Major goals accomplished, or massive gains?

Playing Technique
#41

I think there is a big danger here of getting too wrapped up in hitting “the major goal” and ignoring the incremental and tangible improvements that are occuring overall. I’ve realised this recently in myself. My “major goal” with picking is to be able to play scale lines at around 200bpm (16ths). On my good days I might reach 85 - 90% of that with nice articulation and accuracy. My goal seems so close yet so far away and I’m really dissapointed sometimes when I benchmark myself against the goal and think about all the tunes I can’t play. What I have not realised until now is how much better my technique is sub 160bpm. So if I equate that to what I call “real world” playing i.e. pop/rock coverband material, my gains are massive.

Its kind of like the difference between exception/assurance reporting, where you only look at the stuff that went wrong and Quality Improvement, where the aim is to improve things across the bell-curve.

So @Regotheamigo, if possible (and it can be difficult for some to self-praise), can you identify any improvement overall beside your “main goal?” If you can, I would say CTC is money well spent and would encourage you to heed the advice given within this thread, with gusto. We are all here to help each other.

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#42

Very true; it’s the small things that eventually add up. Definitely need to keep ones expectations in check, as long as tomorrow is better than today for the most part, it’s time well spent.

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#43

Though I am not the OP, I’d love to hear what you have to say about how you achieved your goals. Excellent work, my friend! That’s an amazing amount of progress in a really short time. I’m pleased with my progress as of ~6 months ago when I learned what I’ve been doing wrong for the past 25 years and joined up here. I think things are really coming together for me, but…If there’s a way to focus my efforts and fast track it even more, I’m open :slight_smile:

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#44

Damn you’re picking is right on the money! I wish I could get my picking hand to looked that stable. My thumbs always wiggling back-and-forth and it’s probably messing me up but I can’t stop doing it. Yeah if you have any practice regiments please share congratulations on your success.

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#45

I am playing better than I’ve ever played thanks to this course.

Am I where I want to be? Not yet but I’m a hell of a lot closer than ever been

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#46

Well I learned from my classical and flamenco playing that it is nearly impossible to ‘unlearn’ bad habits. Just took up steel string and Dobro a few weeks ago and joined cracking the code. I am forcing myself, since I am new to both instruments, NOT to be tempted to try to learn songs. I am just watching Carl Miner in Slo Mo and then trying to mimic his movement in slo mo myself, then I pull up the video of him in slo mo with the tab, and try to do it slo but with that movement. I am hoping if I spend a few months learning the proper technique before I even learn my first song, that it will all come together after that. It tough though because you want to learn to make some music. But I think its worth it. This site is amazing, I am positive if it weren’t for this site I would be string hopping like a crazy person and not even knowing it so THANKS.

#47

Hey @CRK and @hmjoe, glad to have you here and that you are liking the material!

I am not sure, however, where you got the impression that you shouldn’t learn songs to begin with. If I had to oversimplify our more recent approach, the first few steps would go like this:

  1. find a movement that allows you to pick fast on a single string
  2. check whether it’s a upstroke, downstroke or double escape motion (USX, DSX or DBX respectively)
  3. find or write musical phrases / tunes that fit well with your motion (e.g. only upstroke string changes if you find you are doing USX)

Hope this helps and we certainly don’t want you to be bored for months doing unmusical exercises :sweat_smile:

PS: and of course, please feel free to use our technique critique section if you want some help analysing your picking motions!

EDIT: @Regotheamigo, like I mentioned in the other thread, I think at this point the best thing you can do is film a clip that gives a clear idea of the issues you are mentioning. Ideally you could show us both a “good” and a “bad” take of something you are struggling with.

Some things are just very hard to diagnose via text, and it looks like you may benefit from several pairs of external eyes looking at your playing. That is probably the quickest way for you to discover the difference between your “good/bad playing”.
Once you know what the problem is you’ll be in a better position to fix it.

3 Likes
#48

Thanks so much very helpful, love this site…

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#49

Let me throw out one other alternative. I’m 66 and have developed arthritis in my picking wrist. Struggled with the frustration for a few years. Finally, I shed the pick and went to finger-picking. After a short time, I’ve found it more comfortable and intuitive.

I’m not going to break any land speed records but it has its compensations. My attack is more nuanced. It’s easier to jump over multiple strings at speed, letting me play chords and arpeggios and easily leave out the strings that I don’t want to play. If I need to play an especially fast passage, I just do it legato. I can fit into any musical context except ultra-shred.

It’s not that I wanted to do this. After playing 50+ years, I didn’t want to give up the pick. But I had to let go, and letting go led me to something new and in many ways better.

The choice isn’t necessarily to beat your head against the wall or give up on technique.

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#50

@Regotheamigo How is it going with the EJ lick(s)? @joebegly reminded me of the thread and I wanted to see where you are at.

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#51

It’s coming along slowly but surely I guess. Thanks for asking. It seems when I chunk properly and line all the ducks up it’s actually pretty easy. I’ve also been jamming along to backing tracks playing EJ 5’s and it’s starting to make more sense rhythmically and feel wise. I consistently keep running into the same road blocks though over and over. :confused: for what ever reason any time I try and sweep into the B to the E I stumble and fall 12 15 14 12. 14 12
15 15 12
I think over all it just takes time and a lot of it. :man_shrugging:

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#52

Great job on the YJM stiff. Sounds excellent. Keep up the good work.

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#53

Thanks Wayne, really appreciate it.
Couldn’t have done it without this site, great content, motivation and folks all around.

#54

The idea might be obvious and you probably came up with it yourself, but I think that’s exactly what Steve Morse faced also and he changed to an elbow movement at least for the faster passages. If you haven’t considered elbow, I personally would giv it a try. Don’t know if it’s good for hybrid picking though.

Thomas