Stuck with wrist USX motion. Not sure I'm doing it right

Technique Critique
#1

Hey guys!

This is my first post here. I’ve started with CtC a month ago and it looks like I’ve hit a brick wall.

I’m trying to replicate USX wrist motion Troy demonstrates in Chapter 1 of Wrist Motion Tutorials.
It kinda works but something feels off.
I had a good tempo at 6-12 o’clock table test and it feels like my hand wants to move in that direction or somewhere in between. Like 5-11 or so, instead of 2-8 or 3-9.
That’s at 160 bpm.
As I try to go a bit faster it just switches to 6-12 and everything falls apart.

Is there anything I’m missing or not seeing?

Here’s what it looks like:

Any feedback would be really appreciated

1 Like
#2

We need to see what it looks like when it falls apart!

Apart from that, a few thoughts:
Sometimes you choose the motion, sometimes the motion chooses you. In other words, if you can’t “get” this particular motion that you’re going for – try something else! Maybe elbow motion is your thing. Or forearm.

When trying to find a fast motion, turn off the metronome! You’re looking for something that works instantly, and feels smooth and fast, constantly making small (and large) adjustments. The metronome does not help on this process.

Related to the last point. If something does not work – try something else. Different grip, different anchor point, different joint, different pick and so on.

2 Likes
#3

Hey @paul57, great starting point!

I agree with the points @Johannes made, I would also add that you are not really playing in time with the metronome here (I assume you are going for 4 notes per beat). Listen back critically and see if you agree.

The metronome is not bad in itself but, as Johannes pointed out, it does not help the initial process of finding a fast / smooth motion. Just go for an unmetered fast tremolo, at (or close to) your top picking speed and see what happens.

Now when it comes to playing in time the metronome can be useful - even though I personally prefer drum loops. But when you use it for this purpose, I’d recommend listening back and checking that indeed you are following the beat. This is not very easy to assess in “real time”, because it’s very hard to judge your own playing while you are playing.

#4

Thanks guys!
Yeah, that’s the thing - forearm has been my motion for a very long time. I was able to play 16th triplets in 130 bpm using that kind of motion 10 years ago. I had a long break but it’s coming back, nice and smooth. 180-200 bpm on a single note in sync with a click - no problem with that. I was particularly interested in the wrist motion though. Tried different things, picks, grips etc for a month but didn’t find the right approach yet. And as you’ve noticed, playing in sync with a click using my wrist motion is not really happening.

I guess I asked a wrong question. What I wanted to ask is this:
Is there anything in that clip above that looks particularly wrong to you?

I’ll try to make another video and capture the moment when the motion falls apart.
I have a couple of new ideas to try, so I guess I’ll give it a couple of weeks to see where it goes.