Mixed technique, will this hinder me later?

Technique Critique
#1

Hi all
New to forum but I’ve been loitering around for a while.
I’ve been playing since 2012, late starter I’m 53 now . No real tuition, just Youtube, Justin Sandercoe et all, transcribing by ear and this has been enough for me as I play mostly rythme guitar and have been in a cover band for 6 years or so (ACDC, Rival Sons, a bit of soul and pop rock, mixed with a smudge of funk and acoustic. Jack of all trades but master of none. I pick up rythmic intervals really easy and can hold my own on almost any style. The lead guitarist was out of action last year and to keep the band going I replaced him on the soli. And got a taste for it. I can do a simple penta blues but my technique is way below par, so I popped back here to Cracking the Code about 2 months ago and have had a couple of "Oh my God " moments since. Once I had properly sat down and listened to the Pickslanter Primer correctly, the penny dropped. I’m taking it slow but steady and after a month of one string tremelo, trying different all the grips in the Pick grip chapter, here is where I’m at. I seem comfortable with a mid trigger/angle pad/ elbow motion ( if my arm seems tense, it’s not I’ve just got massive veins) but before going any further I’d like some feedback please. Will this technique hold me back later on? I’ve tried the Six-Note Pattern but my freting fingers need more strength and dexterity. Sorry for the long preamble, here’s the vidéo

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#2

Hi @frankjoss - I see " Video unavailable. This video is private." Can you check the video settings in YT? cheers, jz

#3

Woops my bad clicked to quick while on Youtube

#4

Hi @frankjoss welcome!

Good work so far - my first impression is that your motion in this video is probably DSX - i.e. it will work well for licks that change strings after downstrokes. Let me know if that makes sense and feel free to ask for more details.

I think your logical next step is to have a go at some licks/riffs. Let us know how that goes :slight_smile:

#5

Thanks Tommo for the reply
Yeah the example is DSX but USX is not a problem either
This being said I’ve already mentally asked myself a quetion for later when I move to string switching
There is no “better” way obviously, just a way that works for anyone as an individual but take this 3 string Michael Angelo Batio Metal method lick

|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------11-12-14-12-11------12-11---------11----------------|
|----11-12-14-----------------------14---------14-12------14-12------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

If I'm right (which remains to be seen) there can be two ways to approch this "correctly" :
1 First stroke down, alternate with DSX or
2 First stroke up, alternate with USX

and by extension when there are  four notes per string the exact  opposite "solution"
All this just on alternate, as economy picking will nullify the problem I know

PS a Irish friend showed me this this week, an infinite loop exercise that he picked up somwhere
might help some one some where

DUDU

|----------7----------------------------------7-------------10------8------7-------------7--------------------------|
|----10--------8-----------8--------10----------8-------------------------------10----------10-----8-------------|
|----------------------7-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|  etc
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

cheers
#6

Hey @frankjoss! These days we don’t recommend “micro-managing” motions during string switching. Once you have a solid picking motion going, we just recommend to try and play the lick fast and see what happens. Let things be sloppy at first if need be, you just want to get a realistic feel for the lick played at speed.

I know that it sounds strange coming from us (we love analysing stuff!), but we found that trying to solve problems before they even arise it’s not the way to go for most people.

If you get stuck on something you can of course resort to slo-mo filming and analysis to detect the problem - but the first step is to just go for it :slight_smile:

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#7

Thanks Tommo already going at it and am improving. I’m staying with the wrist/elbow motion and pad grip which I can tremelo all day long, but getting up to Troy’s 130 bpm on the Six notes per string is going to take a while. Not timed myself yet but don’t think I’m even close (90 maybe) . Will film and record and mesure this weekend) Cheers

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#8

Of course we’d need to see actual footage to give sensible advice… but my guess from reading this sentence is the following:

you are using two different motions for the “tremolo all day” and the sixes. It sounds like your tremolo is fast and effortless, so that’s the motion you’d want to use for other lead playing as well :slight_smile:

#9

It’s my fretting hand letting me down, I’ve no experience really in solo techniques, legato, speed picking, etc etc , that’s what I’m working on but that’s what pulls me back. All the advice from CTC came into place in days but left hand dexterity is way off. I’ll post and wait for feed back
thanks again

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#10

Hi back again with a weeks work
Still string hopping when changing strings.
will have to iron that movement out


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#11

Hi @frankjoss, sorry for the delay and thanks for filming!

I still have the impression that your fast picking motion is a shallow DSX (I can definitely see the pick resting on the lower string), or possibly even fully trapped.

More importantly, I have the impression that you are kind of holding back on the tremolo. Is this the fastest you can do, or are you trying to follow a metronome? Related to that, are you familiar with our “table tapping tests?” (one of them is available for free on YT, will link below).

How does your tremolo speed compare to your table-tapping speed?

Back to your clips - I’m not sure I see any stringhopping - these last two clips are not really showing any lick examples that require rapid string changes while picking. I think I also I see some errors in left-right hand synchronization, so it may be a good idea to pay attention to that. On the other hand, these licks mixing open strings and fretted strings can be tricky to sync up properly

Assuming my DSX diagnosis is correct, you should find the string changes in the following exercise pretty comfortable (starting on a downstroke):

--------------------5-6-7-5-6-7-etc...
--------5-6-7-5-6-7
-5-6-7---------

Let us know if this is the case.

Free video on testing your EVH-style wrist motions:

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#12

Thanks Tommo
I’ll look into this this weekend, and yes Left hand synchro is a big problem, just not got the muscles, stamina and dexterity yet, but it’s getting better
cheers