Hi Hank. Thanks for posting. I still think your number one challenge is stopping the flip flopping between the different types of picking movements, and narrowing things down to one movement that you can turn on and off consistently. Adding elbow movement into the mix is only hurting that goal, not helping. So unless you want to work on elbow movement specifically, I would not add yet another ingredient into the mix.
Of the movements that remain, there’s still some flip flopping. Around 25 - 30 seconds, look at your thumb, and look at your pinky. The thumb is moving, the pinky is less so. That suggests there is some independent thumb movement still happening here. This is what we’re trying to cut out.
39-40 seconds looks and sounds the cleanest to me here. Thumb and pinky appear to be moving back and forth the same amount, so that suggests the finger component is gone or at least less prominent. In fact, I don’t see much forearm at the 39 second mark either. It could be the camera angle, but it’s possible this is mainly a wrist deviation movement. If you can identify the feel of what you’re doing around the 39 second mark, it sounds good and looks good, so I’d pursue that.
There is no question this type of practice is challenging. This is motor learning practice, where you’re learning to determine what these different movements feel like, so you can activate them consciously. This is not a thing that happens overnight. It comes to together like a scatter plot that gets tighter over time as your kinesthetic awareness increases.
So, replication. Make an attempt to perform a specific movement, and only that movement, at a smooth, natural, “medium fast” speed (for you), for the duration of a single short clip, maybe 10-20 seconds. I personally like the movement around 39 seconds. It looks good, sounds good. Film yourself, play the tape back and see if you are actually making the movement you think you’re making. Rinse, repeat, with frequent breaks of at least a few minutes so you are forced to “find” the movement again for the next attempt. The repeated attempts to find the movement are how you are going to learn to recognize what that movement feels like.
You don’t need to post all those attempts here, there will be a thousand of them. Instead, do this for a few weeks and then report back. What we’re hoping is that your scatter plot will tighten up, and we will see fewer “coup” attempts by elbow, fingers, and other competing movements that are trying to take over your hands.
Great job so far and keep up the good work!