Swipe or Rotate?

Playing Technique
#1

Just finished watching the Anti-Gravity Seminar and I am completely blown away!

As someone who favours USX picking, what decides whether I swipe, or if I should rotate my wrist/forearm to accommodate two-way pickslanting?

The Paul Gilbert lick makes complete sense to me using USX picking. Starting on a downstroke, swiping over the high e and then being free above the strings with the following upstroke.

----------------12--------------||
–12–13–15------15–13----||
----------------------------------||
----------------------------------||
----------------------------------||
----------------------------------||

Turning that lick on its head and starting with an upstroke is what I’m struggling to understand. My theory is that if I play the same lick using USX picking starting on an upstroke, the swipe needed to get back to the B string is fighting against the high e because of my USX approach and that this is the instance where I would need to rotate my hand/forearm. Is this correct?

Additionally if this is the correct approach, when I rotate my hand/forearm am I completely clearing the high e or am I enabling a smoother swipe?

Many thanks

#2

Start with the High E as a downstroke, rotate to upstroke on the B string to go into alternate picking with an upstroke slant. It puts the downstroke on the the downbeat - and flows more rhythmically. This feels very natural to me, it creates inside alternate picking.

If you use an upstroke on the high E, you have to swipe to play at the fastest speed IMO. That’s what Gilbert does often.

–12–-------------------------||
–-----15–13–12–13–15–||
--------------------------------||
--------------------------------||
--------------------------------||
--------------------------------||

#3

If you start with a downstroke on the high e, as you rotate do you feel as though you are swiping at any point? Or are you completely clearing the strings?

#4

I’m not swiping when doing inside alternate picking, the rotation clears the escape path of the pick. I’ll try to post a video later.

#5

I know this is about semantics, but “smashing through the muted high E string like it was part of a chord” seems to be how I understand swiping. So it’s not like one goes over the E, one goes through it, except hopefully it is muted well enough not to draw attention to itself.

(I’m sure that you know this, but just in case…)

#6

Thanks for the replies!

Just to clarify, I can do the inside version of the lick, I’m more interested in the theory of why you have to rotate more on that version.

If I don’t rotate enough I can hear my pick clipping the high e string and the note doubling, I’m wondering how that works. Is it because I favour USX picking which makes any attempts at swiping fight against the strings on the inside version of the lick?

#7

Our knowledge of picking motions has improved quite a lot in recent times, and it turns out that there is no need to change the slant of the pick to execute these combinations of up stroke and downstroke string changes.

Rather than “two-way pickslanting”, we now prefer to talk about “primary and secondary motions”. Have a look here and let us know what you think:

PS regardless of the theory, our bottom line advice is pretty simple these days: play the lick fast (let it be sloppy if necessary), and see if occasionally you get some clean reps in there.

The theory is useful as a hint but the motions need to be discovered and memorised by “feel”. Hope that makes sense :slight_smile:

#8

Exactly the sorta thing I was looking for! Thank you Tommo :smiley:

#9

Technique Demo:

Slow:

Slow Angle 2:

PS: I’ll work on getting some better angles if that Magnet ever ships :wink:

2 Likes