there one day. I checked out some of your YouTube videos too, absolutely killing my friend. Great time feel, great tone, and an awesome arsenal of techniques. I especially envy the tapping stuff! Appreciate your time and advice immensely.

–

Thanks for chiming in @tommo. I’ve watched that video a few times, but I think another 10 or so views are warranted. Maybe I’ll understand it by then :joy:

Cheers and sorry for the novel,

J

#11

Hey thanks for your detailed answer! It’s hard to know what background someone has solely based upon a first post. Now I think I understand where you’re coming from a bit better.

Yeah I know that feeling. Thing is that, for me and I guess for most people, fast improvising is just small fragments of fast licks or chunks (like 3-6 notes maybe) that is strung together in a improvised fashion. All these small licks are automatised and burnt in over a long time, many of them unconsciously. I would bet that this is how all fast improvisers do. At fast speeds it’s not a bout note for note improvising anymore, one just don’t have brain capacity for that. So what is going to happen is that you will find small fragments that sound and feel good which will become the basics for your faster improvising using this new technique.

Ok great that you’ve tried all different versions and decided what you want to focus on. Even if you can go back to any of them, I think at this stage you might be right to choose one path and give that some time to burn in.

Ok, if you are sure that your motion is USX, then this is not important. It’s very common around here though that someone feel very convinced of what their technique is but it later reveals that their technique is something else at closer examination.

Also, you DON’T have to start a lick with upstroke for it to be a downstroke escape lick. If you for instance start a lick on a downstroke with an odd number of notes on the first string, then your first string change will be a downstroke string change. A common DSX lick is ascending or descending sixes and it starts with a downstroke and switches strings only after downstrokes.

Chunking with accents is what will make this work. If you accent the first note of the chunk, you will help you hands to get that note synchronized and if the chunk doesn’t have to many notes, the rest of the notes will probably line up quite more easily.

Aslo I would suggest really trying to use your “fast motion” when practising slow without it turning into your old motion. Some people have a motion that they are only capable of doing fast and there is no wrong in that, but I think it’s good to have the possibility to use it at a greater range of tempos.

Thanks man! I’m still working hard on improving my techniques and CtC has really been life changing for me. Just want to pass on the knowledge.

#12

Yo! Just wanted to put an update in here to help hold myself accountable :sweat_smile:

So watching your video @qwertygitarr , and of course lot’s of Troy’s, and many other guitarists, I’m always super impressed how relaxed the right hand is. And I want that relaxed, more rotational-wrist-focused motion. So today I hammered at that and managed to get that motion feeling really smooth and balanced with 16ths @ 180BPM.

I realize this is going against what a lot of people suggest for CtC beginners: which is to get your fastest picking motion going via tremolo, and then adapt that for patterns on one/two strings, et al. However after a bit of trying that I’ve found that by focusing on the motion that I want (USX), I can also get that going just fine. It feels a LOT more comfortable over 10 - 15 minutes of straight playing than my “fastest tremolo” mold (DSX). It’s also a LOT easier to slow this wrist oriented USX motion down in a way that feels real, for lack of a better term. And I feel like I have a lot more dynamic control right away. For a shred-noob like me, 180 is lightning fast anyway! How does it look?

00:00 Trem Pickin’
0:25 Chromatic BS
0:46 2NPS
1:17 Hackin’ Away

I still cannot get that Yngwie 6 note lick happening, at all. It’s absolute garbage in the video. Same thing with the 2NPS 7th chords. Why is it that the 4 NPS chromatic patterns are so much easier? I can’t seem to get locked into any other patterns besides that 1-2-3-4 bullshit.

Cheers,

J

PS - I just re-watched the video… oof it’s not the best angle or shot. I’ll clean it up next time, promise!

#13

Ok so your tremolo motion here actually seems to be (I’m kinda guessing here since the camera angle isn’t great like you said) a rotational USX motion. It looks really good and seems like it’s already quite reliable.

But when you start playing your licks you can see that your elbow takes over and your motion becomes more of an elbow driven motion. This would indicate that it probably isn’t USX anymore, but DSX and could explain why these USX licks feel harder.

