OK, I’ve been a masters in mechanics member for a couple of weeks but i discovered this series several months ago.
There’s a bit of sloppy/off time playing but that’s ok. I’m pretty sure i’m an UWP slanter. I started to try some of the Yngwie DWPS licks but they just feel unnatural to me.
Anyway, I’d love to hear what you all think, especially @Troy. This is sextuplets at 110 BPM. I could go probably to 120 BPM but it starts to fall apart there.
Maybe some of you that are more versed than I can break down what’s going on here so I can understand my mechanics better.
Thanks!!
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Sounds pretty solid to me. I’ll leave any breakdown to others but from my tiny screen it looks like down slant. I would recommend drilling some single string patterns for a bit if you want to ramp up your speed.
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I’m not sure if you are doing UWPS all the time. On the 2nd and 3rd lot of ascending 6s, it goes a bit mushy. Could it be that you are flattening out the slant when string tracking? Could just by lack of hand synch though. (I’m not the most confident at giving critical feedback, hopefully someone with better eyea and eyes can chime in)
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HI
My synchronization was definitely not spot on.
On the 2/3 run I suppose I could be losing my angle or even sloppily swiping?
After about the 6 time up to the end of the ascending version seem to be the cleanest takes. The 9th in particular sounds like the best take.
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I find string switching far easier after downstrokes, that’s why I’m thinking uwps.
Also, in the pickslanting primer Troy says that the angle doesn’t necessarily have to slant upwards by much, it can even be pretty much perpendicular to the strings.
That seems to be what MAB is doing with his angle.
Also, the single string exercises are something I’ve started working on. The Yngwie 6 note pattern in particular.
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True, as long as the pick clears the strings on the down stroke.
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Sorry, but those aren’t sextuplets you’re playing. On the ascending part you’e playing triplet, triplet, and then a quadruplet (16th notes). Descending you’re playing 16th notes. Sextuplets at that tempo would require you to play at twice the speed you’re playing in the first two bars of the ascending part.
The mechanics are wrist deviation with UWPS ascending and DWPS descending.
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Six notes per click= sextuplets…no? It’s the Gilbert lick I’m playing.
2 set of triplets is one set of sextuplets.
And I’m not sure your correct about DWPS descending. I think it’s much clearer that I’m UWPS on the descending part. 3 note on the high E followed by a string switch after the downstroke. If it were DWPS the pick would be below the strind’s plane and I would have to have a more exaggerated “hop” to get to the B string…
I’m counting three notes per click in the first two bars, then four notes per click. I’m pretty sure that’s what you’re doing but see how many notes per click other people on this forum count on the ascending first two clicks. See if they count 6 notes per click. I could be wrong; I just don’t think so.
I’m less sure about the pick slant. Now it looks like DWPS both ascending and descending but again, ask what other people think. I’m telling you how it looks to me. Ask Troy; he’s great at seeing changes in UWPS to DWPS.
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I know that my first handful of reps are sloppy and not 100% in time with the click. Possibly making counting difficult? The later reps (somewhere around the 6th thru the end of the ascending part) seem to be more in sync with the click.
I’m basing th UWPS on the ease of switching strings after my downstroke, even from the onset of the phrase. But yeah, I’m not 100% sure either.
Thanks for your input Ace!
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If you are still working on your motion mechanic, it might not be a bad idea to turn off the metronome. All that matters is that you are clearing the strings effectively at this point and playing at what feels like a moderate spees for you (fast enough to test the motion mechanics).
Have a go and post another video. -Dialing back on the distortion may enable you to do less palm muting which helps us hear the notes a little better.
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I’ll try that. I had been using the metronome to try to “reel myself in”. I was finding that I was tending to go too fast for my own good and losing the mechanic in the middle of the phrase. Maybe just playing at a moderate speed for a week or 2 until I can absolutely nail the mechanic/synchronization is the key. I can always ramp up the speed once I’m 100% with the basics of it.
I’ll try to post another video if I have a few minutes after work tonight. I’ll try to capture a closer view as well as a slo-mo clip.
I think this sounds fine!
We’re a little too far away to see the pick/string contact, but at the end of the day, the only thing I really care about is what it sounds like and again this sounds fine to me. Rhythm is in time and hands are synchronized. Form looks good. If you enjoy these kinds of metronomic Gilbert-style sextuplet patterns they seem to be working for you so that’s cool, go to town.
If you want to see if you’re actually clearing the strings during the string changes, you can put the phone a little closer and shoot in 120fps. If you do that, don’t put the window behind you, it’s too bright and will just silhouette you. Face the window and point the camera at you, between you and the window.
Keep up the good work!
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…remember, the “slant” is mostly irrelevant. It’s the motion path. I know I’m guilty of creating these terms, so I will take the blame for this confusion! When you play an upstroke is it trapped, like, does it hit the lower string? And when you play a downstroke is it escaped, as in, does it go up in the air and not hit the next higher string? If so, that’s upward pickslanting. Downward pickslanting is the reverse. There’s really no guesswork here, if your picking motion follows either one of these trajectories, that is what you are doing. Speed doesn’t matter, just play the note and look at what the pick does. That’s your motion.
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Thanks for replying @Troy I appreciate your feedback.
Yes, my downstrokes seem to clear the plane of the strings and I feel that switching strings is easier after downstrokes. Plus there’s the thumb bump like you talked about in the Vinnie Moore segment. So UWPS it is!!
Here is another video playing the same Gilbert lick. I slowed down the metronome to 95 bpm and I tried to get a closer view…hopefully it is close enough.
I have to get a tripod of some sore to film a slo-mo as my phone won’t let me “reverse” the view.
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Looks great! You’re using a supinated arm setup, which is somewhat more common for dwps players, but yes, you can absolutely do uwps this way and that is what I often do. It’s just a question of which way you move your wrist. In fact, down the line, you could also learn the dwps movement with no change in your forearm, just by changing the diagonal path (“pickslant”) along which you move.
Anyway, for now I’d definitely say, keep doing what you’re doing and don’t worry too much about it, since it sounds like it is working. Try and find phrases which are a little less “exercisey” to work on that are still uwps. The pattern type phrases get under your fingers and quickly take over your whole vocabulary, to where you become a pattern playing machine. (Ask me how I know!) So if you can mix that up with phrases that are a little less pattern-based, or melodic type lines that you write, you’ll get double the bang for the buck.
Nice work here.
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Thanks!
Now that you mention it I can see the supinated stance with the forearm. Hopefully I’ll be able to make DWPS a quick study because of that.
This particular lick is really one of the first that I’ve been able to actually play so yeah, I tend to do it a LOT. Lol
My plan is to try to work through as many of the licks that I can that you have laid out on the website. And there’s a lot of them.
I’ve watcked a lot of the primer as well as MiMechanics and I’m just going to try to tackle one section at a time.
I have a question about some of the soundslice licks.
I noticed that some are notated as sextuplets at 130bpm in the tablature. Is that the speed that you are playing these examples in soumdslice as well? My short term goal is to hit the 130bpm mark at sextuplets so I was curious…
On a side note…
I’m completely in awe of what you and the team have put together here on this website…I don’t even have words for how impressive what you’ve accomplished is…WOW. Thank you for ALL of this.
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