Just joined the site and I’ve been working on my single string picking in a DWPS orientation. My old picking style had a lot of hopping action going on so I’m trying to get a more linear trajectory.
I had to prop my cellphone up on my laptop to take the video so it’s not the best, I’ll try get a better angle this weekend if it’s not clear enough.
Watching the slow motion I think my upstroke is heading across the strings rather than escaping out of them. I’m guessing I should work on rest strokes and get my upstrokes heading away from the guitar. Is my wrist too pronated, do I need to add a bit more supination?
I’ll have to shoot another video when I get time but I’ve made some progress. I think my edge picking was on too much of an angle and was getting snagged up, I’ve straightened up a bit and things are feeling a lot smoother.
I’ve also been working on some of the 2 note per string licks from the Eric Johnson videos which has helped with my upstroke escape angle.
Thanks for signing up! Your general setup, including arm position, look fine, but it’s unclear from this clip whether or not you’re actually escaping. Good lighting is key for slow motion. Also, it looks like you’re using 240fps which is cool but needs even more light and has a slightly lower quality image, since the phone reduces the resolution to get more fps. Here are some general tips on getting a good bright recording:
In general, you’re using a supinated arm position and if that’s comfortable for you, that’s fine. I recommend trying both the downstroke escape and the upstroke escape motions, aka “upward pickslanting” and “downward pickslanting”. They’re both common and both useful and worth trying out. I would go with whichever one works first, or some mix of both if they’re both working. There’s no need to be overly rigid in focusing on a single thing - get whatever you can get asap.
The “Intro to Picking Motion” talk has details on how to achieve both of those. Building on that, the first 30 minutes or so of the “Crosspicking With The Wrist” lesson also is our best discussion so far of how the wrist works, and explains in very clear terms exactly what your arm position is here and how the two motions you can do from this position actually work. I’d give that a watch when you have time.
The Crosspicking With The Wrist video is excellent, I’d worked through the intro to picking motion stuff so had a good idea of what was going on but the crosspicking vid. had some good extra details that made it all click.
I’ve now hit a bit of a mental roadblock with my chunking that’s messing with my co-ordination but I think I’ve worked out the issue and how to fix it.