Hey tech dudes,
How’s it going?
I just wanted to kindly ask for some technical feedback – maybe someone feels like helping me out.
Short and sweet:
Does this look like string hopping to you?
If not, do you have any suggestions for improvement?
Unfortunately, I couldn’t film it any better – I hope this is somewhat okay…
Best regards,
Marco
What motion are you attempting to do, USX?
Yeah USX
Sorry forgot to mention that…
Awesome! I am probably the least qualified here to answer, but dang - that looks like USX, and it seems pretty good! I bet that the feedback you might get from Troy/Tommo would be something like this;
Go faster. Pressure test that sucker and work your way DOWN to a tempo where stuff is clean. That base “clean” tempo will go up pretty quickly, actually!
Smooth and “effortless” feeling - this is kind of ambiguous, but it looks like the the pick kind of “snags” a bit on the string; perhaps minimize that and you will remove a level of resistance that’s in the way of your desired tempos?
Anyways, good luck. The experts here will chime in soon I am sure and you can get some good advice! 
Can you reach 16th notes at 170 - 180 bpm? Just on one string? These clips are a little too slow to say if it’s an efficient motion or not.
Yes, but only with a lot of tension in my middle finger and by using my elbow. Sometimes it get‘s up to 220 if I played for hours, and sometimes I can‘t reach 140. So it‘s never reliable…
Disclaimer - I’m not an expert, I’m not troy! But if you can easily break the 110-120 barrier, it’s ABSOLUTELY not stringhopping. And it doesn’t look like it is. If it was stringhopping, your arm would be on fire at 110 bpm.
That level of inconsistency is crazy, though. I have “on” and “off” days with various motions, but never by that margin.
The first video could be wrist? It’s difficult to tell at that speed and angle. A regular-speed video might be better (ironically).
The second video definitely looks like elbow motion to me.
I think your fast motion and slower motion are different. It’s looks like when playing faster, your elbow is engaged. I’m wondering, if you actually weren’t trying to do USX, would you be faster and more consistent.
Your fast attempt appears that it may be trapped. It has flattened out and doesn’t appear to escape on the upstroke anymore. Possibly because you are using the elbow, which usually creates a dsx picking motion, not usx.
I would suggest trying to go fast, on one string, forgetting about the left hand and forgetting about which escape you are doing. Film that and let’s see.
Awesome stuff, man! Good playing - I for one definitely know what it feels like when some stuff seems to work flawlessly, but other things are an absolute grind with minimal to no improvement in sight despite putting a lot of energy into a thing!
Pretty fast stuff, my man but I think that perhaps you are trying to be a USX guy, when your natural proclivity when going fast might actually be DSX? Just my .002, I could be wrong!
Hey guys, happy new year!
I really appreciate your help, thanks a lot, dudes!
I’m finding USX pretty tough – DSX comes pretty natural to me, but I think I mostly use DBX for fast stuff, so my pick goes more or less in parallel position to the string
At 160 bpm, my wrist taps out, and my elbow starts to take over. By the time I hit 190, it’s almost all elbow.
These videos show me completely un-warmed up, just switching between subdivisions (16ths, triplets, and 32nds) at 110 bpm.
Would love to hear any thoughts or tips you guys might have, what to train, should I try to get my wrist movement better, or just work on what comes naturally.
Always feel that there is a tradeoff in speed/accuracy with the techniques. Wrist feel‘s more controlled, ellbow faster
