Trailing edge pick technique

Technique Critique
#1

So I posted a while back about using trailing edge or leading edge. And it has confused me for the past 2 years now. Troy told me to watch the Strunz and Farah videos and I did, and was completely blown away. I’ve been playing with the trailing edge since I first picked up the guitar and after watching those videos I decided to stick with this technique. Thanks Troy! Heres a small clip, ill try to get one that’s in better focus but you can kind of see my right hand.

For the most part, i know realize that i can feel every note being picked but when i get to the lower strings something still feels just a little off.

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#2

@JonnyT I’m also a trailing edge picker, although nowhere at the speed you play at.

I have understand what you mean about the pick getting caught in the wound strings , I’m not sure why this is. I’ve different pick gauges and none of them seem to make a big difference.

I keep my arm at a different angle than you, more horizontal to the strings, however I got a new guitar yesterday so I need to work on my hand angle.

Could you possibly post a pick of how you see your pick, when you’re looking down at it? I see you hold the pick with one finger too, I have to use my index and ring fingers to support the pick.

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#3

Man I had to put my face in an ice bucket after that!

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#4

it seems like in the lower string section you might be hitting some of the other strings? but it sounds really good!

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#5

Man you sound killer in that clip!

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#6

Thanks man! Yeah it’s kind of weird because it still feels like I’m “hitting strings” but since I saw that Strunz video I’d like to think I’m swiping. I’ll gst a phot later for you

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#7

Hahahah I appreciate that!

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#8

Great playing! If you look closely, you’ll see that you rest stroke against the lower strings but not the higher ones. This would imply that you’re actually upward pickslanting, as far as the path your pick is traveling. That’s appropriate, because the Gilbert sixes pattern is in fact an upward pickslanting lick.

This doesn’t appear to change as you get to the lower strings, as far as I can tell, so I don’t think you’re getting “caught” in the lower strings. However the synchronization falls off a bit, so it could simply be that is what you are hearing / feeling. This could be a tracking issue. Meaning, if you’re not adjusting your arm position as you get lower, then your form will have to be different on those strings versus the higher ones. A wider shot, so we can see what your arm is doing, and preferably one with no sleeves or rolled up sleeves, would provide more clues.

If you film another take at this, a few things:

  1. Try a more “down the strings” angle, so you can get a better sense of the pick’s path of travel.

  2. If you have to play the lick lower on the fretboard, do that, so the fretting fingers don’t block the camera view. Or build a Magnet!

  3. Try 240fps if your phone can do it. This will allow you to get twice the slow motion, so you see even more detail when you slow it down ( 8x-10x, depending).

  4. You’ll need more light for this. I recommend an unobstructed window that gets reflected sunlight, but not direct sunlight. That provides the most amount of even illumination.

Great work!

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#9

Ahhh ok I see! Yeah I don’t think I adjusted my hand on those lower strings. So I’m gonna get a different angle and better lighting and no sleeves hahah this was actually shot with my Sony a6300 at 120fps but I’ll try to slow it down even more! I appreciate all the help, thank you so much :slight_smile: I also want to try this with a lick where it’s not all ending on downstrokes so I see how it feels and try “swiping” unless I might be doing that naturally? Let’s see

#10

The A6300, and A6500 that came after it, are great cameras - just give it more light, and potentially use a 1/250 shutter if you’ve got a nice bright open window. You can still slow down the 120fps 10x, and although although the frame rate isn’t quite smooth with that much slow motion, you’ll still be able to see what you need. Especially if you can use the faster shutter, so the individual frames are crisp.

My best advice regarding swiping is to do your best to NOT us it. Try to use movements which don’t contact unwanted strings. This usually produces the best results. Then, if any swiping does occur, it is likely to be less aggressive than if you were to attempt to deliberately hit unwanted strings, but gently.

If you get your lines to the point where you hear nothing, and then you film yourself and discover that swiping is happening, that’s the best result - then it really and truly doesn’t matter.

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#11

Yes, these cameras are incredible! I just used a light for this shot.

For some reason I feel like i didnt play as tight as before and i can see that i get pretty sloppy towards the lower strings and i think my left hand just isnt keeping up for some reason.

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#12

Great clip and thanks for the speedy response on this. These look great. This is some very nice looking upward pickslanting with no, or very little apparent swiping. Your right hand is doing, for the most part, exactly what it’s supposed to.

In the Gilbert examples, you’re picking the right number of notes per string and moving on to the next one without swiping the string you just played. The one swipe I can spot offhand, the final string change in the last Gilbert example, you clip the D string on the way over the top toward the A. This is a good example of why shooting for non-swiping cleanliness is a good strategy. It’s only one string change, it goes by quickly, and for whatever reason it’s not really audible - could be muting, could just be the room audio. Hiding one occasional swiped change, the odds will be in your favor versus trying to hide every string change.

The second lick, I can’t tell what fretboard shape you’re shooting for there. But in general, if you make sure the final note on every string is downstroke, and work on these phrases in manageable chunk, you’ll be in good shape.

Nice work here!

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#13

One other thing. Are you using Final Cut with optical flow turned on or Twixtor? I’m seeing some rippling artifacts during some of the string changes. In general you shouldn’t use sythesized slow motion for analytical footage, because it’s actually adding in frames which aren’t real, especially when one object passes in front of another. So it’s hard to get the sense of what’s really happening.

Edit: Also, the video is about 10 frames ahead of the audio during the slow motion examples. Enough that it’s tricky to hear which note pertains to which pickstroke. I dropped your clip into Fcpx and corrected, but you may need to do likewise in your editor when you export these.

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#14

Wow you actually nailed it! Yes I’m using FCPX and I just tested the optical flow for the first time and it does seem a little weird actually.

And I disnt realize the audio and video are not synced properly after slowing it down, I’ll have to adjust that for next time.

And also on one of the clips where you said you couldn’t tell what fretboard shape I was going for; it’s kind of weird because it would basically require two way pick slanting and maybe that’s whats throwing me off??

I’ve also been playing these same two licks for ever hahah I need new ones in my arsenal, I don’t know what else to play.

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#15

That lick is a little sloppy so I’m not sure what notes you’re shooting for, but my impression is that some of those string changes are upstroke string changes. You would need 2wps or swiping for those. Try not to worry about that.

Instead, write some new phrases where every string terminates on a downstroke. Maybe a mix of descending and ascending lines. Maybe write some lines over chord types you don’t normally play over. Or write some lines that start on one chord type and end on another. Use some unusual (for you) intervallic stretches you don’t normally use. Mix it up. There is a shit ton of vocabulary building that can be done with simple one-way pickslanting. And it doubles as mechanics practice at the same time.

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