I believe I have more or less gotten my movement on a single string to where I can recall it and use it consistently at high speeds. When it comes to changing strings I still have some hiccups. Between adjacent strings I’ve learned from Troy that hardly any movements are necessary, but I still need to move my arm a little to keep the pick angle consistent. Is this something I should not be consciously doing as much? I guess I am still just a little confused about how to make this work on more than one string consistently.
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Not everyone has the same philosophy about this.
But If it’s just a simple pick angle issue… you might be able to correct that by just using your fingers/thumb to offset this angle change.
But back to the stationary vs moving arm question. In general, I would say, try them both out.
But youre right, Troy (and a majority of guitarists I’ve seen) generally keep their arm position stationary for patterns that use up to three strings.
But I am on the other extreme part of the spectrum. I am a recent convert to isolating the pick-stroke from the string tracking… it’s helped me quite a bit for awkward string changes. I even use my arm for two-string alternation… which seemed weird at first… but now it seems very natural… and I can integrate it very well.
But again… try them both out… and see which feels more comfortable. If you feel better with the ‘isolated’ method, I can give you some tips.
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Would you be able to explain what the isolating thing is exactly?
Isolation is where your back and forth picking mechanics aren’t used in anyway to move from string to string. So for example, if you use your wrist (deviation) for your pick stroke, and you use your elbow for string tracking, the wrist would not be used in any way for going from string to string… the elbow is basically the only thing that would be used… even when going back & forth between two or three strings.
Again, playing in this way is not too common. I do it, and I like it, but most people (including Troy) don’t.