Maybe you can work on really making sure that your motion stays rotational like when you tremolo. I would actually start practising a lick with doing my tremolo picking to get the feel for it. Then gradually slow down that motion still making sure the motion is the same. Then, at a comfortable speed, apply the left hand but keep focusing on the right hand. This is why the left hand lick must be easy, so easy that it’s automated and you don’t have to focus on that hand. Then when the hands are synced, gradually raise the speed but keep focusing on using the same picking motion. If you loose it, go back and try to find it again. Something like this:

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#14

I’m seeing the same thing. Either of these can be made to work, but when you’re figuring things out, it helps to be aware of which one you’re doing.

And to be clear, I don’t think CTC is saying “the fastest tremolo you can possibly do should be the basis of your picking motion”, just that your picking should be based on a movement than can be sped up to a level that’s “fast enough” for your musical needs, whatever they are. So if you can do a tremolo two or more different ways, you don’t necessarily need to pick the absolute fastest one if there’s one with a lower speed limit that is still “fast enough” for the material you want to play and has other upsides to it (such as feeling smoother or having greater endurance).

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#15

Hey @Frylock, thank you for your input and I agree with what you said! Without getting into semantics I just wanted to clarify that I didn’t say CTC is explicitly suggesting this trem-first approach, but it is often a user-generated suggestion seen on the forum.

@qwertygitarr Mannnn, you make it look so easy. Here’s the issue for me…

At MM 100 and below, this USX feels fine. A little awkward because this is where I can string-hop/DBX/whatever just fine, so some adjustment and focus is required. But generally, this feels good. I can play the Yngwie thing, and 4NPS chromatics, change strings, no problem.

Right around 115/120, until about 145, I absolutely lose it. It feels like I can’t get my hands in sync here at all, and it sounds like I’m swinging all my 16ths (but it’s not intentional). What’s most surprising here is that just playing one tremolo note consistently here feels pretty terrible and inconsistent. 125 - 135 is the absolute worst red zone of all.

150 - 180 is the green zone. It feels good here, sounds clean, and is working.
180 - 200 is not quite the green zone, but still feels way better than 120 - 145.

So what’s going on in this 115 - 145 range?


[0:00] Free Time Tremolo
[0:18] Free Time Tremolo Closeup [0:41] Free Time Yngwie Lick
[1:14] Free Time Chromatic Stuffs
[1:31] Green Zone Stuff
[2:06] Red Zone Stuff 1
[2:29] Red Zone Stuff 2

Happy New Year all!

#16

Thanks for pointing that out. It’s sometimes easy to take some aspects for granted when discussing something that’s not new to yourself.

What I can tell from the video is that in your red zone, you use more of the rotational movement with a bit more consistent flexion of you wrist and less elbow involvement. This might feel alien because it’s somewhat new and the motion isn’t totally burnt in yet, I don’t know. But at the same time, if you feel tense and that it’s totally uncontrollable, this might be your body telling you you should do something different.

What it might boil down to though, from my own experience anyway, is that it’s easy to expect the slower stuff to sound perfect since the fast version sometimes sounds great. You expect control and that it should feel easy. I would say though that, to the listener, your red zone sounds great and synced. It’s even more consistent than your fast playing where it mostly sounds great but there are occasional hick ups.

You talk about your red zone as being somewhat swinging but I can’t detect that. It sounds even to me.

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#17

Agreed, and I think this is one of the reasons why the “gym mentality*” does not work very well on guitar: playing something at 200bpm does not automatically imply that every speed below 200 will sound great.

I am painfully reminded of this when I try to record “easy” rhythm parts, like 8th note power chords and the like, or even slow melodies. It’s really hard to make that stuff sound good and groovy!

Quite ironically, when we play fast we can get away with less precise timing and phrasing, provided the target tones are played right.

I think at the end of the day the answer is to practice (and record) all this stuff / all these different speeds, trying to make sure they all sound good. I’m talking to myself as well here :smiley:

  • by gym mentality I mean something like “If I can lift 100kg, I can also lift 80”.
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#18

I think you and I may be talking past each other slightly on this part. I actually do advocate a “trem first” approach, just “trem first with an asterisk”, if you will. If you have a motion that’s as fast as you want it to be, and it’s smooth and relaxed, there’s no need to switch to some other motion that’s “somewhat faster” if that added speed isn’t worth whatever other assets you need to give up to get it (e.g. smoothness, endurance).

