Also just to note, I found an old Dunlop floppy pick lying around and tried it. It definitely feel’s stickier. I did manage to get it smooth with some grip adjustments but it really feels like the wrong pick for this mechanic. I don’t have this issue with jazz iii picks or any pointy style pick I’ve tried.
@jptk I kinda agree that the red floppy pick isn’t as nice as the jazz 3s that I use, but you can still make it work and feel comfortable. If anything, I feel way more “immediacy” with the jazz picks.
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It all depends on how your using them and where on the string your hitting. If you have been used to a heavy beveled pick for a while like a flow or jazz 3, it’s going to feel sticky and alien, that’s just how it goes in the biz.
I don’t think this on it’s own is bad so long as it’s not super obvious extension like string hopping. Pure rotation will do that, and plenty of players that use some rotation like Paul Gilbert do that to an extent. it’s where you are holding your hand that really dictates the escape with rotation. Rotate your hand so that you are muting the strings with more or the side of the hand (karate chop) and then make the rotational picking motion, your down stroke will still bury towards the body of the guitar and the upstrokes escape. Rotate that hand a bit so that it is flattening more on the body and you are muting with more or the meatier part of the palm, and make the same rotation motion you are now closer to what you would use for a DBX. Further still so you are muting with the second meatier part closer to thumb, now your down strokes are more likely to escape and the ups bury in the guitar, using all the same relatively rotation motion.
Yeah I got it to work after playing around with it for a bit, but I prefer jazz iii’s for most situations now anyway. It was just a bit of an experiment to see how it would feel.
I tend to go for beveled picks too. I use the flow most frequently, because I like a little of the dirtiness they give, the nylon jazz picks are cleaner though. before that I used the Ultex sharps and the tortex versions of the jazz three, and on occasion the jazz iii.
Both the Jazz and Flow have a nice textured grip
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Some follow up vids for @qwertygitarr and @jptk, here’s the part of the video where I used my usual tortex jazz III:
And I recorded a clip on archtop to hopefully accentuate swiping noise. I honestly didn’t like either pick for that: red was too floppy to get a good feel, and white didn’t project well for me. I pulled out my pick stash and found these .73 sharp Ultex that were much snappier for projection. The rounded .60 version felt better than the reds (much stiffer), but the sharp point definitely adds volume I think. It’s a longer video because I had to get used to both the archtop again, and this pick; you see me pull my hand away from the frame a few times to get the grip situated. I think the last few reps sounded better, so I hope it looks like improvement lol:
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Any nerdy analysis aside, it sounds great. No surprise there though 
Particularly in your archtop clips, the form looks like it changes when you go your fastest. In the slower playing, it all looks like DSX but with a slight helper motion right when you need to change the strings, allowing the upstroke to escape. I don’t see this at all in the fastest reps though. The fastest stuff looks totally trapped or the escape is just super shallow. I don’t hear any swiping.
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Thank you!
Definitely know / feel there’s a secondary motion going on, but I’m always surprised to hear people say that it looks like DSX! @tommo said that once before and I was thrown for a loop.
I’m glad you don’t hear any swiping either way! If I had to guess, I have a very shallow pick depth?
All of these things would probably get cleared up once I recieve a certain widget…
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In your archtop clip, if you watch the rep that starts at 0:10 to me that is one of the most clear indicators of the pick going away from the body. Though watching again, there could be some DBX in there too. But even on the final 3 notes on the high E string where the picking goes D U D, that last down stroke really travels away from the body. I know it’s accented so there is more “umph” behind it, but I’d expect a USX player to have a note like that hitting the body/pick guard.
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Sounds and looks great in all clips! I agree about the feel of floppier picks for fast lead playing. They can work for sure, but I personally don’t like how they feel, especially as I am primarily a forearm and wrist one way economy player. It’s difficult to get sweeps and …. Non sweeps to sound right lol.
Also I feel the upstrokes can get stuck if I put too much pick into the string, which is very easy to do if used to using a smaller jazz iii size.
I like the ultex sound, I must pick some up I’ve never tried them!
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I wouldn’t get too hung up on whether it’s dsx or not, as whatever you are doing, it’s working for you!
You may have a primary say for if you were just playing as fast as you can on a single string that you lean towards, but when playing actually phrases etc, you probably mix escapes depending on what’s needed.
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If you have a shallow pick depth, swiping won’t be as audible because your really just skating over the string instead of plowing through it. It will become more audible near where natural harmonics occur like the 12th fret for instance, because there’s really not a lot you can do to mute them out.
I agree, what and how you are actually doing what you do is far less important than the fact that you are doing it.
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Definitely trying to accent it, and it makes sense that a “true USX player” would hit the body in that context, interesting thought!
I have a few sizes / shapes / thickness of them and I always found tortex to be my preference for the wear / tone, but in this particular instance the projection / tone combo of thin Ultex with a point is pretty awesome! I wonder if they have the small jazz III size this thin (even if they don’t, this “full size” one worked great).
Oh yeah, agree there. My main draw to CtC was not necessarily to change my technique, but to know what I’m doing in order to minimize the occurrence of “bad days”. It’s been great to think about what others see in my technique, and it’ll be awesome once the magnet ships for those super detailed angles!
I’ll have to see if I notice any strange overtones happening around that area; I don’t think I’ve ever heard that?
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The Paul Gilbert lick with the index finger on the 12th fret is a common offender.
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A floyd equipped guitar will make it even worse.
Why is that? I have never owned a locking trem guitar. Are harmonics stronger on them?
They are terrible for exacerbating string noise and can add overtones and pings of their own. You can help things a bit by damping the springs in the back.
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Cool thanks for the explanation. I almost got an ibanez with one a couple months ago but opted for the fixed bridge.