Sixes on one string

Technique Critique
#1

After not being able to play for around a month due to my right hand / arm’s nerves getting bruised I started getting back into CtC material. I suffered from Thoracic Outlet Syndrome for years and became aware of what it was after browsing posts on the CtC forums. Where it went wrong was when I started doing nerve flossing exercises excessively, not realizing you only do it once a day with very low repetitions, and my best guess is that I bruised the nerves in my right arm / shoulder.

It royally sucked. My symptoms were worse than they had ever been and I was worried I did permanent damage, but thankfully I started to improve after about 2 weeks of having my right arm / hand being numb. The good news is that I calmed the hell down with the exercises and I can confidently say I no longer have issues with my right hand going numb.

It also didn’t help that I was pushing myself a little too hard with single string tremolo picking - I got up to 200-210 bpm. After watching CtC videos to pass the time I needed to reassess what my goals actually are. Playing in the 200-210 bpm region will be a long term goal, but for the time being I will be happy getting into the 170-180 range comfortably for the things I want to be able to do.

I’m stepping away from the metronome and playing at speeds that are comfortable, but challenging, and also allow me to focus on the hand synchronization aspect of things. The videos below are in the range of where I’m at, but I can push it a little faster. Either way, here’s where I’m at:

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#2

Great to hear you are back on track. I’ve never heard about this condition, but as a hypochondriac myself it’s better not hearing about any conditions at all.

The playing sounds clean and well synchronised, I’m also curious what your really challenging tempo would be for this lick. Personally, I suck playing this lick :neutral_face:

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#3

Thanks man! Yeah, it’s basically where your first rib is raised, compressing nerves into your collarbone. Considering I had issues with hiking my right shoulder up in most everything I do, it makes sense why it eventually manifested in moving stuff around that shouldn’t be moved around. One of the first exercises I did for it involves pressing a lacrosse ball down into the pocket of your neck / collar bone area and I heard a huge “pop” and immediately felt circulation return to my right hand. I only do that one every few days now.

In regards to the tempo that’s really pushing it for me, I’d probably say 16th note triplets in the 115-120 range. I did a rough estimate of the tempo in the videos above and it seems to be around the 90-100 bpm range.

This one was tough for me too. Chunking is what really helped here even though the whole concept seemed backwards to me at first. I just focus on that downbeat while giving enough attention to how sloppy things are and making those adjustments at speed. I do the whole 18 minute practice routine with this type of stuff, take a 10 minute break, then repeat another 3-4 times. By the end it’s much tighter and faster.

I’m also using this pattern and going up and down a single string with either the natural minor or harmonic minor. The biggest issue I’m having with that is not the positions shifts, but the muting. I have a tendency to float my right hand when I go faster which becomes a problem because all the other strings start feeding back. That’s mainly what’s holding me back, but it’s getting better.

#4

Looks and sounds just super! Great synch steady rhythm. Really good, I like hearing such a balanced machine. Any tension anywhere in your picking arm or hand that you notice?

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#5

Thanks a lot! For the most part, no tension. It’s an on going process though and I check in every few minutes to make sure I’m not tensing up anywhere. That, and remind myself to not hold my breath.

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#6

hi, first time i hear about this 18 minutes on and 10 minutes off thing. so just o confirm you run this exercise for 18 minutes and take a rest for 10? and repeat this 3-4 times?