How are dynamics reflected in picking?

Playing Technique
#1

Let’s say that I am playing steady 16th notes, and I want to make their volume change, along the lines of

123412341234…

So, what am I changing to make a particular note louder? I think that there are only a few things to change, where one might hit a little higher up on the pick for more “boom,” or one might hit faster; could it be anything else?

So, how does one hit faster? This is the interesting part… if the pick moves like a sine wave, trivial math can show that the velocity of the pick is proportional to the distance that it travels, so it would look like a longer stroke on the 1.

I’ve watched many fine videos that Troy has made, but I can’t recall him commenting on how to be louder or softer, particularly at speed. So, how does one do this?

Many thanks!!!

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#2

Interesting topic. I think of how accents may slow us down akin to the problems @Troy outlines with string hopping. I’m also reminded of Moller technique from drumming.

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#3

It’s based on how far you move the string, speed and even force has nothing to do with it.
Just like an archer draws his bow slowly yet gets huge elastic energy return, because they pulled it back far, not fast.

Work on accents with how far you’re moving the string away from resting point in mind.
Don’t think faster strokes, or harder strokes, or bigger strokes.

Digging in is a good thought.

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#4

Great question and from our filming in slow motion there is a clear answer:

…and that’s the answer! The pickstrokes are bigger. And you use more muscular force to travel faster, which hits the string harder. It’s not subtle at all and easily visible under the camera. In fact I didn’t know I was doing this, a viewer pointed it out.

In our lessons I have said that chunking is a “conceptual accent”, and that you shouldn’t actually go around hitting the initial notes in repeating patterns harder, only imagining them more prominent. Turns out this is false. I hit the notes harder! In fact, I can’t turn it off. Even if I try to play the Yngwie six-note pattern totally straight, the initial pickstrokes are still slightly larger, even if I can’t feel or hear accents. The phrase is simply memorized that way.

Note that this is true even over 200bpm. I can do this as fast as I can play. Rather than slowing me down, it’s a type of internal metronome. I visualize and play the first note harder than the rest, and to speed up I just play the first note faster. The rest fall into line.

If you browse the Volcano clips in slow motion, you’ll see this. Typically on the single string examples.

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#5

*Causing the string to be displaced further

You can just grip the pick harder.

In Terms of playing Troy is correct in that a greater motion will be easier to control. But it’s important to know what’s actually causing it.

#6

I’m sure there are multiple factors at play here, however when you watch the players we have interviewed under the camera, they almost universally appear to make bigger motions for accented notes. They may very well be gripping harder too. But the fact that the notes are visually bigger is easy to see.

Try filming yourself in slow motion and see what it looks like. Don’t think about it, just play a line and throw in an accented note somewhere. Is the motion larger, or is it the same size?

This is not a challenge! I’m legitimately interested in knowing the “how”. This is a question that a lot of players probably have and it’s one of those things that’s easily testable with equipment that everyone has.

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#7

I too use a bigger motion. That preloads the force to move the string a greater distance so it can snap back with greater energy. It doesn’t matter how fast you hit the string as long as it moves a greater distance than the other notes. Though many times I’ll just push down harder, all depends on what’s being played.

And of course upstroke accents will also look wider but only because it’s hard to control the added force after it’s left the string, they are far more obvious what’s actually happening, a dragging of the string a greater distance.

#8

Dynamics:

  1. Bigger faster path motion
  2. Digging into the string deeper
  3. Changing Pick Angle from flat to diagonal
  4. Changing Amount of pickthumb touch for the squealin’
  5. Change the amount of cello rubbin’
  6. Change the amount of palm touch for mutin and squealin’
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#9

Thanks for the explanation, @Troy, and also for inferring my real question (that pertained to chunking, and how I should practice chunks with dynamics in order to memorize).

There was one other consequence on dynamics that seems to hold that I didn’t mention:

Let’s say that I use DWPS. The downstroke can be made pretty loud [even to the extreme of becoming a rest stroke], but not the upstroke (given that there is not a lot of “runway” to accelerate over on the upstroke until the string is hit). If I use UWPS, the opposite would hold. In other words, there seems to be an asymmetry between the maximum volume of upstrokes or downstrokes.

Thanks again to everybody for the help and thoughtful insights!

#10

sorry, you what now?

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#11

Rub the wound strings with the edge of the pick to get a swishy cello type sound. Works best on cleanish overdrive settings.

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#12

The volume difference is how you hold your pick, the thumb give a high surface area making it move far less and moving the string a greater distance from resting point, upstrokes are far more flimsy.
I bet the strings having no support on top of them also effects it, I can’t be arsed to sort my floyd to test.