Hi
I decided to make a quick video of my state of picking before i start the course. Sorry for the quality. This is a comfortable position for me for picking and hybrid picking. A struggle for me seems to be moving across the strings using this position …Any advice on tweaking this position (or maybe I have to throw it out altogether)would be great
Thanks
Dom
These are great! Thanks for posting. Fyi for the easiest posts, don’t use the “youtu.be” links that YouTube gives you for sharing, just copy the main link in the browser, the one that looks like “youtube.com?watch=v”. Then the forum will give you a nice embedded youtube player right in your post the way you see it here. Just paste them into the post, one per line, the forum will do the rest.
Short story you have zero speed issues, so you have passed the first hurdle. And that’s no small task because a lot of people get hung up just trying to get any motion working fast at all. So you’ll do just fine as you move through this.
The best thing to do is watch the Pickslanting Primer. I would start at the grip section and watch those chapters just so you know where you fit. They’re not long. Then when you get to wrist motion, again, start at the start and watch all the wrist chapters. There are only seven of those currently and they cover the two main types of motion. When you’re done, you’ll know the difference between the USX and DSX motions, you’ll have some experience trying them, and you’ll know which one you’re using currently.
As you go through the wrist chapters, I also recommend trying all the stuff I’m recommending, even if it’s different from what you are doing. This includes the different types of anchoring (fingers / no fingers, etc.), the different grips, and so on. I intentionally walk you through all this because to me it’s a learning opportunity. We’ve all been stuck doing whatever we’re doing for years, possibly decades in some cases. Even if you stick with what you’ve been doing, experimenting will help you understand better how your current method works.
Give that a shot and hit us back when you’re done and let us know how you make out.
Thanks Troy,
I’ll do that with future vids,
I’ve watched a good few as I was traveling this past few days. But I’ll rewatch with the guitar in hand. I’m not gonna let this beat me.
Thanks again for everything.
Dom
Hi this is my first attempt at Dwps , I think I remember I a clip where you say we should be able to get 16th notes at 150. The other tec I can do it not problem but not this one as you can see I’m not very fast, will this get faster with practice or Dwps not for me?
Sorry I did copy the YouTube browser address and paste but it still shows up like above
Great slow motion clips — this is showing you exactly what you need to see. And what you need to see is that… this is not DWPS. That’s why it’s not working for you.
Here’s the longer answer:
What you’re calling “DWPS”, I’m going to call “USX”, which is short for “Upstroke Escape” motion. The reason we call it that is because in an upstroke escape motion, we want the pick to go up in the air on the upstroke. We want the downstroke to stay trapped, in between the strings. This is much clearer than talking about the slant of the pick, because the pick might look slanted, but if you’re not actually doing the escape motion, then it’s not right.
And that’s what’s happening here. You’re holding the pick with a "slant, but if you look at the way the pick is moving in slow motion, you should be able to spot what looks like a little semicircle or bounce. When you see the pick go up in the air at both ends of the pickstroke, and you feel a speed limit, that’s stringhopping. That’s how you know it’s wrong.
The simplest way we know of to address this is the rest stroke, where you make the staight line motion until the pick hits the higher string. Then you come back in a straight line for the escape. If you do this right it will be as fast as your DSX motion (your “UWPS” motion), and it won’t feel or look bouncy.
Give this a few more tries but don’t post the results. Just look at the video yourself and see if you can see the bouncing. As soon as you do the rest stroke motion correctly, it will feel faster and smoother. That’s how you’ll know it’s right. And when it’s right, you should be able to see that it looks correct in slow motion, where only the upstroke escapes and the downstroke doesn’t bounce.
Otherwise, your form here looks on target. I think this is just an issue of the hand not moving the way you want because you haven’t done it before and it’s new. Some fumbling around with this, occasionally, I think you’ll crack it.
Good work and thanks for posting.
One more thing — can you still do your original motion with this exact same grip, arm position, etc. If so, that’s good. That means the form is correct, and you’re very close to getting this motion too. Mixing and matching both of them, from this new grip / arm setup, will eventually get both of them. It’s a little like learning two languages at once, but it pays off eventually because each one will reinforce the other one, when you figure out how to control them separately.
Troy thank you, I’ll bear that in mind and get back at it.
I can get the downward escape to 185bpm 16th notes
This upwards escape I can get to 130 but my forearm is tensing
That sounds correct — that’s because this really isn’t upstroke escape, it’s stringhopping. Once you get it right, you’ll have the same speed as your other motion.
But try not to spend a lot of time doing just a single note with a picking motion. Since the other motion is working great, try out some phrases with it, like those McLaughlin phrases in the Primer, or the jazz one I linked to. Think of it like a buffet, a little here, a little there.
Lovely I will do thanks.