Right hand locks up / overcontrol? Can’t perform even basic picking motions

[jssgom]

Hi everyone,

I’m working on rebuilding my picking motion and struggling a lot with my right hand.

For context, I’ve been playing with a lot of tension in my picking hand for at least 10 years, and for the last 8 months I’ve been trying to relax and relearn the motion, but I feel like I’m not really able to make progress. At this point, I honestly feel quite desperate.

Also, I should mention that I’m left-handed for writing, but right-handed for many other things, and from the very beginning I learned guitar as a right-handed player.

I’ve also been trying to approach this from a USX perspective, but I’m not even able to properly perform the “primary motion” tests — my hand just feels like it locks up or blocks when I try.

Given that I’m left-handed for writing and the picking motion feels much more natural in my left hand, would it make sense to switch to playing left-handed, or is it better to keep working on the right hand despite the long history of tension?

Any advice would be really appreciated!

- YouTube

https://youtube.com/shorts/-CFvzFHYBmU?is=SUQLZtRAxsAOxizT

Left hand picking, it’s the first day that I try to pick with my left hand

- YouTube

[Jacklr]

Your motion both right and left handed look too deliberate and are both too slow, you need to find a motion that goes fast straight away (170bpm 16ths plus) and learn to control it rather than start with a slow motion and try and refine it, without going fast your body doesn’t know what an efficient motion feels like so what you’re doing slow will inevitable be wrong

How did you get on with the tapping tests? Trying to replicate those motions tapping on the bridge, then with your hand against the strings and finally inserting a pick can make you reach high speeds very quickly. I have definitely felt desperate when it came to my technique before but know that when you do it right it doesn’t feel like a slog or a grind it turns into a eureka moment and if you can keep recreating that moment when you pick up the guitar it gets to a point where it clicks instantly, every time! Good luck

[undertowe]

Stream of consciousness thoughts:

I personally wouldn’t start over from scratch. Plus finding a good left handed guitar might be a pain. What I’m doing right now is clearly identifying the different motions I’ve been doing without thinking about them. Radial/Ulnar deviation, forearm supination/pronation, wrist flexion / extension, and elbow movement. And I’m trying to focus on isolating movements and develop mind muscle connection to them as best I can without mixing movements. In the vein of what @Jacklr said, I’m looking to just quickly build that connection to spam some fast notes with low tension and build up the neural connections around that because if I can get the movement working fast, I know it will work and can develop control, especially if tension is very low.

It’s crazy how much attention I’ve had to put into it to isolate the movements and actually get somewhere without excess tension or reverting to subconscious programming. There’s a lot of details to get bogged down with, but just keep exploring and trying to learn new movements. In my experience if something has a lot of tension and you’ve put deliberate effort into reducing it and practicing with it, it might be time to find a new movement.

I’m drilling my wrist as much as I can, trying to isolate it. I seemed to have gotten decent movement going and speed last night, and then combining it with elbow motion (which I’ve always subconsciously done on fast stuff) I’ve managed to pick a single string very fast with the least amount of tension I’ve ever had at that speed. Every elbow pick attack I add gives my wrist a break with tension, and vice versa, so I’m pretty sold about really paying attention to and practicing movements in isolation.

So overall… Find a movement that works at the speed you’re trying to play at, and just spam it while watching tv or something after you begin to develop the mind muscle connection with it. Film / use a mirror and keep a close eye on the movements.

[steve506]

I was in a similar situation before.

The first thing I would encourage you to do is considering a DSX escape because It seems to be way easier to achieve than USX for a lot of people. Please note that neither escape has any advantage over the other so you are not really compromising anything.

Second, would you share a couple videos of your tap tests? It sounds crazy but the tap tests and your picking motion should feel equally smooth.

Third, do you feel like you have to fight the string to cross it with the pick? My rule of thumb is that the physical sensation should be like there is no pick at all, like it’s made of paper regardless of its actual material and thickness.

[jssgom]

Thanks a lot everyone for the advice and encouragement, I really appreciate it.

I think a big realization for me after reading all your comments (and after @Joao667 feedback in technique critique section) is that I was probably spending too much time trying to “build” motions slowly instead of finding motions that already wanted to move fast naturally.

Over the last few days I focused more on the forearm rotation motion Joao pointed me toward, and even if my tremolo speed still isn’t incredible yet, it’s the first motion where alternate picking actually starts to feel possible and somewhat automatic for me instead of forced.

At the same time, I experimented with elbow motion too, and interestingly that’s currently the motion where I can reach the highest speeds with the least effort. So what you guys said about finding a movement that already works fast before refining it really makes sense to me now.

@jacklr your point about the body needing to experience efficient fast motion before it can understand it was honestly huge for me. I think I spent years practicing slow motions that never really had the right mechanic underneath. I also revisited the tap tests and I can definitely see the connection now between the tapping movement and the picking movement.

@steve506 the DSX suggestion, that’s actually something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. The interesting thing is that I think my natural forearm motion might actually be USX. When I use forearm rotation, the escape path seems to happen more naturally on upstrokes for me.

That said, I’m still experimenting and trying not to force myself into one category too early. Right now I’m mostly focused on finding the motions that feel smooth, fast, and low tension first, then understanding the escape afterwards instead of overthinking it from the start.

Your comment about the pick feeling like it’s “not even there” really stuck with me though, because the few times the motion actually works properly, that’s exactly how it feels.

I’ve also attached two new videos to my open technique critique: one using forearm motion and another using elbow motion, since those are currently the two approaches that seem most promising for me. Let me know if you can’t see them.

Thanks again everyone for taking the time to help me with this. It genuinely helps a lot.