Hey. I’m struggling with upward pick slanting 2 note per string repeating licks across 2 strings. I can’t get it for the life of me. Any tips anyone?
If by “Zakk Wylde” you mean pentatonic, there are a lot of great Andy Wood examples of this on the platform. He’s an upstroke pentatonic player, similar to Andy James. Could be something in the name…
In general you’re going to use a downstroke escape type movement for this. You can do this with wrist or elbow. Those are the most common approaches. More than that, I would say post a clip and we’ll take a look.
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Ok I’ll try and put a video up when I get home. I’m using upward pickslanting but doesn’t appear to be very accurate when I’m doing it. I’ve been practicing this lick for years. It’s driving me mad.
It won’t let me put a video on. Says its not authorised ?
You can’t upload videos here directly, but pasting in a YouTube link works great! Just paste the link on its own line and it will auto-embed here. For more detail see: https://troygrady.com/help/filming-your-playing/
Ah ok , thank you for your help.
I’m struggling massively with upward pickslanting. I feel as though I’m getting worse the more I do it. It’s so frustrating. Been stuck on the same lick for years now. Need help, it’s not so much playing across all the strings it’s just repeating —-15–12——
————15—12–
On the high e and b strings. I
Feel like I’m missing the strings all the time when I slant.
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Finally able to upload a video. Where am I
Going wrong? Any advice would be great. Sounds stupid but this is really starting to depress me . I take this very seriously and like I say I’ve been on years with these licks alone. I spend maybe 1-2 hours everyday on this and it isn’t getting any better. Thanks people.
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Oh and ignore the dirty hands. I’m a mechanic unfortunately.
Hi David,
Sorry to hear about your troubles. From the outset it doesn’t look like there is much wrong with your technique mechanics-wise. Everything looks pretty smooth - a flubbed note here and there - but nothing major.
A couple questions though:
- Where is this lick from? In general, do you practice it like you are practicing it in the video?
- Have you ever considered ditching the metronome and just performing the lick as fast as possible while staying relaxed and as smooth as possible?
EDIT: Sounds like the metronome is around 125-130? I think I might know your problem. If you’re “stuck” at this speed, it’s because this is a popular tempo where players plateau. From my own experience I can say you likely have a problem where you are not practicing fast enough to access the part of the brain that will “chunk” or group the notes. This was a speed I was stuck at for a long, long while until I utilized lower-volume (i.e., lower repetitions of a pattern) practice techniques to get faster.
My suggestion would be to ditch the metronome and see if you can’t get one ascending run as fast as possible as one “chunk” and then the descending portion as another chunk.
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Thanks for the reply. It’s so frustrating, When I first tried the pick slant it felt amazing, the more I practice it the worse it feels. The lick is taken from your typical Zakk Wylde approach to pentatonics. I seen him blaze through it and I just fell in love with the sound. The thing is I really want to control this at any speed, I understand what your saying about practicing this faster but will that in turn fill in the middle ground of say 150bpm? It’s literally becoming the only thing I practice when I pick up guitar so you can see why it’s getting me down, I refuse to give up on this. I feel it’s a synchronisation problem. But no matter what I can’t improve it. Some days it feels great and others it’s like I’m just playing it for the first time.
Also it’s mainly repeating between 2 strings I have trouble with, back and forth on the high e and b.
This is a good mentality to have in general, but often times stepping away from a lick for a week or so can be beneficial. It might be a bit of a mental block at this point.
150 BPM is completely realistic for this sort of lick, but the problem you are having is you need to set the amount of repetitions for the lick. Do you want to play it ascending, or descending, or ascending and then descending and then stopping? Do you have a goal tempo for a song, or is this just a lick you want to fire off with speed without any regard to how fast it is played?
