Pickslanting Primer complete...what next?

Playing Technique
#1

I’ve found that the Primer does a great job of equipping the viewer with everything they need to conceptualize the variables that contribute to picking technique. That is to say, it excels at explaining pick shape/size, grip, slant, escape etc. as abstractions that contribute to overall picking technique. That aspect of the content is fantastic. Thanks, Troy and team.

Now here I am, having viewed all of the course content (much of it twice) and I’m at a loss for where to go next. What approach have those of you who have benefited from this course used to actually develop and start executing a practice routine that has resulted in gains in your picking speed? How do you check in and make sure you’re actually making progress?

I’ve found that the course doesn’t do a great job of answering those questions.

For some background and context, I’ve been playing guitar for over 20 years but have only gotten more serious about lead in the last two or three. I’ve reached the point where it’s time to address my speed, specifically when it comes to three note or even two note-per-string arpeggio or scale runs and that’s what brought me to the site.

Edit: To give an example of my bewilderment. I’m working through the Cascade seminar and can’t get anywhere near Troy’s speed on the Pentatonic Chunk - Upper at 4:38 here and it’s unclear to me what I should remediate to get there.

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#2

Do you currently have a tremolo motion that can pick 16ths on a single string, for at least a couple of measures, somewhere in the vicinity of 180bpm? If you do, do you know what the escape is? If you do not, have you done all the table-tapping tests?

So, it is a prerequisite that you have a USX motion before you can do that (unless you reverse all the pick directions, but ignore that for now). Do you have a USX motion?

The general idea here is to get the subscriber going with the picking motion that is going to work for them quickest, and then steer them in the direction of suitable material to work on. If you’re an elbow player, the Cascade and Volcano seminars aren’t going to work right now - you’d want to go with Metronomic Rock, instead.

EDIT: I just checked your other thread. Your first course of action should just be to develop some sort of decent tremolo - I’d ignore the seminars for now. You can make a platform technique critique to receive some guidance.

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#3

Thanks for the response.

I can get to >180bpm with elbow joint motion or some hybrid wrist-forearm motion using the pick grip Troy suggests for the door knocker-type reverse dart thrower tendency.

I can’t see myself adopting that pick grip in practice, realistically. The movement is extremely spastic at that speed to the point that I wouldn’t even know how to classify an escape motion. Perhaps DBX is the closest.

My go-to technique that tops out around 120 bpm is a slight trailing edge DWPS with USX. As I start to accelerate that, during a 3nps scale run, for instance it devolves into string hopping.

What would you recommend demonstrating in the technique video? I put one up for pentatonic chunks using USX but it sounds like a tremolo is a better starting point…

One topic that you hit on that’s been on my mind is how to “develop” a tremolo. I can do that 180 bpm elbow motion but I can’t see a lot of utility in it and would be more interested in nailing down a quick RDT-style tremolo as that’s more suited to my current playstyle

#4

I know that I’m a broken record, but I’d say, get a great teacher!

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#5

I just checked your TC - I am certain they’ll ask you for tremolo, as the current motion is string-hopping, which just doesn’t have much potential for speed.

I fully understand that. If you cannot get a decent RDT tremolo going on right now, I would first try following Troy’s progression that he outlines in the RDT tutorial section of the Primer, where various forms of tapping are used on the guitar itself, rather than jumping into picking on the string.

My pleasure! I think you’ll find this is a solid group, and with a bit of tenacity on your end, you’ll definitely make notable progress before long.

#6

You should use this my man! 180 beats 120 any day of the week, don’t worry if it’s elbow! It just means that you are a DSX player, and yeah, there are LOTS of ways to do the USX vocab with some note rearrangements. That includes the Cascade and volcano stuff… Sure, it will look different, but that’s fine - it’s all about how it sounds! And while having a deadly fast DBX might be what we all dream for, it might not be in the cards - my own Herring-style DBX isn’t nearly as fast as my DSX playing especially if I add hybrid picking, sweep/economy, and legato power-ups to the mix.

My thoughts? DO your elbow thing and march right on over to “Metronomic Rock” and start being pleased with yourself as you begin smashing that stuff down…

:grinning:

#7

Thanks, I’ll check it out.

#8

Here’s a look at a couple of attempts at tremolo using different techniques.

Straight button-mashing mode here. This is the one I feel has no real application outside of Street Fighter but would love to be disabused of that notion…

Three finger grip with wrist motion, significantly slower and not much less spastic.

#9

These both look like elbow to me. How tense is the first one? Looks like there’s some potential there with the speed but it should feel effortless :slight_smile:

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#10

I would say maximum effort. Like an all out sprint. What is the endurance standard for tremolo? For how many bars should I be able to maintain my target speed?

#11

Yeah, I would say your first mission is to find a motion that is very comfortable to go fast on one string. Maybe start slower too at around 150 bmp and go up. Then identify what kind of string escape motion you can use with it and move on to the seminar that uses the motion that comes easiest to you. For my I’m finding DSX is probably the way to go since I can trem pick fast using that hand position and motion. I’m starting the Metronomic Rock seminar soon.

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