Hi, I’m an Italian guitarist, I’m a great fan of Michael Angelo Batio, I’ve got all the Troy stuff on Mike, and I’m studying the position and mechanics of Mike’s right hand.
He says he’s using a wrist and elbow combination, and his secret weapon is wrist flextion, but also use his fingers?
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That’s a good question! That’s what he says and I think he is right, or close to right. I have not personally tried to copy what Mike is doing but at slower speeds there is definitely a finger component. When he speeds up there is definitely an elbow movement. Is there also wrist flexion/extension? Possibly. Then there is the two-way pickslanting movement, which could be a combination of forearm and fingers.
In general, unless you have a need to copy Mike’s specific picking motions, the lines he plays can be done other ways which are more common and which we have a better understanding of: wrist mechanics, forearm, and so on.
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Troy, remember when you said that sometimes the way guitarists say they pick isn’t actually the way they pick either because they’re hiding a secret or more likely due to ignorance about what they’r actually dong when they pick? Well I met MAB after a guitar clinic he did in Gaithersburg Maryland back around 1994 and I asked him: “Do you get more of your speed form moving your wrist or your elbow”?
MAB replied “Elbow? I don’t use my elbow when I pick. My motion comes from my wrist and if anything else, my fingers too.”
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