For anyone who wants to learn to do “fast alternate picking” in the widely accepted sense of the term, I do think it makes sense to experiment to discover a “preferred picking motion” based on how it allows you to repeat a single note on a single string. Maybe sometimes people are too quick to dismiss a picking motion at this stage if they perceive it to be too difficult to synchronize with the fretting hand. It seems like there are often folks who post on the forum and the licks they are attempting are difficult enough in terms of synchronization that it’s not really discernible whether the frustration is truly about the abilities of the picking hand, or more about synchronization between picking and fretting. The point of the “trem first” idea is to reduce the number of variables, and help a person really zero in on what works best for a person’s picking hand, without muddying the waters by attempting complex synchronization between the picking and fretting hands.

Once a person dials in a “preferred picking motion” with fast repetitions of a single note on a single string, they can build from there by gradually progressing through a “fretting complexity gradient” while still using that “preferred picking motion”. So the idea would be to progressively increase from “fast picking with essentially zero fretting complexity” up through multiple steps along a fretting complexity gradient to until you reach “fast picking with some goal level of fretting complexity”.

There’s a role for slower practice as well, but I think a lot of frustration people experience is due to attacking licks of “high fretting complexity” while using a picking motion that’s destined to fail them once they speed up beyond a certain tempo. Practicing with a “reliably fast picking motion” from square one up through a fretting complexity gradient will help you ensure that at a given stage of fretting complexity progression, you can still pick fast. And it will help you identify what class of fretting challenges are beyond your current level of synchronization capabilities with your “reliably fast picking motion”.

Or to try and summarize: if a given picking motion won’t allow you to pick fast when fretting synchronization demands are low, it’s unrealistic to expect it to allow you to pick fast when fretting synchronization demands are high. The “trem first” idea is meant to save people from investing time in training synchronization of the fretting hand with a picking motion that is significantly speed limited even when fretting synchronization demands are low.

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#19

This is very true. I read an interesting study a few years ago that concluded metronome practice for the piano at a specific tempo carries no real benefits beyond +/- 5 BPM for any given pattern.

Meaning that if you practice at 100 BPM only, you’ll be good for 95-105 with whatever movements you’re learning. Turns out the advice of bumping up the metronome by 5 BPM isn’t arbitrary after all, and why huge jumps in metronome markings causes the practicing experience to feel drastically different.

#20

Hello, thread

Just wanted to make a quick update for my own accountability. I haven’t made any significant progress in the last week. Still struggling to get that one-string pattern happening cleanly anywhere above 140; can’t seem to get my hand synced quite yet.

What’s funny is how bad I sound just trying to play ‘the usual way’. It seems like my right hand is totally in shambles, but we’ll see where we’re at in another week. Just playing my usual tunes, exercises, improvising, scales & arpeggios etc. is feeling so strange.

My big question this week is about pick grip. As I am adapting to this wrist focused motion I am having a hard time with grip. I think I’m used to gripping the pick significantly harder, and digging in a little harder on every note. I’m noticing with this USX wrist oriented thing, I have a much lighter touch (for lack of a better description). I can’t seem to accent notes with any precision. Does anyone have any input on their experience transitioning to this type of motion?

I’ve also been exploring some different videos regarding motion including:



Thanks,

J

#21

Hi Jgor–

Can you play the “Yngwie 6” one string pattern up to speed using legato or just picking the first note of each 6 and keep it in time? If your fret hand timing is off you will not be able to sync up the pick hand no matter what.

Can you play the pattern legato for 30 seconds or so at 140 and keep it in time?

I know for me sometimes the issue is/was in the fret hand–so no matter how much “hammering away” I did with the pick hand it was never going to sync up because the fret hand was off.

My apologies if this was already suggested or you have already tried it.

#22

My experience is that wrist-based motion is more susceptible to getting “deflected” by the strings. Compensating for that deflection makes it harder to pick fast. For me, that means at lower speeds, I can “dig in” with wrist picking as much as I want, but at higher speeds, I need to bite the string much less in order for the picking motion to stay smooth and fast. I find that motions using elbow or forearm-wrist blend allow me to continue to bite the strings harder (deeper pick attack on the string) at high speeds than wrist-only motions.

One thing I’ll add is that the deflection effect is greater as you get closer to the bridge. I generally like to rest part of the heel of my hand on the bridge. If you use a setup that allows you to pick further from the bridge, the deflection effect is reduced (that is, for a given pick depth, the string displaces more easily as you move from an endpoint of the string towards the midpoint).