I’m fairly certain at this point that I primarily crosspick when changing strings, and mostly in general. I’ve always done this, for example to quickly arpeggiate notes in open chords.
However, If I wanted to play some shreddy major scale like, for example, is crosspicking going to cut it? Or does pickslanting need to be implemented at this point? Should i be focusing on diving the pick into and past the string plane rather than keeping the crosspicking, double escape U shape?
I just re-read your question, and didn’t see the part about shredding the major scale. I love double-scaped picking for 3NPS scales. It sounds amazing… and can be sped up above 200 bpm fairly routinely.
As for shredding arpegios… Yes & No. For me, I do 99.9% double-escaped picking, but there is a point where I still do sweeps. right around the 175+ bpm 16th, If I have a purely 1NPS one-directional phrase…I revert to good ol sweeping.
That isn’t to say I can’t go faster than that with alt-picking… but it’s still not reliable enough for me yet… and it still doesn’t have the consistent sound that sweeping can have. This may change though.
That’s a toughie. I would say to continue to try and always pick past the string plane, it helps reinforce good habits… but I sometimes get lazy myself when I’m camping out on one string… and I’ll ‘under-swing’.
I think the Andy Wood videos indicate that yes, it is, to a point - but beyond that point, you more or less move unconsciously to what we used to call two-way pickslanting with different paths, but using the wrist for both - for me, since I use a relatively supinated wrist position as my default, that the UWPS parts of the licks would involve a lot of wrist flexion and extension, while the DWPS parts would mostly be wrist deviation.
So after a certain point, you’ll stop doing the full “curve” on each pick stroke, but you’ll still be using the wrist movements that crosspicking has ingrained into your muscle memory.
I would add to this that switching from a more symmetrical double-escaped path to a 2WPS path can make it more difficult to maintain a very consistent and reliable attack.
I’ve been recently practicing a lot more trying to maintain the double-escape at the higher speeds, and it sounds more fluid, and I feel like I can do 3NPS ascending/descending runs for hours at a time without missing a note. (Obvious exaggeration here)
I understand if a player needs to switch to 2WPS because of problems keeping up the full path at high speeds… but in general… I’d say, try to keep the double-escape going as long as you can. It’s a wonderful thing.
There’s no really need to (consciously) switch. IME it happens kind of automatically.
Hence why (to me) there’s no point in learning TWPS if you learn the cross-picking motion to start with. TWPS just happens.
Are you saying you’ve tried to play certain phrases and you can’t? Or are you asking what’s going to happen when you do? Because my suggestion is to try it first and analyze later. What happens when you play as fast as you can, like on a single string - what motion are you using?
That is true… and I’ve talked about this before. If you have a solid X-picking form… the transition to what @Troy calls 2WPS isn’t really a transition at all… it’s basically the exact same path on every pick… only you are ‘under-swinging’ or ‘under-articulating’ during the non-moving strokes. I use the analogy of the vertical skateboarder who follows the same path on the ramp each time… but only gets ‘air’ above the coping when necessary. I guess it can be called 2wps, but it’s a bit of a confusing term in the world of curved pick-strokes.
But irregardless… I think the speed at which this ‘transition’ needs to happen is way higher than I ever imagined… almost to the point where it never needs to happen at all (unless you are crazy enough to try this with hyper-picking)
My current favorite exercise is doing 3NPS low E to high E back to Low E, then doing the same with 1NPS… and its now to the point where the pick-strokes are nearly identical throughout the whole exercise. It’s the whole idea of ‘one pick-stroke to rule them all’
Major scales and arpeggios? Or just any ol chromatics?
Anything. But I actually start off without fretting at all… just any old chord shape. Something about removing the fretting from the equation kinda ‘purifies’ the experience… and you can really listen to every pick attack… and make sure each one is the same.
Ah that’s interesting. So you’re playing all of the notes muted? I’ve heard people say that it’s also helpful to practice legato that way, so you can hear the consistencies in the muted notes.
Actually, I meant just picking a static fretting position, not necessarily open strings or muted. Just doing any familiar chord progression where you pick each of the strings of the chord, then move onto the next chord. I think playing it both muted, and non-muted is also a good idea… it’s a different dynamic. But again… really try and listen to each note… to make sure it all sounds nice a consistent.
But yes, legato by itself is also a very important exercise. And I know Rick Graham does a ‘muted’ legato… which actually sounds like a staccato without picking. A lot of times… when learning something that feels unplayable… its a good idea to try slitting it up… and just focus on the fretting using legato… and then doing just the picking… and then combining the two.