Scott's DSX Moves

Show and Tell
#1

I thought I’d start a thread on some DSX moves that work out well for me(in my opinion). Kind of my take on ideas presented in the really, really awesome “Metronomic Rock” package here on the site. If you’re a DSX person, buy a subscription and head right to Metronomic rock. OK, sales pitch over! :grinning:

First up; Alternate picked Ascending/Descending 4’s. Now I don’t play it too fast in the video, but I got it pretty quick actually - and it didn’t take too long. I’m not too sure of the tempos here in the video, but I got this sucker up to about 16ths at 208bpm, and that was Yeah, it’s a bit more work for the left hans (I am okay with that). I wanted a solution that was pure alternate picking, and didn’t have any fancy dancy “other stuff” added to make it work. So no hybrid picking, no sweeping, no swiping, no hammer-on/pulloff. Just alternate picking!

I am of the opinion that 4’s are an important milestone for single note picking technique; it’s so prevalent in the shredi arts; Yngwie, Dimeola, etc. It’s one of those things I couldn’t do well for a very long time that really “bothered” me. It’s interesting how it’s NOT sheer reps, but thoughtful analysis towards obtaining a smooth, effortless attack are most conducive to success. Lots of work to be done obviously, but definitely getting there.

This 4’s thing is heavily inspired by Marshall Harrison and of course the TG folks here @tommo and @Tom_Gilroy.

Ascending-Descending 4's
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#2

Hmm, Here’s another one. Pure alternate picking, all DSX. A bit more straightforward, maybe “too” simple? Simple is easy to remember though! lol

Anyways, I find it useful for zipping around from point “A” to point “B”. I think there’s a ton of potential for something that’s simple like this to be developed into variations that could be called upon for more interesting musical statements. In the meantime, it’s a good starting point that would dovetail with the material in Metronomic rock. In my opinion at least! I hope someone finds it and the previous ideas helpful. I’m working on them myself, so they are kind of still in their infancy! :grinning:

Up3Back1

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#3

I”m working on DSX picking and Tommo’s Metronomic Rock. I saved your charts (thanks for providing them) and will give them a go later. :+1::+1:

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#4

No problem! I hope they are somewhat helpful; Again - the “Metronomic Rock” series is a great blueprint for DSX. I was so happy when it was published; I went through it all and was able to do all of it. That and the Gambale series are my favourites!

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#5

Lazy 6’s. I call 'em that because I tried to teach a student this sort of thing, like decades ago before I knew why it worked as a sort of “gateway” to more complicated passages and the guy turned his nose up, and refused to learn it because it was lazy! hahahah I find that this concept is highly useful and lends itself well to variation, so as such it’s an important part of my vocabulary. It’s fun, sounds good and extremely dependable - consistent! The speed is relatively easy to ramp up with this also, which is nice also!

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#6

I’m enjoying Tommo’s “Metronomic Rock.” I’m not working straight through it but rather, working on a variety of exercises. Also, found some Andy James exercises that are good.
Still experimenting with a few different picks and with slight modifications of my grip. And also with using less pressure when fretting notes. Trying to be as relaxed as possible. One day at a time, multiple sessions, attentive to details.
Whatever happens from here on out, I’m a DSX picker.
Not really a shredder though, more of a jazzy blues and rock guy. I don’t have to play at face-melting speeds for the songs I write, but by golly, I want to be able to. :rofl:

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#7

I have found that it’s the optimizations that lead to breakthroughs. Once you have found your core motion and you settle on it, refinement is the key. Little tweaks here and there, Troy and co are on the money with this! My biggest mistake I think was in dismissing what I can do in favour of chasing some sort of guitar unicorn. I learned a lot along the way though, got a lot wrong and made pretty much every mistake!

This thread is my attempt at trying to give back to the community that has always tried to help me out! :grinning:

I present the last of the 3 main food groups for DSX and strict alternate picking; Even notes per string with 2 NPS. Perfect for pentatonics, or arpeggios arranged for 2 nps in octaves, or scalar sequences only using 2 of the available notes on a string. Lots of room for variation. I find that tracking is the big thing here, the more I work on just getting to the next string group the easier it is to play at faster tempos.Again, this all dovetails nicely in my opinion with the Metronomic rock stuff, indeed it’s probably more watered down hahaha then again, I am kind of a primitive guitarist so understanding things in simplest possible terms is really important for me to be able to utilize an idea and get creative.

