Long time slow player, any advice is welcome

Technique Critique
#1

I’ve always struggled with playing quickly. (got serious on guitar 15 years ago and have been a bassist since I was 17.)

At my maximum, I was never able to tremolo pick (surf music style) because strain would build up like crazy.

I could play at 130bpm for very limited bursts**, but to keep that speed I have to dedicate hours and hours every week and I’m absolutely positive I’m string hopping (double exiting) at those speeds.** Right now, 90 seems to be my new cap.

I watched the pick slanting primer up to the technical references and did the motion tests. (220 Flexion Extension tap, 170 evh, 180 Di meola, 180 elbow tap test, 160 forearm rotation)

Saw the USX (upstroke escape) and DBX (down stroke escape) and in the video I’m trying to demonstrate USX.

Some extra information on me.

  1. I wear my guitar with a strap between classical and standard playing position, so it’s not in my lap.

  2. It’s hard for me to rest my hand on the pisiform bone of my hand, instead I typically rest on the trapezius side. If I rotate my forearm enough to rest on the pisiform bone it causes strain and tension on the bottom of my forearm immediately. I can resolve this by shrugging my shoulders, but I suspect either my playing position or “lanky arms” are causing an issue here.

  3. I’m working on lifting up my forearm more. In some videos I see me rotating my forearm and contact with the guitar impedes it. In the video I’m just wearing a forearm cover to keep me from sticking to the polycoat.

  4. I’m using the magnet with a screenshare (letsview) on my phone, so I can see in realtime how I’m screwing up. It’s really handy and I don’t mind making more videos if I’m not showing what you need to see or if there’s more I can do to provide detail please let me know.

  5. There is definitely a freakout moment in the bpm, where more things than I’d like engage.

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A question I have is: How are you applying advice you get? Do you slow a part down, put on a movie and work the technique for a while, then slowly speed it up or are you guys just starting by blasting?
I normally do 5 sixteenth notes in a row (start and end on a beat), then 9, then 13 and finally 16 notes in a row. I set it up in Guitar Pro at a slow speed, then increment it up until 4 failures in a row.

Thank you in advance.

#2

Three things: (a) it looks like the face of your pick impacts the strings, (b) there is significant depth, and that (c) if you want to play like that but have a thinner pick you might go through the strings much more easily.

But don’t listen to me, as I’m very poor in general at these types of things… in my case I clearly impact the pick with its edges and only have a few mm of depth. That said, I’m still not very fast.

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