Is this a correct understanding of pickslanting?

Playing Technique
#1

Wanted to see if anyone could take a second to let me know if I’m understanding pick slanting correctly. I’ll type what I have written down, using “U” for upstroke and “D” for downstroke and maybe you could tell me if this would be the “right” pickslant to use

String 5: DUD ----> String 4: U = upwards slant on the string change?

String 5: UDU ----> String 4: D = Downwards slant?

String 4: DUD —> String 5: U = Upwards slant?

String 4: UDU —> String 5: D =Downwards slant?

I know there’s more to it, but at its most basic level, are these the ways you would want to pickslant for each of these string changes?

Thanks!

#2

If you draw the path of the tip of the pick, the slant is usually 90 degrees to that.

It might be easier to think of the path as being fundamental and then the slant as being a consequence.

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#3

I’m not 100% sure I understand what you’re saying correctly, but if I do, then I’d say you sort of have it backwards.

It IS possible to tailor your pick escape to particular sequences, with pracrice, I suppose, but I think it’s a lot easier to start with the observation that your current picking mechanic probably already has a “slant” or escape in it. Thinking in terms of escape is probably easier and is more the way the CtC matrerial has gone since the earlier days - basically that your pickstroke buries the pick in one direction, making string changes very hard, but in the other direction escapes over the plane of the strings, making them pretty effortless.

Basically, your pick’s trajectory is probably not parallel with the plane of the strings, and you already have an effortless escape at one point, either coming off downstrokes or upstrokes.

For me, I tend to play with escaped downstrokes, so downstrokes rise above the plane of the string but I bury my upstrokes, the reverse of the “downwards pickslant” of Yngwie.

So, your first example, DUD on one string, would allow me to change efficiently to the next string.

Your second example, UDU, would NOT be efficient. So, I’d have a couple options - I could simply not do it, and do UD or UDUD, or I could use a “helper” motion to get an escaped upstroke going in what’s normally an escaped downstroke motion, or I could play that last donstroke as a legato note so I’m still changing after an upstroke, etc etc etc.

So, I’d start by figuring out what your current pick motion does, and if you escape on upstrokes or downstrokes. Then, whichever it is, I’d spend some time building an entire vocabulary around the motion you already have so you have a whole stock of “building blocks” for runs that are mechanically efficient for you.

Spend some time with that, and maybe then start thinking about how you can adjust and do other escaped motions. But, the low hanging fruit isto take what you can already do, and then find ways to use that motion in as many cool musical ways as possible.

The actual slant of the pick is pretty immaterial, compared to the trajectory it makes as it moves through the strings.

#4

I appreciate the replies. I follow what you guys are saying about the slant being a consequence and the pick’s path. My question is, wouldn’t the same slant + stroke always produce the same path though? ie if you play a downstroke on the 5th string with an upward slant, won’t it always be escaped?

I guess it’s easier for me to think about the slant first cuz that’s mainly how I’ve seen it discussed before, hopefully doesn’t come off as me disagreeing with anything said.

Maybe a better way to have phrased my question is: “will each last stroke of the first string in these examples be escaped so you could hit the first note of the second string without string hopping?”

The conclusion I came to when I tried it on my guitar was that they would be, and they each seemed to be the better option than the alternative slant. but I know everyone here has a much better understanding of pickslanting, escape, etc than I do currently.

I’m in what I imagine is a different situation from most people here in that I have not really practiced any picking for about a year or more due to thoracic outlet syndrome. Before that I never really had shred type sequences I picked either, just trem and a couple things with repeating notes + string changes. Didn’t have a grasp of pickslanting at all. So in a way, I’m looking to start from scratch and start with the most effective pick trajectory and slant for the patterns I think I will use most.

#5

I guess maybe you don’t always want the pick to be escaped on the string change though? ie the second example of 5:UDU 4D with downwards slant, it’s trapped between 5 & 4 after the last U on the 5th, but that’s more efficient than if it was floating above the strings?

#6

Depends what you mean by “string 5” and “string 4,” but if you’r going from, say, the D string to the G string on a conventionally strung guitar, with escaped upstrokes and buried downstrokes, then while the pickstroke is buried, you DO have the option to sweep from the D to the G, as a workaround.

I’d still reconsider your mental framework here, though - language of escaping vs pickslanting aside, it’s far more common to find players with a fairly constant pickslant who either have workarounds (like sweeping) for situations where their slant doesn’t work, or simply just don’t play licks where it doesn’t work, than it is to find players who flip around between different slants on the fly based on whatever happens to be most efficient. Yeah, you can do it… but it’s REALLY hard to think that fast, at speed, so the more you can get this process down to simple muscle memory, the better.

#7

No! Every combination you can think of exists out there. Just some examples: Andy Wood’s technique is DSX with a vertical pick / zero pickslant. David Grier’s technique is DSX with upward pickslanting. Gypsy technique makes USX motion with a downward pickslant. Shawn Lane’s technique is also USX, but rotates the arm in completely the opposite direction from the Gypsies. This would normally produce upward pickslanting, but Shawn counteracts this with the trailing edge “George Benson” pick grip. So rotating the arm is not how pickslanting is achieved. It’s the sum of all the parts working together. It’s complicated!

Don’t try to “do a pickslant”. Instead, use the tutorials in the Primer to choose an overall technique you want to try. The instructions we provide will take care of the small details.

The first step is to take the motion tests and record the numerical values. Then get your core motion working fast a single note on a single string, with a feeling of ease. When you do this, you will have some type of escape and the pick will have some type of appearance - again, probably determined by the technique you’re attempting to do, whether it’s Gypsy or double escape wrist technique and so on.

Try to take care of these steps first, before trying to play phrases that combine upstroke and downstroke string changes in the same phrase.

Have you done the motion tests and the easy tremolo yet? Which technique? If you get hung up on any of these steps, feel free to make a Technique Critique on the platform, we’re happy to take a look!

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#8

Really appreciate the replies.

Really good to know. I thought that was the whole goal :sweat_smile: I watched some youtube videos that may have led me down the wrong path…

I actually did about a year ago, and submitted a critique. Just went back and looked it over. You had said, I was using wrist motion and/or reverse dart thrower motion on one clip, and it was less clear on the two others. But that single string speed was not an issue, but to check out the primer and get an understanding of escape motion. I also didn’t really have a clear goal at the time, so I think we left it like that and the critique was closed. I stopped playing for the most part soon after that. So I’ll pick up from there now!

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