Please help! 3nps sextuplets problem

Technique Critique
#1

I’m having a problem with this pattern I’ve been trying at for a while now where i can’t ever play it cleanly and precisely consistently. It ends up sounding super sloppy and just doesnt feel right. It feels kind of out of sync and the first 6 notes (on the low e) are always just pure luck on whether or not they’ll work and kick off the string change. The synchronization and alternate picking on the low e feels especially very inconsistent. I believe myself to be a USX player but the only way I can get a good speed picking technique on the low e is by sort of anchoring my palm onto the body of the guitar and side of the bridge, which interferes with the escape motion needed to clear the low e and go up to the a string. Its much easier for me to do this pattern descending instead of ascending like im playing it here. Please help

#3

If you use a metronome, what is the highest bpm where it sounds good to your ears?

#4

Well the weird thing is that I think it sounds best only when I brute force it at a high bpm like 140

#5

Are you sure you’re a USX player? It seems like you are hitting the string every string change, what happens if you do a DSX-ified version of this kinda lick like this? :slight_smile:

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#6

So what happens at 142? (And what do you mean by “brute force it?”)

I love the clarity of your TAB, and won’t the 6 notes in a row work with either escape, provided that one starts correctly on the first 3 notes to finish free?

#8

Right, I don’t think this is USX - seems like the last upstroke on every string makes some sort of mistake every time, frequently a “push” where it touches the string but doesn’t actually pick through it. I’m not sure it’s DSX, either… looks trapped. But certainly worth it to try the DSX version and see how it goes.

Towards the end of the video there’s a bit of ascending economy, and that is USX, but it’s also way slower than the picking at the beginning of the video/not the same motion.

A suggestion - lessen the gain, increase the volume, and try it at 115bpm. This will probably make the areas that need fixing more obvious to you.

#10

It’s alternate, it just doesn’t work with what he’s trying to play. Put the video at half or quarter speed, you can see it.

#11

How will I be able to play it at all if I’m not already doing at least one type of escape motion though? How can I correct that?

#12

Well, the old school two-way pickslanting could potentially help there, or maybe the faster motion you use in the beginning could more easily become DSX than USX if you just try DSX-friendly things.

What happens when you try Jacklr’s DSX pattern? Does it also not really work? What if you go with that easier anchoring of the palm on the guitar body you mentioned?

#14

He’s playing 6 notes per string.

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#15

Uhhh…

I’m totally wrong. Ummm…

You are right, idk how I was seeing different.

Wtf…

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#16

lol No worries, mate! Happens to us all.

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#17

By brute force it I mean like go on autopilot kinda and do the string change when it sounds like I played all 6 notes

#18

I would suggest this:

  1. Check if @Jacklr ’s TAB is OK for you (and decide what kind of escape you want).

  2. Download @milehighshred ’s free metronome book.

  3. Play it flawlessly, starting at 60 bpm.

  4. Bump up the speed per @milehighshred ’s suggestions, play it flawlessly, then goto 4.

Go get ‘em!

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#19

Jacklr’s pattern feels slower and more difficult than the way I’ve been playing it, even when I pronate my forearm more and try for a more DSX form. I just don’t understand. It seems like for this type of challenge I’ll have to omit the fast practice for now right?

Also, I’ll spend a lot of time in the future learning a lot of yngwie and other usx player stuff so how should I approach that?

#20

Can you put up TAB to show exactly what you are attempting?

#21

It’s just what Jacklr sent but with exactly 6 notes per string going up the same segment of the harmonic minor scale, except I’m tuned to d# standard. So it’s 7810 7810, 7910 7910, etc

#22

Except you want to swap the upstroke and downstroke markers to be USX like YJM?

#23

Well, it’s an even number of groupings per string before each string change so it is indeed down up down up down up. Also, that milehighshred book about his metronome practice principles seems like a great source of knowledge. Are there any principles of that book that you have found to be untrue?

#24

Nope, @milehighshred is amazing, but do start at 60 as he suggests!

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