Back in May last year I bought the Pickslanting Primer. And while it is undoubtedly very useful, I do have some questions. Who are the tutorials about RDT motion aimed at? I have been lately having a go at this motion, and I have to say, it does feel a bit counterintuitive to tilt one’s arm to the right, but have a neutral pick-slant - but I am getting used to it. I see that it’s a very common picking style and who am I to question something used by e.g. the great John McLaughlin? But then I see that there is also something called Dart-Thrower picking motion. Is the potential speed of Dart-Thrower any less than RDT? I’m guessing it might be because of the pedagogic focus on RDT, and how common it is.
I see there are videos on various players’ picking styles (like Al Di Meola, Mike Stern etc.) who I am guessing arrived at their own particular motions mostly through feel and experimentation. So my last question would be, if it’s good to ‘start with speed’ to develop one’s picking technique, and do whatever movement feels smooth, fast and comfortable (however inchoate and initially fleetingly achievable it is) and that this is would send each player to gravitate to their own personal picking style, is it worth, then, pursuing the detailed and specific instructions for one particular style? I do think this website is wonderful, but I guess I have noticed a discrepancy with some of the nature of the content, with some of it being very specific (e.g. the instructions for RDT) and some of it not (e.g. cultivate ‘controlled random experimentation’ to arrive at DBX).
Thanks very much for reading this.
I think in general all the descriptions of motions are aimed at either people trying to find a motion, or people who have a motion and want to branch out.
RDT has shown itself to be very versatile and also very comfortable in terms of the range/ease of motion. Also it’s something that a wide variety of people can probably do relatively quickly.
I think the experimental stuff to arrive at DBX is not where Troy would start someone who’s keen to learn the motion, currently. That seems like an “older” approach. FWIW it did work for me 
Hey thanks for the reply. 
So, I wonder where Troy would start someone now wanting to learn DBX (or is the answer to this question already part of the series of videos on RDT?)
Incidentally, I just happened to be watching the rock/metal video in the ‘Choosing a Technique’ section of the Primer, and it does appear that Dart Thrower has no less speed potential than RDT. So, I dunno…
That’s my guess. Super efficient and easy feeling motion and if you’re moving correctly in the correct posture, the escapes in both directions just happen on their own. PLUS, you’re also in a great position to have DSX in that posture.