Is there some "trick" to improving string-tracking?

Technique Critique
#1

Is there some “trick” to accurate string-tracking?

I have an issue with string-tracking when I transition from higher to lower strings. My right hand tends to LAG far behind my left as I transition to the lower strings…

#2

Everytime I have a problem where I notice a lag spot in a phrase that I am trying to speed up I swing tempo it for a few days, making sure the 2 fast notes during the swing occur on the lag spot to pinpoint and work on the speed development of it. This specific video is for 16ths, but you can just use swing to work on a more triplet feel.

For some reason when you do the swing rhythm it just melts away tension and allows you to perform the manuever faster than if you inserted it into a much larger chunk so you can isolate it to allow your hands to learn the body mechanics without tension.

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#3

bradejensen, these are pretty great. Thankyou! :slight_smile: However, what I mean more specifically is that my right hand palm does not slide upwards as I descend on the strings I’m playing. By the time I reach the 5th and 6th string in this video, the whole thing basically falls apart.

#4

from the video i spot upstroke escape playing so downward sweeping on the musically ascended phrasing, and you are in the same pickle as all of us who slant that way, descended phrasing is like running in sand just cant keep up. :sweat_smile:

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#5

Hey, so it seems you are forearm and wrist usx right? Have you watched this video?

Now when I descend, I actually do move the entire arm unlike the video I linked to. I think the main reason is because I sit with the guitar on my left leg and have a higher approach angle, so to do it without shifting the arm, leaves me with a very uncomfortable heavily flexed wrist by the time I reach the low E.

I don’t think there is a trick to it as such, but it can involve motion from the forearm, wrist, possibly finger and thumb to adjust edge picking and also moving the arm.

The video above outlined it better than I can, but if you haven’t seen it, it should help to explain how to track, or at least show what is happening during descending tracking, with forearm and wrist motion.

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#6

Bradejensen, yep. That is definitely the feeling… It feels so weird.

#7

Jptk, thankyou! I am def checking this out.

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