Hi! Thanks for posting, and thanks for signing up for our stuff. Good eye on the wrist flexion example — you are not only using a “flexed” wrist as your posture, but the actual picking motion itself is also wrist flexion and extension. The second example looks like you’re shooting for elbow motion, is that the case?
In general, I would resist thinking of “tremolo picking” as a motion. It’s a musical technique, but the motions you use for it can be used for any other kind of picking. Is there some other picking motion you use when you’re not doing tremolo and what does that look like? Or is the same motion, just slower?
Of these two examples, the first one sounds the smoothest. In the second one, you’re not fully leaving the string, which is why the notes sound a little chopped off. This is partly because you’re using so much edge picking that the pick almost entirely fills the gap between the strings. Your approach angle is super high, like 90 degrees, so the pick is basically coming in perpendicular.
I’d keep experimenting with the second motion, but I’d do it sitting down with a lower approach angle, as we describe in this checklist:
This is about wrist motion, but the approach angle concepts are similar. This will give you much less edge picking, so you’ll have more “room” in between the strings and you won’t be hitting the string and cutting off the sound unintentionally.
The second issue in both of these examples is guitar shake. That usually happens when you involve other muscles or motions unintentionally, like upper arm or shoulder movement. Being more aware that this is happening is the first step. But I don’t like to think about “stopping” unintended motion. Instead, I like to think about zeroing in better on the motion I want, seeing if I can tell by feel when I’m doing that motion and only that motion, and leaving the other joints relaxed. In other words, I want to “do” the good motion, not “stop” the bad one. Repeated attempts maybe filming yourself to see if just the joint you want is moving. But the key is feel. You have to be able to learn what that target motion feels like when only that motion is activated, because you won’t always have a mirror or video to consult with. And those things can become a crutch if you use them too much, to the extent that you can only do the technique while looking in a mirror.
Another thing you can try is working on some of the motions we just uploaded this weeked in the new tutorials on forearm motion. We tried to provide lots of details on positioning and grip there, so that you are as close as possible to where you need to be. There are some good visual references in there to what the motions should look like when you get them, and I’ve tried to give you as much of a sense of what they feel like as well.
So experimentation is the name of the game here. Thanks for posting and keep us updated!
