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.
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…
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.
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!
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.
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.
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?
The Paul Gilbert lick with the index finger on the 12th fret is a common offender.
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.
Cool thanks for the explanation. I almost got an ibanez with one a couple months ago but opted for the fixed bridge.