To this day the arppegios that open this clip are properly one of the most impressive things ive seen in my deep dive of technical guitar playing. Not only is it technically astounding is melodically beautiful to listen to it.
Has anyone got these Steve Morse "Hollow Arps’ under their fingers anywhere near this tempo ? I just dont recall seeing anyone discuss these or post vids across my years on the forum and think they are definitely worth a conversation.
The hollow arpeggios from Well Dressed Guitar form the core of my picking practice.
I’m about 5% off his pace once fully warmed up.
This routine has helped every other alternate picking lick in my wheelhouse.
I often accidentally double pick the lowest note of the arpeggio in between the last upstroke and the initial downstroke of the next arpeggio.
Interestingly Steve does this a lot too. You can hear it on the arpeggios at the end of the song that are fretted on the D, G and B string. He often double strikes the D string.
I don’t have a solution yet at full speed!
I found quite a lot of speed came from using wrist flexion or extension for one stroke and deviation for the next so I use different muscles for each stroke whilst creating a double escape motion.
I can do the same speed regardless of anchor point, pick slant and whether or not I use 2 or 3 finger grip as long as I can stay relaxed.
Trying to achieve an escape motion with wrist rotation slowed me down so I avoid that.
thats awesome dude - super motivating to hear its not just a myth !
5% off the pace is super impressive - also good to hear you can do it with a range of grips and anchor points.
Any particular advice you have in terms of building speed ? Did you start fast and sloppy and clean it up or was a more gradual approach taken ? I am at about the 120 BPM mark relatively clean think i need to start pushing it but would be keen to hear any wisdom you have to share.
I’ve played for 32 years now so it’s more just a refinement to unlock the fluidity needed.
Find a motion you can do fast whilst relaxing. Listen carefully for the exact point things breakdown. Then use the excellent resources here to work out a solution.
I think with a double escape motion you have to factor in the impact of any changes you make on the mechanics that already work well. I’ve so often fixed one thing with the upstroke and broken another with the downstroke as a result