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The 2nd time you do your “outside” picking you did two downstrokes in row, twice. You do this going from the B to E string, and again from the E to B string. That’s the ONLY goober I saw. All the other times the picking looked good.
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Hi Hank! Sorry for the delay.
A few issues here. The biggest is that these movements are all different. What movement are you trying to learn / practice? That needs to be sorted out. A practice routine like this is the equivalent of trying to learn several foreign languages at once. It’s going to be really confusing and take a long time to master all these separate hand movements to the point where you are not only fluid with all of them, but you can turn them on and off at will.
As it stands, if I remember correctly, your goal was to develop fluid pure alternate picking technique that doesn’t rely on the finger movement / economy style you have currently. If that’s still the case, then my original recommendation still stands: rest strokes. You need to give yourself the opportunity to learn how to do fluid, straight-line / back and forth picking movements that use one of the “big three” movements, either wrist, forearm, or elbow.
So far, your flexed-wrist rotational attempt got good reviews here. That was the one with the detuned guitar. So I’d recommend continuing with that approach, but with a guitar up to tune so it has the proper string tension. This way your pick isn’t getting stuck in the saggy strings. And I’d recommend straightening out the wrist a little more, so you can have muting.
Given what I’m seeing here, I think it would also be worthwhile trying the same thing with a uwps wrist approach, again with even-numbered single string “Yngwie”-type patterns. See which method, either the forearm, or the wrist, produces a more relaxed feel for you, and better speed. Whichever one wins, continue with that one and only that one.
Once you get single string / hand synchronization happening with fluid speed, then start doing some two-string patterns, but again only even numbered patterns so it’s one-way pickslanting. No two-way patterns, as in the above clip - those are stringhoppy for you and we need to keep those aside for the moment until the straight-line movements become habitual.
Thanks for posting these, and keep us posted!
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This looks like a pretty good rotational attempt Hank. One comment is that you change your thumb bend to get more edge picking halfway through the clip. Was that conscious / intentional? Try to choose one form and stay with that. Otherwise you’re going to confuse yourself. Motor skill learning is about memorizing what your “setup” feels like, so that you can replicate it exactly, every time, without thinking. If you keep changing that setup on yourself, it’s going to be very hard to memorize that feel, and you won’t know what you’re doing from one practice session to the next. If you need to film yourself or look in a mirror during the initial stages to ensure nothing is changing, then definitely do that.
Try this setup with the single-string Yngwie patterns, in one position or many - whatever is comfortable. And see how fast and fluid you can get it happening. You don’t necessarily need a metronome for this, and you don’t need to choose any particular tempo. Just see how fast and fluidly you can get this movement to happen while maintaining the form you’ve chosen.
You’re welcome to use a metronome of course, but try not to get locked down to stiff / robotic movements at slow tempos. It’s ok to go a little faster than your coordination will allow if it helps you to learn what “faster” feels like. @milehighshred talks about this a bunch, and so does Batio in our last meeting with him, and I agree. You don’t ride a bike slowly and perfectly at first — you ride it at a medium speed, and wobbly, until you fall over. And you keep doing this until you learn what balance feels like, and gradually smooth out the wobbling.
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Yes, but any single string repeating unit will do.
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Have you tried picks that are beveled? I really like how the gravity and v-picks (that are beveled) feel. They just glide off the strings for me.
I tried a Dunlop sharp before, and absolutely HATED it.
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The only problem I have with the Gravity is how slippery it gets. Constantly having to wipe the damn thing off, and adjust the pick while I’m playing songs. They make some with holes/grips drilled into them, but because Sweetwater doesn’t carry any of the 6mm picks with grips in them, I haven’t purchased any. Kind of like keeping things on the Sweetwater card when possible.
The V-Picks don’t get anywhere near as slippery, but there is still some slickness that can build up despite the V-Pick claim that you’ll never drop your pick again.
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I have to say I have some of those Dunlop Sharp picks and they are the worst picks I’ve ever played. I think they grab on to the string a little too much, especially the wound strings.
I find the Dunlop Ultex really good and am using a 1mm sharp Ultex pick.
Have you tried the Dunlop Stubby Picks, @Hanky_Pooh?
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Have you tried the Jazz III XL? It’s only very slightly smaller than the Ultex Sharps.
Just saying the Jazz III XL is available in nylon, which is less grabby than Ultex, but it has almost the same shape and size as the Ultex sharps. Very slightly duller attack than Ultex though (but not as dull as Tortex).
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Yeah, I sort of vascillate between the two because of the brighter attack of the Ultex (I don’t like them any thicker than the 1.14). But I keep coming back to the Jazz III XL because of how it feels.
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Appropriately for this thread, that is the Jazz III XL.
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I haven’t tried the red nylon. Are they more slippery to grip than the black? Seems to me that was the case with the “classic” Jazz III. I vaguely recall Eric Johnson saying he liked the tone of the red Jazz III better than the black.
I haven’t noticed anything particularly slippery about the red or black Jazz III, XL or regular. If you’re looking for more grip, the carbon fiber ‘max grip’ versions are super grippy - so much so that it may take some getting used to.
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There are now a bunch of different Jazz III XL picks available, but the nylon ones only come in 1.38mm, which has about the same amount of flex as the Ultex 1.14.
The nylon Jazz III XL’s are available in black or red, and Dunlop’s own product page says the black nylon (which they call “stiffo”) has a brighter sound than the red, which implies that the formulas for the two colors have slightly different physical properties.
https://www.jimdunlop.com/product/47pxls-7-10137-03520-1.do
They also make an Ultex Jazz III XL, and multiple thicknesses of Jazz III XL in their Tortex and Primetone materials. The Tortex have a flat surface with ink markings, the others have raised markings on both sides, though the Primetones have different markings than the nylon and Ultex have.
https://www.jimdunlop.com/category/products/guitar+picks/jazz.do?Shape=100083-19
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The Tortex TIII has exactly the same outline as the Ultex sharp, but it doesn’t have the smooth beveling around the edge that the Ultex sharp has. According to the product page below, the TIII is available in increments from .50mm to 1.50mm:
https://www.jimdunlop.com/product/462r-7-10137-05055-6.do
I lined up the tips of a Jazz III XL and an Ultex sharp so you could see the overlap/comparison. This is the black “stiffo” nylon Jazz III XL, but the Jazz III XL is also available in multiple thicknesses of Tortex. Picture is blurry, but gives you the idea. The parts that are overlapped match up perfectly:
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With Hetfield, Isn’t that “yeah-eah”? 
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My take:
The picking with no fretting is so much faster, I’d suggest spend more time working on repetitive three note patterns in just one position at a time and trying to get that to a point where the fretting hand can keep up with the picking hand.
And there are maybe a few moments where the timing of the picking seems to not stay consistent, so keep plugging away on making the single note tremolo picking smooth and consistent. For me, one of the keys there is working on keeping the depth of pickstrokes consistent. One way to help that is to watch the tip of the pick while you’re picking, and another ingredient is being sure that you have an anchoring strategy you’re happy with that helps you manage the depth of the pickstrokes.
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I think you already know my answer. In case you’ve missed it, metronome, metronome, metronome 
Here’s the basic approach of what to do and not do in this lesson I put out (in case you haven’t seen it): When Metronome Practice Does NOT Work|Can't Get Faster at Playing Guitar - YouTube
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And among other things, that will help address the consistency thing.
Hey John, we agree on something! 
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