I have a similar issue. I hold the pick with downward slant, but on reviewing my videos, when picking quickly using what I think is a wrist motion, my pick trajectory appears to go between the string above and below, without any trajectory. I link to a video with picking slowly which seems fine, and then quickly which demonstrates no escape. I am not sure what to do. I have tried various hand positions with supination, changing motion to incorporate forearm rotation, but I can’t seem to get a nice upstroke escape motion. I am not sure what to work on. I have went through the primer with the updated information about the trajectory.
I wish I knew the answer but I’m in the same boat. Almost. I have some progress but it took some time.
What I found is that practicing tremolo is almost useless, since I switch to my standard brainwired techinique when playing passages. So I switched to patterns that required string change (that’s what we training after all). Well, that’s knida logical: we try to do that motin not because of the motion per se but to acomplish a string change.
Next thing, practicing many notes per string licks didn’t help much, it just led to the fact that I play fisrt notes in my usual way and try to use escape motion only on the last stroke. Which led to inconsistancy, missing notes and other stuff. So for me breaking moment was when I focused on a minimal amount notes per string patterns. Which is 2nps. Problem is I hate practicing unmusical stuff, so I wrote some simple melodies and… two notes per string is a kind of exhausting for my left hand )
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It’s two different motions!
Notice how you lock your wrist and the motion of the arm when you play fast. Looks like elbow motion to me – which would explain the downstroke escape.
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Thank you so much for your responses, I’m incredibly grateful. I am going crazy!
You are right. They are two motions. The slower one is how I envisage Troy picks and perhaps how I would like it to happen for me but I can’t do this motion quickly! To pick rapidly I suspect my whole arm tenses up and elbow motion takes over, which for me lacks control and any tracking ability across the strings at all, but having started the motion that way I can relax it and allow the wrist to take over somewhat. However, then, changing strings seems uncomfortable, and tracking from the low strings to the higher seems impossible. I can’t make slow movements and gradually speed up, nor make tremolo movements which I can control at slower speeds, without hopping. I have other movements which allow tremolo picking to varying extents, but none are the nice and relaxed movements that seem to be needed. On reflecting on the many slo mo videos I have taken in the last couple of lockdown weeks, I suspect that my motions either have no escape or a downstroke escape, but none of these movements resemble the nice relaxed movements of others, and wasn’t the upstroke escape the whole premise Of Cracking the Code in the first place…!
@Johannes is on target here. And notice he’s not saying you have no escape - he’s saying you have downstroke escape. That’s because elbow is a downstroke escape motion. It’s a simple joint that only moves one way. It cannot do upstroke escape.
Nothing wrong with elbow, it can be the core motion in your technique like it is for Vinnie Moore, Bill Hall, and other great players, who augment its capabiliities in various ways: pulloffs, swiping, forearm motion, and even some wrist motion at slower speeds, exactly as you’re doing. Go with what’s working and use it on downstroke escape phrases.
Side comment: You’re using a huge amount of thumb overlap, more than any examples I’ve seen. I have no evidence that there is anything strictly wrong with this, but since I like experimentation I think it’s worthwhile to try lower overlap. Doesn’t matter if it feels weird to you. Do it for the learning opportunity. Changing stuff in your technique, on purpose, is a great way to break out of rut. Note that grip change won’t affect elbow motion, again, because it’s a simple joint that only moves in one plane. I’m just suggesting this change because it looks atypical and there may be some unforseen influence of this that will crop up later on if you try to incorporate other motions.
Nice work on the elbow, see what phrases you can get working with it.
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Thank you so much for that. On the last day or so I am been thinking about the downstroke escape. I’ve obviously watched the Strunz and Farah and John McLaughlin chapters in the pickslanting primer. I will look at Vinnie Moore, and at other forum posts with elbow motion. I am very grateful, thanks!