firstly, that lick WOULD only have one note where the slant would have to change. If u basically start with uwps orientation, the only place u need to change to dwps is going from the 6th note back up to the 1st note
so its not durudr. its dududr. unless you are a megadedicated dwps guy. But if u are going for 2way then ideally its dududr
I’ll tell u what I see just based on common sense first impressions:
-
the whole playing position with the guitar on the right leg and the right arm cocked/cramped up high like that doesnt exactly look comfortable. Seems like a recipe for tension…which is a major speed killer
-
(main point) everything looks overblown and therefore inefficient.
a) The slanting seems really overdone to me. Its way too dramatic looking. Maybe in trying to “prove” you are really using 2way, you have gone too far? All u have to accomplish is to clear that one itty bitty string on that one note.
Remember in the Antigravity vid where Troy had to watch it over and over to see Michael Angelos slant changes? Why was that? Its because they were very small. He would have seen yours from the next room over lol.
I see you are a MIM member. When I bought the Antigravity seminar before I joined MIM, there was a clip called something like “Vinnie Moore minimal pickslant”. Check that clip. On a simple lick like this one should barely be able to see u switch slants. As it is, there is way too much changing of angles going on. Think about a car running a slalom course…what happens as the cones get set wider and wider apart??
b) To me, the pickstroke itself is too long. its almost like all rest strokes. Think about the 3rd note on the G string which then goes down to the D string. you are picking the G and pretty much going way up and hitting the B and then having to reverse all of that extra space to come way back down to the D.
Same thing on the other side. You are picking thru the D string and going all the way down to hit the A. IMO thats slowing u down especially on the 6th note where u have the added complication of changing slants. You are way down on the A meanwhile you have to get way back up to the G.
It almost gives the impression that the lick sort of stops after the 6th note to pause slightly because youve got that wide turn to make plus you make that large angle change on the slant. from WAY upwards to WAY downwards.
Think about the slalom course. You’ve got the cones set too wide apart.
c) those 2 points might be related to this point…seems you have a LOT of pick showing. In other words maybe you need to grip so that less pick is sticking out
So to me, those points all go together and they can all be worked on at one time. Maybe show a little less pick, dont switch the angle so much from up to down etc. You only have to clear that tiny string. Try to get the pickstrokes a little tighter as far as not picking thru all the way to the next string lol
I know its fashionable to say “stroke length doesnt matter” but to me thats overruled by “if what you are doing isnt working, try something different”
d) another slight point that is probably related is that maybe you are picking a bit too deep into the string. Again, to me all those points go together hand in hand as far as what separates faster motions from slower motions
notice on your vid where u do those first 2 nervous sort of tension relieving notes? that 2nd note is a full on super deep picked rest stroke deal lol.
So what to do about it? Easy. stop doing all of those things by starting to do other things lol. Do about 200 reps nice and slowly where you pick a little shallower, change slant angle less and dont overshoot the string as much. Dont try to massively speed it up right away or you’ll just revert to back where you are now.
Do about 150-200 nice controlled reps. obviously you can get them going in a rhythm but keep it slow at first. You have to ungroove what u r currently doing by grooving a new motion
Depending on how much you practice per day etc, do that a few days in a row. When it starts to feel somewhat grooved, start to speed it up while still staying true to the main point…in other words dont revert.
Thats the essence of change, do a new thing, stop doing the old thing. make new “grooves” in the central nervous system etc
im suspecting some of these things also have to do with your speed worries on the single string stuff too. Im going to guess that if u do the Yngwie 6 note pattern on the G string that u probably hit the D and B too? lol
a somewhat abstract thought is that you need to start turning around the stroke faster. Even picking on a single string, its not “pick, stop, pick the other way, stop, pick the other way etc”. Its more blended than that, you are starting to turn back even before you have picked all the way thru the string. Its not a conscious thing per se but I think it helps to be aware of it
that comes into play on this particular 6 note pepsi lick too IMO. I personally wouldnt wait until the 6th note to start rotating to dwps. As soon as I got on the d string id start rotating as I picked those 3 notes. Then the same thing when I got back up on the g string. When u come back to the G its with dwps but id start right away reswitching to upws.
And again, we arent talking some huge angles being used. After a while u get a smooth continuous motion happening as opposed to have a bunch of discrete separate events
Dont despair though, u have a good rhythm going and to me you have the lick going to a certain degree etc. Now everything has to get more efficient. Thats a lot easier than starting from scratch
peace, JJ
