Rough/Quick Video I Made - Critique Invited:

Technique Critique
#1

Good Morning,

I’m 55 now and I’ve been playing in bands since I was 14. I had 3 guitar lessons in my entire life, which only served to confuse me. Musically, I’m a Neanderthal. To say that I’m an uneducated player is an understatement.

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I currently support two SoCal bands (one cover and one original) and work full time in a recording studio. While I feel like I’m a decent blues-based player, I have recently set my sights on working up to some of YJM’s licks which are way outside my skill set.

A word on my bad habits:

Back in 1982, I bought a new Ibanez Destroyer DT555 with a middle pickup, which was my main stage guitar through the 1980’s. Because I constantly found myself striking the middle pickup while playing, I developed a habit of rotating the tip of my pick towards my palm and I actually play with the large, rounded edge.

Admittedly, this is a very bad habit, but rather than try to change it today, since it is now automatic, I thought I would just post a short video using my usual pick holding technique.

This is a video I shot with my phone propped up on the amp cabinet and it’s not stellar quality, but I think it may at least give a skilled eye a glimpse into where improvement is needed, and a better video can be posted later.

I’m working daily on hand synchronization exercises, because I instinctively start tremolo picking or pedal-picking fast runs.

Here’s this morning’s video clip:

Here’s wishing you all the very best…

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#2

Hey there, very cool musical biography !

Sounds great. To me, it looks like you are using a wrist motion with a downward escape ? Not 100% sure tho, if you subscribe to the pickslanting primer for a month you can learn how to figure it out for yourself. :slight_smile:

Generally, if you want to learn shreddy stuff you have to find your prefered tremolo picking motion and then start synchronizing those with your left hand. I think this vid describes it quite well:

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#3

Thank you for the link!!! It’s very intimidating, in all honesty, but I’m excited to unlearn my poor technical skills and reach a new level.

#4

Ok,

I’ve come to the conclusion that even my incorrect habit of using the blunt edge of the pick isn’t what’s holding me back.

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My true nemesis is my left hand synchronization…and fingers ‘popping-up’ off the fretboard.

Much more discipline is needed.

What exercises do you guy’s recommend for this???

#5

The ones I posted on your other thread. :grin:

In the end it’s not so much about particular exercises that “unlock” something. You can use any repeating patterns on a single string. But the point is to make it super simple at first, so that your body gets used to doing the picking motion fast and relaxed, without many other musical variables cluttering your brain. No string changes, no random changes in the pattern, no shifting positions, etc.

Can you take a video and show what exactly happens when you try?

If it feels extremely clunky for your fretting hand to do, then you might be forcing the fretting motions, i.e. using excessive finger strength to constrain and coordinate them. In that case I’d suggest leaving the picking hand out, and just take some time to experiment how little effort you actually need to move the fretting hand’s fingers, to land them on the correct spots, and how little strength you need to actually fret the notes with good tone.

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#6

@Shredd: LOL. Yes!!!

Thanks for the input on this. You can actually see my pinky coming up off the board in the video I posted, even though I am not actually using it in the run I posted…

I will be working on this again in the morning. 4am to 6am is my daily practice regiment…

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