Is this correct wrist motion?

Technique Critique
#1

Hey everyone! Longtime viewer of the YouTube content, finally pulled the trigger a couple days ago and have been going through all the Pickslanting Primer material. I’ve been able to get a fair amount of speed by switching to (what I think) is wrist motion with USX using a trigger-style pick grip.

I just wanted make a post on here and get people’s opinions. Am I on the right track? Possible improvements?

One thing I have noticed with this configuration, though, is my forearm starts to get a little sore after a while. Is there a way to avoid this?

Video includes full speed and slow-mo.

Thanks!

2 Likes
#2

Looks like a great starting point to me!

I would start working on hand synchronization at this point, because the speed is already there :slight_smile:

Re: forearm tension, are you feeling this when you do a long continuous stream of fast picked notes? Because in that case I would guess it’s fairly normal (provided it feels like muscular tiredness and not joint pain).

#3

Okay cool, I just needed confirmation that I was on the right track! And yes, I only feel it on a continuous stream of fast picked notes—I had suspected this was normal as well, just wasn’t sure. Thanks for the help!

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#4

No problem!

Another question just came to mind: do you have another motion that instead you can do for a long time without getting tired? Because that could be your reference for what “correct” feels like

#6

@Young_Stringhopper just to follow up / double check on the forearm soreness thing, we’d like to make sure this is not something that could lead to injury!

Could you tell us a few more details on when / how the soreness shows up? Are we talking a long guitar session (like 1 continuous hour or more), or just a few seconds/ minutes of fast playing?

#7

Another question just came to mind: do you have another motion that instead you can do for a long time without getting tired? Because that could be your reference for what “correct” feels like

Okay I tried a couple of different motions after reading this post, and weirdly enough out of everything I tried, standing up and lowering my strap a little seems to help a lot, as does playing in classical position (guitar on left leg) instead of on the right.

Could you tell us a few more details on when / how the soreness shows up? Are we talking a long guitar session (like 1 continuous hour or more), or just a few seconds/ minutes of fast playing?

It starts to show up after a couple of minutes of fast playing. Based on what I found from standing up/classical position, I have a feeling the soreness might be just be due to me holding my picking arm up so high for extended periods of time. The soreness is in my upper forearm/lower bicep, and I notice the shoulder on my picking arm kind of ‘shrugs’ when I play quickly (the elbow is almost at a right angle).

I’m trying to focus on consciously relaxing my shoulder, and it seems to be working.

1 Like
#8

excellent, thanks for trying! So the discomfort seems to be a posture-related thing, not a “muscles getting tired” kind of thing.

So — sorry for stating the obvious — in this case I’d suggest to only use these more comfortable playing postures you have just found :slight_smile:

Another thing I’d suggest is to try the 3-finger grip. I don’t use it much, but sometimes I noticed that when I’m feeling “lazy” I go back to it. In my case it kind of promotes a more relaxed posture. At the very least, you could use it as an alternative when your normal setup does not feel good — and you may be able to learn new motions as a nice side effect :slight_smile: