Stuck in Crosspicking Slo-Mo

Technique Critique
#1

I’ve been working on Beaumont Rag, and flat picking in general and while I have been able to get my flat picking up to around 120BPM on some fiddle tunes (16th notes) any cross picking section of a song, like that famous Doc Watson riff in Beaumont rag, I’m stuck around 80BPM. I watched the Carl Miner video, and I noticed that my pick is dipping much deeper between the strings than his. He has his pinky straight down on the guitar which keeps his right hand elevated. I’m sure that has something to do with how clean his cross picking arpeggios are. I’ve been working with a metronome to build my arpeggio speed every day for a month (as I did with the fiddle tunes) and they just don’t seem to budge. I’m definitely not string hopping, I’ve been playing guitar for quite some time and feel that my right hand wrist motion is decent, but those arpeggio motions still seem so awkward and inaccessible.

I’ve also noticed that the guys that can really pull them off effortlessly all have very loose wrists. I might be tensing up and using my elbow too much but that still seems like a minor adjustment compared to the huge deficit in speed and accuracy that I’m experiencing.

#2

Do you have any video clips you can share?

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#3

Here’s a link. I’m playing at 90BPM where it starts to get sloppy. Looks like my thumb movement might not be the most economic.

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#4

Have you seen Troy’s videos on the 9 and 2 /different orientations of the wrist using the clock reference? I think they were live clips, a few of em that may have been at least an hour long. A hell of a lot of stuff on the 3 string roll there.

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#5

Just thought I would say from what I hear from the video it sounds really nice. I don’t know much about the genre, but your speed sounds great to me.

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#6

It looks like you’re using the thumb movement to your advantage (in other words, working great). Do you have a clip in which it actually fails you?

#7

Hey Jake,

Yeah, I watched Troy’s video’s on 9 and 2. Super helpful. This entire site is full of gems like that. They might be worth another view to brush up.

#8

I’ll post a vid where it gets more sloppy at higher speeds.
Cheers

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#9

Here is a vid at 100BPM. This is where things start to fall apart (and I think Doc plays it at like 136 so I have a ways to go). You can hear where it gets kinda “strummy” and the notes don’t ring clear, and where I miss notes altogether. I gave 2 angles for further analysis.

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#10

Have you guys seen any vids that address the thumb issue directly?

#11

Thats just the nature of picking everybodies genetics are different. I am still struggling to imprint gypsy wrist technique over the top of thumb index two way directional economy picking, and sometimes utilizing elbow for faster speeds. Gypsy wrist isnt my natural way I developed my picking when I was younger so it has been quite the task to develop. Even as we speak as I learn, I’ll See You In My Dreams, I have to sometimes, in my brain say, turn wrist, as I do the motion on certain licks. This is so I don’t let the creepy economy thumb index thing in to party. Haha!

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#12

It looks to me that you float your wrist and mainly anchor to the body with forearm and index + ring fingers. Have you experimented rooting with your wrist more? I don’t think your thumb involvement is as bad as you’re making it out to be.

#13

Right on Pepe. Thats a great observation, and thank you. I have been reluctant to anchor the wrist to avoid string hopping, although I think I can be done properly.

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#14

This is interesting: what makes you think that wrist anchoring is related to string hopping? I don’t think I’ve seen that mentioned anywhere, nor have had that experience? I’m legitimately curious!

#15

Hmmm…I guess the way I picture it in my head is that if the wrist is placed flat against the bridge, it can only go up to the right and up to the left to pass over the strings…something like a 1002 pattern. I guess it’s possible to anchor the outside ball of the palm (pinky side) only to achieve the 902, which according to this site is optimal. Does that answer your question?

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#16

Resting on the bride doesn’t cause string hopping. It’s just a reference point, which helps gauge depth. You don’t need to press into the bridge nor do you need to anchor to the exact same spot. You should be free to move the wrist in any way really.

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#17

Ok, I gotcha. As @jptk mentioned, there’s no correlation between wrist anchoring and string hopping. You should experiment with it and see what happens!

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