Hello! New old guy checking in. I’ve “played” off and on for roughly 38 years but gotten back into it in the last two years. Mostly metal rhythm, but trying to branch out some to leads. I’ve struggled mightily with plateauing my progress. I’ve had two different teachers for lessons in those years but still haven’t “cracked the code” of fast alternate picking. The video on string hopping really resonated with me as I had literally just had the conversation with my wife that the problem I keep running into when attempting to go faster when skipping strings is I start making a hopping motion. And, I’ll be, I get “stalled” at around 110-120 bpm 16th notes.
I’ve very much been trying to get a wrist motion going but even when I try the “trying out the movements” things on the table I don’t get much above 160bpm except the EVH movement. I may try to play with that more as I have gotten something infrequently working in the past, at least with single-string alternate chugs.
Why am I so wrapped up in wrist motion? I guess I’ve always heard that elbow motion is bad! Avoid it at all costs! “It causes tension, it’s harder to control, it’s limiting, it’s tiring…” etc, etc, etc. CTC is the first source that I’ve seen that’s like “hey, if elbow is you, embrace it.” Which is, frankly, refreshing.
My elbow seems like I could develop it. I’m including a video below, but I realize the black pick, black-ish guitar, and iffy lighting make it difficult to see the angles here. I’ll have to find a way to get more insight into it. I feel like I’m DSX since on extension on downstrokes I don’t appear to hit the next string but I can’t say for certain that I don’t cheat.
I literally just joined and paid yesterday so I’m still digging through the vast amount of content. It’s a bit overwhelming but I guess that’s a good problem to have. I’ll have to find a reasonable path for us elbow movement cretins and see where it takes me. Maybe if I can hone that other things will come someday.