Pickslanting Primer is too complicated, school-like and boring

I don’t have any idea on how most people feel, but my personal experience is that detail is very helpful for my learning process. I’m not one of those guys that easily figures things out by feel alone, but I seem to benefit from more information, which in turn affects on what I try to play around with in order to achieve the feeling of smoothness.

If the reverse dart thrower motions would just have been an animation and how to force the motion to see how if it works for you, as written in the first post, I would probably have had little success with RDT.

For me RDT has taken quite a lot of trial and error, and a crucial part has been the pick grip. Without details on the pick grip and especially curling the fingers to achieve the zero degree pickslant, I would have had a very difficult time proceeding with RDT.

I checked that the length of the videos on RDT is between 3 and 14 minutes. I think they are very short and easily digestable pieces of information.

Actually I wish that there would be more information on RDT. Among these are tracking and picking depth. I know tracking is one of those things that may (!) benefit from not being overanalyzed, but as I stated earlier, I like to have options that I can play around with in order to achieve smoothness. For RDT tracking these have been for me elbow and wrist motion. But both of these options will in turn have an effect on what the angle of edge picking is, complicating things further.

Another thing that could be expanded on with the RDT tutorials would be how picking on different strings may have an effect on the position of the picking hand. What I mean by this is that for me the most difficult strings to pick with RDT have been the lower strings and part of this seems to be the lack of support on the small bone of my wrist on the guitar saddle. This is complicated further by changes in support due to tracking. Players like Andy Wood seem to actually have a noticeably different hand position when playing on the lower strings. Examples of players using the techniques help me as I encounter problems that need to be solved in my own playing.

As a great man once said “How can less be more? That is impossible. More is more.”

3 Likes

What I think is needed, and what I believe the OP is asking for is more of a “diagnostic tool” that can help identify where you’re at, what you need to do, and exactly what areas of the Primer, or picking techniques you should focus on. I visually think of one of those diagrams you see in medical books: cough - fever – body aches = Flu, cough – stomach cramps, headache – food poisoning…. You get the idea.

For myself… I hold the pick in a classic DWPS posture, I have been going back and forth trying to learn USX style picking (YJM), when I’m actually using a DSX motion…
I find myself re-watching/re-testing myself in areas I should probably avoid in order to
“re diagnose “ my picking situation.

Now…. I know that Troy has attempted to do this already, in posts, short vids, etc. but I feel that info needs to be consolidated in a “primer run-through” video, something from start to finish, that has all of the critical information on how to appropriate the primer material specifically for your situation is needed. Also, a section devoted to hand synchronization really needed imo.

Synchronization is well understood and @milehighshred has a free book on how to use a metronome for guitarists.

1 Like

Ignoring all the posts n just commenting on the title,.
School like, complicated… If you are intrested in picking then this is everything you want…

You want someone to say yeh just do this… With no explanation…

CtC goes so far beyond any teacher would, CtC is all you need if you legit want to improve, Troy has worked his ass off to make sure of that.

If its like school then you don’t really care about this stuff. I WISH this stuff was taught in music school.

https://youtube.com/shorts/PPWITFkIlIs

1 Like

im speaking specifically about the primer, and troy addressing it in the primer.

In my opinion the primer is fantastic. it’s important to go in every detail possible.
I don’t want a minute video, to understand this concepts takes time, there’s no shortcut and you have to work hard, like MANY hours.
Also i like see Troy examples, I even would like the possibilities to see them all in slow motion!
Maybe missing something about chunking and a practice routine example of a complicated phrase, how to divide it in smaller chunks, etc…

I think you might be missing the point… it’s not about working /not working hard… its working correctly

You don’t read an entire encyclopedia to research ONE topic, or area of study…

The Primer needs a “pilots guide”, some sort of method for the individual to appropriate the content to suit his/her particular needs.