But how so you switch motion from one to the other? Isn’t DBX the usual bridge?
No, this would just be completely changing the slant. You’re either in a posture with a downward slant that gives you USX, or you’re in an upward slant that gives you DSX. You’d have to smoothly flip between them at just the right instant. It wouldn’t work for every phrase but it WOULD work for the one in the tab that I initially responded to. And it’s academic since the vast majority of players don’t have a wrist motion that would allow this. Hence, Troy not recommending people go this route. Most people have a wrist motion that only do one thing and simply flipping the slant doesn’t change their trajectory.
Isn’t this, by definition, a form of DBX, as it would be free → free? In other words, the pick starts free, and ends free, hence it is double-escaped? (I know that I’m missing something, but I am becoming increasingly confused by the terminology, perhaps I am looking at it too deeply and expecting mathematics to come out or something like that.)
No, I think dbx implies all pick strokes are gently curved and this would not be the case in what I was suggesting. Even if that ended up happening at the point the slant changes, it would be more of a side effect in isolation as opposed to the DBX players Troy has interviewed like Molly Tuttle or Steve Morse. When they play DBX their strokes are always curved and they largely stay in one posture the whole time.
1 Like
Ah, I see. Here is my INCORRECT definition that I was completely sure of five minutes ago:
- DBX is a double-escaped motion that starts and ends with a free (= escaped) pick.
- One common form of DBX looks like a pendulum and is used when there are lots of isolated 1nps cases like one sees in bluegrass music.
- One common form of DBX is used by some to switch USX ↔︎ DSX.
So what is the correct name of the stroke that switches between USX and DSX?
Well I could be wrong about any of this too lol!
I think that is what Troy calls ‘mixed escape’ or at times “helper motion”
Ah, I would have INCORRECTLY told you, “the DBX stroke that switches USX ↔︎ DSX often leverages a helper motion, usually forearm rotation, to slightly change the pick’s path.”
So my overly broad definition might explain a lot of my regular confusion. 
1 Like
I think in certain contexts there probably isn’t even anything correct [edit: INCORRECT] about what you said there. That probably could happen in certain scenarios. And let’s be honest there are a LOT of terms here haha
Plus Troy is constantly refining his understanding of things (which I think is awesome). So depending on what someone read (forum vs pickslanting primer) and what year it was, it’s understandable that many of us have different takeaways of the material. So anything I’ve said here has the potential of being wrong lol!
I have gone really deep down the rabbit hole of both dbx and mixed escape though, so at the very least, I’ve got some field experience in this territory
2 Likes
Great answer, thanks. No I don’t experience any fatigue but more coordination issues with my left hand not keeping up with my right hand. I will try to post some videos when I know how (I don’t have a magnet and filming with my iPhone without a stand makes it impossible to get the right angle)
1 Like
@kgk sorry I had a bad typo in the last thing I responded to you with. That probably sounded super sparky lol! Not my intention at all. I meant to say that in certain contexts, what you said would be totally legit. I edited the post. Sorry!
1 Like
I realized your typo and didn’t think anything of it. But 1nps definitely creates 90% of plectrum-related confusion in my mind, thanks for helping to explain!
1 Like
Yeah that (1nps) is a different animal.