Jason Becker DSX?

I’m new here so sorry if this has been covered but I really love Jadon Becker’s mix of techniques and have been curious. Does anyone know his primary escape? And is it wrist then elbow at higher speeds? I think it was DSX but just recently found out about this stuff. He seems to do something with his thumb and was wondering if that is how he changed his escape angle cuz it seems like he is 2 way pickslanting or dual escape (still learning everything). Also wondering about the anchoring I feel like it might help muting as well.

1 Like

I believe his primary escape is USX, downward pickslanting, like Marty. But Jason very consistently anchored with his pinky and the palm on/brushing the lower strings. So his hand was far more parallel to the strings. This allowed him to do upward pickslanting with little movement and just a little forearm rotation.

Here is Jason doing a pure DSX, it’s very obvious when he does this as he anchors with this pinky and ring fingers. (the speed he does it is… well, just insane)
You can also see him do hammer on and pull off from 6th fret to… 13th… That is a crazy stretch! And to do it at speed as hammers n pulls, it’s just insane.

Here is Jason doing the elbow/wist/forearm combo, I don’t think he ever really did pure elbow at speed, it’s more an intricate combo of wrist, elbow and forearm rotation, he is still anchored with the pinky at high speeds, the elbow is obviously the main movement visually.

Here is an awesome close up of his basic technique, he is sweeping here, but this is what he does with single note lines too. You can see his pinky acting as like a pivot and his palm just over the low strings. His ring is feeling out the high E for reference and he has a lot of thumb movement for controlling the pick orientation.

He also does the fast alternate picking with elbow at the end While this looks like pure elbow, I’m pretty sure it’s not, it’s mostly elbow, then wrist, and then forearm rotation to change between DSX and USX. You can’t see it, but if you try it with the pinky anchored you need these minor movements to get the whole thing flowing.

I don’t think his thumb movement’s are about changing the pick escape, thats more the rotation or angle of the pick. Though Jason has a very unique body/hands very long fingers and he is/was super flexible, this is something to keep in mind if you’re going to try emulate him, as some of us (like me) can’t come close to his technique as he was a serious anomaly in my opinion.

I’m sure you’ve seen his play through of Paganini’s 5th caprice, check out his use of his ring finger while still remaining anchored with his pinky during those arpeggiated chords, thats not a normal thing for most people, the ring finger in that context is very floppy and hard to control, yet he is playing so well using it. This is more evidence of his unique hands.

And just for a little fun, here is Jason vs Paganini. Who knows huh :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:
image

Anyways thats my input for now, I Loooove Jason and his music. Nice to see a new thread about him :purple_heart::grin:

3 Likes

Thanks so much for the detailed response! That was awesome. I’m still trying to learn how to identify motions. Definitely not trying to emulate his technique haha don’t think that is in the cards for me. More curious than anything how he was playing some of these lines and the thumb thing also intrigues me. He is one of my favorites. I have that famous poster of his in my practice area that motivates me to practice when I don’t feel like it.

1 Like