I should probably work on my swiping, because I’m inclined to use hybrid picking for things like that where you have one note on a higher string because I find it exhausting to have to change back and forth between pick slants that quickly.
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I think all this stuff is about combining considerations of the timbre you want and what is easiest for your technique.
Like…I could re-finger this with legato and tapping and get it to warp speed but it wouldn’t probably have much of the character of how Timmons plays it. I could crosspick it (my weakest technique) and the tone, time, and dynamics would be really dialed in but I wouldn’t be able to do it very fast at all.
I could refinger a few notes to avoid even the swiping and get some stretches going, probably would be a lot faster but maybe lose some clarity because my left hand couldn’t handle it as well…
lot of options!
my recommendation (if one is asking…) is to start with what you think has the best tone/timbre and then make adjustments from there to suit your technique and see if there’s a compromise.
Or…just get great at crosspicking (I still don’t get how hahaha) and then nothing is a problem ever again
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I’m probably being anal, but you guys keep saying “swiping”. I’m pretty sure you mean “sweeping”.
They are different in the CtC terminology.
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right?
Great discussion. Thanks everybody. I am glad I brought a challenging one to the table!
I think Andy is definitely picking every note in the record. That is why it sounds so bad ass in my opinion.
It is really hard to find a live version where Andy plays that part. His live versions are all different from each other. Though, equally beautiful.
I found this version where he actually (kind of) plays that part [@4:12]:
It looks like he is shifting positions. So as many of you suggested, rearranging the fingering is an option. But then if the pick slanting challenge is solved, the new challenge is to prevent the slide from being heard. Otherwise the lick will loose its aggressiveness again.
Thanks for all the proposals and thanks @aliendough for sharing your video so quickly!
Looking forward to more!
Cheers! \m/
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FRETTING: I would just bar it on the 5th, and do the pinky finger-roll in the beginning. (I bar pretty much everything nowadays).
PICKING: plain old alternate picking. I don’t think you even need to swipe or cross-picking here. (maybe Im missing something here, it is kinda late)
The 2 note-per-string rotation always alternates between the two strings in the same direction (either inside or outside). That makes it more ‘pickable’
Where it gets tricky is when it switches from outside to inside, etc. (ie rotating 3s on a 3 note-per-string scale.) That’s where I would swipe the hell out of it in the past. Its a really great exercise, and a good example of the limitations of 2wps.
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I’m a primary down 2WPS, so it would be atrict alternate picking. The main issue for me is the upward (in pitch) finger roll on the 8th fret with pinky. I feels super awkward. So I would change the fingering to get rid of that. As I appear to be a primary down pickslanter, I have used the open a steing to start the run because a) the chunky open string sounds cool, but b), it eliminates a pickslant change for the second note (if I were to star on the 5th fret E string. So all in all I end up with the below first half of the lick. I then shift up to play the second half as written in the opening post. The “*” denotes the switch to UWPS orientation for that note.
Edit*** my attempt to type a tab failed epic style , what is the best way to post a tab?
Easiest solution for me would be swybrid picking, i.e., d u m d d u m d d u m etc.
(edit - bad link the first time)
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Hey Tom. Can post some videos of your swybrid picking? Would love to see it in action.
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+1 on a vid. I’m also interested.
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I would play it straight alternate picking starting on a down stroke. Swiping the changes to a higher string and TWPS for the changes to a lower string. I would play two consecutive downstrokes for the last note to get the pinch harmonic.
I would refinger it like A. ALternatively, to avoid the double down stroke I would re finger the last few notes and slide D to F as in example B
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Actually this fingering might be even easier it puts the only two TWPS rotations in a more natural sequence for me.
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wait so … what does “swiping” mean if it doesn’t mean sweeping, in this case a single string?
For me, I’d purely alternate pick it using crosspicking to deal w/ string changes. Without hearing the lick, it just looks to be ascending pentatonics in groups of 4, in position 4. So I start the lick with a downstroke and alt pick, which leads to each new group starting with a downstroke.
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If I had to move super-fast, I would probably use outside picking starting with a downstroke-hammeron to turn my pick around. This gives you a 1-note head-start and when you’re moving quickly, it’s hard for anyone to catch the single hammer-on without a slow-downer machine. Otherwise, just start on an upstroke, if there aren’t any fast notes preceding.
Of course, you can just “Steve Morse” your way through it by using wide strokes to minimize the forearm twisting, and perhaps a little string swiping if you lack his athletic ability. But, this is where a man must know his limitations, especially if you’re prone to arthritis like Steve is nowadays.
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Swiping is just playing through the string as if it wasn’t even there and playing the next note on the new string with the next stroke in the repeated DUD or UDU pattern. You can do this as long as you A) mute the string you are swiping and B) are moving in the direction of your pickslant. So a downward pickslanter can swipe when moving to the next higher (in pitch) string i.e. play downstroke on string 6 continue thraight through string 5 and play next note on string 5 with an upstroke. An upward sickslanter can’t do this movement as the string will stick on the 5th string instead of “swiping” over/through it. However, an upward pickslanter can swipe when moving from a high string to the next lower string on an up stroke.
It is discussed at some length in the Anti Gravity seminar.
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Thanks! I remember now. Swiping seems like such a strange solution to the problem of needing a pick escape. It seems like it’d be much harder to swipe through a string while muting it, and then play it on the “other side” (of the string) rather than just cross pick and develop a double string escape.
Swiping is definitely much easier than a double escape solution but is much more limited which is why I am driving myself crazy trying to get the cross picking mechanic working 
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