Hey everyone. Lefty playing right for 10+ years. Ive been struggling to alternate pick on one string over 125bpm . As i try to speed up past this point my picking jumps way up to over 200bpm and it seem to switch from wrist to elbow motion. I have no control over speed and lose dynamics, has anyone else experienced this? Should i stay away from this or try tame it and work my back to slower speeds?
Thanks.
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Welcome to the forum Kieran!
Without watching a video I’d say this is the way to go: take your fast motion and slow it down a little (say 160-170 bpm-ish?) and see if you can control it better in terms of smoothness, timing, dynamics, hand sync etc!
Being “stuck” at 200bpm is a good problem to have, trust me 
And as usual, if you felt like filming a short video it would probably help us to better figure out what is going on:
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See below video. Jumps from roughly 120bpm up to 220.
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Hey Kieran!
Here is my first impression: the slower picking is all wrist, while when you get going it’s either elbow or a mix of elbow + wrist.
Nothing wrong with that! Vinnie Moore and @Bill_hall are great examples of primarily-elbow pickers who get fantastic results with this mechanic.
Does your fast picking feel comfortable? If so I’d encourage you to explore the potential of this elbow motion and practice it deliberately. You may be aware that the elbow joint tends to create a downstroke escape (DSX) motion, so you can get started by practicing licks that only change strings after a downstroke:
I would also try to slow down just a little from your top speed and see if you can gain more control over timing, hand sync and so on. Any follow-up questions, don’t be afraid to ask
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