No matter what your answer is, we need to tackle the question of volume. Volume is a component of effective guitar practice, and a lack of attention to the amount of times you repeat a lick coupled with metronome practice is why so many players like yourself are stuck at intermediate speeds. I can promise you one thing, if you keep playing to a metronome, you will, over time, develop habits that are effective for playing the lick at whatever speed it is you have on your metronome. It doesn’t matter if these habits are tense, smooth, etc. You’ll get good at whatever you practice. And what you are doing right now is convincing your body to develop habits at a low speed that will not transition to higher speeds. At present, your body will have no reason to speed anything up if you are constantly enslaved by a click. Studies have shown for pianists that muscular mechanics do not have a carryover beyond +/- 5 BPM, just about. This is why slow practice alone is terrible advice, and this is also why practicing above concert tempo is traditionally awful advice for professional performances. Read more here: https://www.musiciansway.com/blog/2011/02/a-different-kind-of-slow-practice/
This is why I’m encouraging you to establish the repetitions and potentially ditch the metronome. You need to get organized and efficient here, that is step #1, because right now your mechanics are not at all the issue.
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I want to be able to play the lick repeating over and over for as long as I want on any 2 strings and move that all over the neck if that makes sense. At all speeds upto 200bpm. I’ve been experimenting with edge picking today, now after trying to pickslant I find this really easier to achieve, I can control the speed better and everything, however I can’t seem to make the notes jump out like I can with pickslanting, almost feels like I’m legatoing the licks and my picking hand is just grazing the strings. Feels really comfortable but I’m not a fan of how it sounds, been watching a guy called Sam coulson on yt. What he does is exactly what I want to achieve. He uses edge picking so maybe that’s the route I should take? I will not give up on this haha. Thanks for your time.
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Playing as long as you want up to 200 BPM is going to be difficult if not next to impossible. As far as I’m aware it’s very difficult to maintain indefinite technique at anything above 170-180, depending on how complex the passage is.
My suggestion would be find a clip of a player performing that lick, and then trying to match their speed for the amount of times they play it.
Yeah maybe 200bpm is unrealistic but 170-180bpm Id like to achieve. Pickslanting at times feels awesome i just can’t seem to be as accurate as edge picking. Is this something you can do? 2nps pentatonics like this? I seems so simple yet is ridiculously hard to get good at, atleast for me. I’ve been on with it for years, then I watch someone like Zakk playing this lick behind his head no problem haha. It’s an obsession for me, I need this sound, I’d have given up ages ago but I’m doing this out of pure passion for this sound. My family are beginning to think I’m crazy standing night after night practicing the same thing. Thanks again man.
2NPS picking is on my list of things to do one day, but right now I am stuck on 3NPS picking for the foreseeable future, stuff from Petrucci, Gilbert, etc. I can do 2NPS in very fast, short bursts, but longer, extended lines don’t really appear in the metal I play (thrash, black, death, etc.). Maybe one day?
It’s good that you have the obsession and I’d say that if you’re family thinks you’re crazy you’re on the right track. There is a balance though and sometimes stepping away will result in more development than you might think. Time away is critical. That said, the guy who beats his head against the wall a million times and keeps moving forward always manages to get there, eventually, provided the type of practice is appropriate. So that’s why I keep bringing up the importance of consistent amounts of repetitions before ending the lick, ditching the metronome in favor of focus on movement equality instead of strict timing, etc.
This is the guy you are talking about?
Why don’t you take the first descending twelves thing he does and practice it? Notice how he has a break between each repetition. It will enable your muscles to relax and essentially provide the brain with the idea that you are trying to get that one big, fat group as quick as it can make it. Try that out for the week.
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Yeah that’s him, absolute beast. It’s more repeating on 2 strings back and fourth I struggle with. Going across all the strings feels a lot easier for some reason . I’ve noticed it’s easier with my first and middle finger than my first and ringer aswel . I mean I’m not a beginner by any means. I’ve got modes down and can’t play lots of fast metal and pick songs out by ear I’m just failing to develope this repeating lick
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