USX alternate picking from classical position

Technique Critique
#1

Hello all, I’ve been playing guitar for about 20 years now, but my picking has always been crazy sloppy. But I recently discovered Troy’s videos and now I’m trying to learn USX picking. I play from the classical position because I have arthritis and this is more comfortable for my left wrist. But I’m wondering if that or maybe the awkward shape of my guitar is giving me difficulty with learning USX picking. Here’s my video I just recorded:

As you can see, the movement feels pretty awkward for me, and holding my phone with my left hand to record doesn’t help. The E, B, and G strings feel okay-ish. But the closer I get to the low E, the more I revert back to my old picking motion, what I think Troy would call the “forearm wiggle.” For some reason, USX picking becomes much more difficult for me on those lower strings, and I’m not entirely sure why. I took some pictures from the front to show how my arm is angled as I go from high to low E:

EDIT: I guess new users can only post 2 links per post, so I’m just going to reply to my own post here with these pics.

It looks to me like my arm is maybe getting hung up on the big dumb X shape of my impractical guitar. But I’m not entirely sure that’s the problem. Anyone have any advice? Does anyone else do USX picking from the classical position? I can’t be the only one.

#2

Here’s those pics I mentioned:


#3

I think your hand position is the biggest thing. Your hand position is rotated forward in a way that is more teetering on a neutral or trapped position, and then you are kind of rotating it on the last stroke to make the upward escape.

When you see a lot of USX players hand position, it’s rotated more on the side of the hand close to the pinky instead of the thumb, (this kind of forces a downward pick slant) and the pick stroke follows more of a constant diagonal trajectory towards the body on a down stroke, and away from the guitar body on an up. Anyway this is more a generalization than anything and something to play around with.

#4

I think my wrist may be supinated well enough, but I think I start to get some wrist flexion on those lower strings. Like my wrist wants to come away from the body of the guitar to give me a pivot point because that feels more natural when I’m doing chuggy palm-muted riffs like this.

And I think I’m resting my forearm too much, which makes it awkward when I need to switch strings. Which is only made worse by the awkward shape of my guitar which has a big wing kind of thing that my forearm rests on, which gives a little resistance when I need to move toward the lower strings. I tried playing on my old Ibanez gio which is a more traditional shape, and things went a little more smoothly.

#5

Thanks for posting! Good work on the camera angles.

This isn’t USX. Watch the clip in slow motion in the YT player. It’s DBX at this speed, and sometimes DSX on some pickstrokes. Nothing wrong with that. Because…

If you’ve been playing for a while, you probably already have some motion you’re good at. So instead of trying to learn a particular picking style, the fastest way to get started is to just determine what type of motion you already know how to do, and use that one. And it might not be the one you think it is.

Is the form in this video in terms of the grip and arm position something you’re doing that’s new, or do you always play this way? If it’s new, go back to whatever form you already know that is more familiar and/or comfortable to you. Then, when you get a moment, film another clip using your most comfortable form while going fast on a single note. That will show you what your motion really is. I’m going to guess it’s DSX but we’ll see. Once you know that, you can start with some phrases that match that motion, and you’ll be several steps ahead.

Edit: When you do that test, don’t hold the phone while playing. It’s very hard to be comfortable that way. A simple tripod with a cheap phone holder will do fine. Of you can just prop your phone up against a book on a desk or tabletop.

You can also check out the Primer if you haven’t already. The first several sections walk through these first few steps, including some helpful hand speed tests, and some tests for figuring out your escape. If cost is an issue we have a scholarship as well ( http://troygrady.com/scholarship/ ).

Thanks for stopping by!

2 Likes
#6

Okay, just recorded another video with my regular picking style:

My problem with this particular picking style is the string hopping movement that I run into at higher speeds, usually on the G, B, and E strings. The high E is the biggest culprit for giving me that hopping sensation, and I sometimes want to get a lot of flexion in my wrist on those higher strings to give me more of a pivot for some reason.

#7

Thanks for filming, Steve. It’s not immediately apparent to me from this camera angle that what you’re doing is stringhopping. You’d really need a down-the-strings view for that. But it’s also a moot point because the speed on these tests isn’t fast enough to ensure that what you’re doing is efficient.

Do you have a picking motion you can use that goes fast? If not, that’s really the first step. I don’t mean to sound like we’re shilling our own stuff, because it’s not really about that. But these issues are so incredibly common that the first few sections of the Primer were designed specifically to address them:

We’re happy to do a quick review of clips here on the forum but if you can already take the first steps, that would be great. Again, if cost is an issue, send us a note via the scholarship link and we’ll hook you up no problem.

#8

Yeah I figured maybe I didn’t pick fast enough for the video…I’m coming off a month or two long “I give up on guitar” phase, so I’m very rusty. I’ll check out the primer and try again later.