So 2, 4, and 6 NPS are the main “Even NPS” moves (Strategies?) for strict alternate picking. But, it could get whacky with a higher note count per string (8, 10, 12, 14) and some clever position shifting. Also, there’s other strategies available for other note combinations, and they are quick to learn and show consistent improvement with time spent. To me sweep, hybrid, hammer-on/pull-off, tap and swipe are the quickest path to execution, unless of course one stumbles across a double escape that works really well and shows progress.

Furious 2's
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#8

Great! Thanks. I didn’t know that CM7 arp (that way.) Something to work on.

My wrist is less pronated than yours. I can palm mute easily. But my speed is not where it needs to be yet. Working on having less tension in both hands. Day by day, there is improvement. One foot in front of the other, keep moving…

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#9

Yeah, I am pretty pronated! I am working on trying to flatten it out a bit; musical muting doesn’t come easily to me in this form! And yep, all your 7th chords inversions can work out as 2 nps structures, so lots of pentatonic ideas can be applied to 7th chords and you can then play changes pretty easily. Really fun!

I thought I’d share a “mixing” of the various things I do, well an attempt anyways! I am certainly not what you would call a “fast” player, but I try to spend some time when I can just going for broke over a loop - pick a key, make up a groove and try my best. It’s not too pretty, and probably not the best demonstration of speed (Iots of much faster players out there!) The point of practice like this is to try and tie my ideas together and go back and forth between my various “modes” of play; I have a DBX mode (slow) a DSX mode (quicker) hammmer-on/pulloff mode (meh) and sweep/economy mode. Trying to do something that resembles music and uses the building blocks I have at my disposal!

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#10

Another DSX move. Well… pretty loosely DSX because either escape could make use of this, now couldn’t it? I liked the sound of it and it came easily to me all those years ago when I assimilated it off of Paul Gilbert’s Intense Rock I. Now I tried to play a few different variations, hopefully it doesn’t suck too bad! hahaha I also included a transcription of a couple of the things; Always the same! Pick-pick-pick, hammer-hammer switchstrings Pick-pick-pick, pull-off-pull-off switchstrings repeat! Most important though is that the legato gives you time to switch strings, so you can be fast and still succeed. It’s fun, and could be applied to a number of things and as mentioned earlier in the thread - it dovetails with the Metronomic Rock stuff by Tommo so definitely go check that out! Apologies for my playing, I am old… :grinning:

Anyways, I hope someone might find this helpful! Rock on!

PG Legato Pick
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#11

In “Troy Grady speak”, This is what “trapped” playing looks like. (I think) As an experiment I thought I’d try and take my current DSX form, which is quite pronated and instead supinate a bit so that I could get access to a musical mute. Lo and behold, this is exactly what my first playing form looked like long before I started trying to change things in an effort to improve my technique!

We’ve come full circle! :grinning: BUT while I get that mute I am looking for, and the even number of notes things still work quite well there was some swiping going on and a feeling of tension that reminded me of the old days… I guess I just blindly changed and tried a bunch of different stuff about 20 years ago without really knowing what the actual problem was. Funny, because it’s painfully obvious now. We have trapping, and some swiping to manage! lol

Well, it appears that there’s a sort of pressure I apply without thinking about it - instinct of some sort -that pushes the pick back under the strings, even on it’s escape stroke. I got away with this for so long in the early days because my swipes were hidden by the muting. I didn’t know back then what I know now, so I just did my best to play guitar! A lot has changed and we know so much more thanks to Troy! I was doing this also with my newer form that @Tom_Gilroy had helped me with.I know now that this situation is resolved by 1) Decreasing picking pressure. Lighten the hell up! 2) Be aware of that background tension and try to control it. 3) Light and effortless feeling, fast as all get out - that’s what we’re looking for!

Anyways, just thought I’d share! Maybe it’s useful to someone, maybe it helps with the lesson material at CTC, or simply shows what is least desirable in picking.

#12

When doing battle with “straight” scalework, a couple o solutions that work for me… Again, if you’r a DSX player DEFINITELY go check out Metronomic rock. I can’t say enough good things about it! Anyways, now for some “suck”! :grinning:

#13

A basic version of sweep/economy picked scalework. No sequencing, just straight up and down. Hopefully someone might find this useful. Could probably be played faster by other people hahaha!

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#14

How I deal with arpeggios besides sweeping. Very rough runs at Tumeni Notes, Trilogy, Demon Driver, Rising Force - but I think that for those of us who are missing the “trick” to DBX, this still gets us playing, and that’s what it’s about, right? :grinning: