Looking for feedback - USX and DSX

Technique Critique
#1

Hello - I’d like some feedback on my picking technique. I want to incorporate more wrist in my playing. I’ve gotten to a plateau where there’s less string-hopping, but I’m still not sure that things are happening in the most efficient way. I’m also having trouble getting to the next level, incorporating DSX.

Questions:
-is there too much forearm and/or elbow in my technique?
-given the arm set up that I’m using, I have to change things around quite a bit if I want to switch from USX to DSX - it requires a lot of pronation. This doesn’t jibe with something that Troy said - that the same set up is applicable to both motions. What adjustments do I need to make to my set up to facilitate DSX?

I can toggle back and forth between USX and DSX if I roll my right arm quite a bit, but I can’t seem to find a set up where it’s just a matter of aiming my picking motion differently. Does this make sense?

Thanks for your help.

normal speed:

:00 - my natural USX motion
:16 - why using this set up feels unnatural for DSX
:17 - adding pronation to make DSX happen

slow speed:

:00 - natural USX set up for me
:59 - problems using this set up for DSX
1:10 - using more pronation to facilitate DSX

#2

Hi! Thanks for posting these. Very clear, thank you. Short story, these look fine, but they are two different techniques. You can do the first form, and just use that all the time, or you can use the second form and just use that all the time. You could also learn and use both of them intermittently, kind of like the way EVH switches into forearm mode for his tremolo lines.

But you’re not going to be switching between these two pretty different forms in the middle of a line to get upstroke and downstroke string changes. For that, you choose one or the other form and use that the entire time. The first form is capable of USX, DSX, and DBX motion. The second form is capable of DSX motion and DBX motion, not USX, because your arm pronation will cause pick attack issues (garage spikes) with USX motion.

So I’d just choose whichever form you like best and try to play your lines with that. You will essentially figure out by trial and error how to do the different motions, so long as you use speed and easyness as your guide, i.e. anything slow or tensiony is wrong, anything fast and easy is correct.

2 Likes
#3

@Troy - thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

This makes a lot of sense. But - the first form, which feels very natural to me for USX, feels completely unnatural for DSX - garage spikes all the way down. Is this a set up problem? Is there anything you can suggest to address this problem?

Secondly - one of my goals is to get better at funk comping, in the style of Prince and Nile Rodgers. Does one of these picking motions lend itself more to that kind of playing than the other.

Thanks again for your help - and for the righteous website!

#5

What happened to the videos did you reupload?

From what I recall nothing looks obviously “wrong”. If you’re interested in learning to do DSX motion from that form, I highly recommend taking our simple array of motion tests. The “lottery ticket scratch off” motion, i.e. Di Meola motion, is the DSX motion from this form:

Barring that, try to play fast while making little changes to your form or grip or something, until you find something that feels easy. That’s how all new motions are first acquired. If it’s not fast and/or doesn’t feel at least somehwat easy, or like it has the potential to be, then it’s wrong, try something else.

#6

(video links in original post corrected. sorry for confusion.)

#7

That is correct. From the videos, you’re using a downward pickslant and operating on the radial side of the joint, so upstrokes will garage spike if you try to do DSX with this form. The form that can access both escapes is more ulnar, with a less obvious downward pickslant. The details are available here:

All that being said, it’s easy to get stuck on all the small technical details before you know where you’re headed. I highly recommend doing the tabletop test so you know what it’s supposed to feel like when you get the motion going smoothly. Then all you have to do is reproduce that on a guitar, nerding out on technical details only if it’s necessary.

1 Like
#8

wait - DSX calls for a more ulnar set up? this raises questions:

-is there a difference between supination and an ulnar set up, or pronation and a radial set up? supination, as I understand it, means tilting the forearm towards the pinky side - the ulnar side.

-your description is counterintuitive to me - I’m able to approximate DSX by using a more pronated set up, which I think is radial by nature, no? When I set up more ulnar, the pick moves away from the guitar naturally, so the motion that you describe in the primer for DSX starts to approach a 1206 motion. Unless I’m drastically misunderstanding something…?

The speed tests are a great resource, especially the inclusion of funk comping. I was also glad that you addressed people like me who are lefties but play righty. I suspect that it affects my range of motion a bit, but I’ll keep working on it (without getting too bogged down in details, of course.)