New Member Update

[Rexx_Engineering]

I am three weeks into my new journey here. Long time player but never developed good mechanics or speed. Mainly classic rock with some 80’s stuff mixed in. After going through the primer and doing drills for several weeks, I am seeing big improvements in all areas. Full credit to the team and the insights here. A few key things to mention:

1. I learned I play faster and more accurately with a downward pick slant with an upstroke escape. The motion is mostly wrist side-to-side but maybe a little rotation?

2. I never thought much about this but just mentally focusing on my picking angle and motion helps me play better.

3. Practicing tremolo picking is a huge help. I don’t know how fast I’m going, but it’s massively faster than anything else I play. But with regular practice, it’s getting smoother, faster and more effortless. I really never practiced this in the past because I was so bad at it (due to poor mechanics).

4. I am able pick faster passages now that gave me fits my whole life. The only thing is I have to re-engineer them so they only change string after an upstroke. This can mean adding a hammer or pull where I would not normally do it, or picking down through two strings (like a mini sweep). It’s working well and making practice fun.

5. My speed on single string pattern exercises is improving quite a bit. I can go much faster if I avoid patterns that have consecutive ring finger/pinkie combinations. I am avoiding those for now to build speed. I guess I will come back to them.

Thanks to everyone. The journey continues…

[joebegly]

Great to hear about your progress!

Though it’s not official CtC, one of my favorite threads on here is one that discusses your 5th point:

@Rexx_Engineering

My speed on single string pattern exercises is improving quite a bit. I can go much faster if I avoid patterns that have consecutive ring finger/pinkie combinations. I am avoiding those for now to build speed. I guess I will come back to them.

Efficient Digital Cycles

I have been preparing a post about the left hand postures and fretting strategies I use in my playing, after reading through the following thread: That promised post is still in preparation, and I will present it when I’m satisfied with it. In preparing that post, I watched through several instructional videos and CTC interviews again. While re-watching Shawn Lane’s Power Licks for the first time in a while, I realized something about his fretting sequences that I felt was extremely interes…

Rather than coming back to them (unless they are vital for passages you play), an alternative is to just keep avoiding them since they are inherently slow for most people. We’re conditioned to think everything we are bad at needs more work. Many successful players, consciously or not, took the alternative approach of just capitalizing on what came naturally for them

Life’s too short to be good at everything and almost no one is the absolute best at everything. Eric Johnson can’t crosspick like Steve Morse. Allan Holdsworth couldn’t alternate pick like Al Di Meola. Rather than address these ‘weaknesses’, they all made careers out of their strengths. You sound like you’re already on your way to success, so congratulations and keep up the great work!