Hi all,
First, thanks for reading. Hope everyone is healthy and safe.
I’ve been playing guitar for about 20 years. I was never a great picker. About a year and a half ago, I found Troy Grady and dug in. I tried downward pick slanting (as it was called then) and couldn’t figure it out. I realized I was a natural upward pickslanter and focused on that. At this point, I feel I can execute the movement competently and can do the things I want with it.
I still cannot seem to do an upstroke escape. I feel like I understand intellectually what I’m trying to do, and I feel like I’ve tried every conceivable wrist and elbow motion. I’ve also tried not trying, and that hasn’t worked either.
Here’s a video demonstrating my standard downstroke escape technique at low volume on an acoustic:
This video shows my attempt at upstroke escape.
I begin the video with downstroke escape, to show my attempts at adjustment. When trying upstroke escape, the biggest issue, as you’ll see, is that I cannot seem to get a proper attack on string shifts; the sound is muted and flat. I seem to only be able to do downstroke escape string shifts by hitting the string at an angle, which impacts the sound. I also seem to be better able to execute upstroke escape string changes while ascending strings; this same was originally true for my downstroke escape motion, though I can now both ascend and descend with relative ease using that movement pattern.
I would love any advice, anything at all, I really am at the end of my rope here. I’m not even really sure what to try at this point.
Thanks!