Hi all. New to the forum but have been gigging and teaching mandolin my adult life and am mostly retired at 67. Used to be able to play fast. Many years of not performing (my choice) and not playing fast in practicing means I have forgotten how I used to do this. Plus I switched from playing Bluegrass to learning bebop and have very much slowed down my practice tempos in order to learn the language, so mostly playing medium tempo tunes. Because of this I am very much a string hopper. I have become comfortable enough playing the bop language (studying the Barry Harris stuff) that now I want to be able. To play faster again.
After seeing many of Troys free YouTube vids, I purchased the Pickslanting Primer and got to work a few days ago. I can make DSX in the air comfortable at a pretty good speed, but don’t have it yet picking the strings as it is so new. Think I may have made a bit of a breakthrough today. I get a phone holder device tomorrow so will be able to make videos of my technique soon and will post for feedback. I am very interested in older, experienced players who started this picking study at a later age in life. If I could get back to say 250 bpm I would be happy. I used to play 160 bluegrass tempos comfortably (320 jazz) so,am hoping this is doable.
Thanks for listening and appreciate any feedback anyone would care to,share.
Pete