Paul Gilbert mixed escape wrist

[Brennan_Zentmeyer]

Are there any videos I should watch on how to do this picking motion? Ive been having a hard time trying to do this motion.

[saintelsewhere]

Troy’s seminar “Crosspicking from the wrist” explains the mechanics. Paul is likely a “902” player.

But it’s important to understand that he doesn’t always get a clean double escape. At least some of the time he’s audibly swiping.

[carranoj25]

probably also some helper motions going on too?

[jptk]

Yes I think he has some forearm motion in there also. A member here posted a clip of him which showed he was using a bit of forearm rotation. I cannot remember what thread it was in unfortunately.

[Brennan_Zentmeyer]

Hi. Thanks for the reply. I’ve watched that video, and I’ve been trying to get the 902 motion, but I haven’t got it yet. Do you have any tips on achieving it?

[saintelsewhere]

Do you know what motion mechanic you tend to use already?

You can try working on the the “Al di Meola wrist motion” first, as detailed in the Pickslanting Primer. I believe it’s an 8 o clock to 2 o clock motion wrist motion where the down stroke escapes (dsx). I had this motion down on its own before getting the 902 double escape working. Andy Wood often uses this for faster lines that only need one escape.

[Brennan_Zentmeyer]

I use the al di meola style wrist motion

[saintelsewhere]

Gilbert two way pick slant

I was looking back at Intense rock at about 6 mins he plays 3 notes on the B starting on a downstroke and 1 upstroke on the E and rapidly repeats the 15 12 between B and E strings _______________12_______12 12___13____15_______15______15____13 I don’t see how he could switch from UWPS to DWPS so fast to clear the strings, is there something else going on here?

Lots of info here.

[Brennan_Zentmeyer]

I think he swipes that

[saintelsewhere]

Yes. And he often exaggerates the swipe for a rhythmic effect. But sometimes you hear Paul do a clean double escape, or the swipe is inaudible. If you’re maintaining an upward pick slant the pick can just glide right over the string- the stealth swipe- you might not even feel it. When everything is going exactly right, the upstroke just barely clears the neighboring string above it. It’s almost flat.

I’m no Paul Gilbert. In my experience, some days I get it totally clean, and sometimes I seem to swipe every note at high tempos. It seems to be dependent on being correctly positioned, with the right angle of approach, as well as getting the movement right.

Anton Oparin, Paul Gilbert, and Andy Wood all use similar movements. And there’s a bunch of Andy Wood to study on this site.