What picking technique am I using here?

Playing Technique
#1

This is by far my most trained way to pick and the way that feels the most efficient and effortless for me. I gave up the forearm wiggle thing because it only works well on a single string for me. I assume this motion in these videos to be reverse dart thrower motion. Thing is, I thought rdt was a DSX motion, right? I’m looking to get some input on what exactly I’m doing here so I can be more conscious of it and apply it any time I need to pick fast. I’m just having trouble identifying it.

I’d also like some advice from you guys on how to really hone this technique further and get the absolute most out of it. It’d also be nice to know where it works, where it doesnt, stuff like that. If you can’t tell, I’m a yngwie malmsteen fan and I mostly wanna play his style.
Thank you all in advance.

#2

Disclaimer - I’m no expert.

RDT can be USX! You just have to supinate your forearm a little bit more than with DSX. For me, DSX RDT is close to “flat”, with just a little supination. To get to USX, I just supinate my forearm a little more.

You’re using some kind of USX wrist motion, probably RDT.

But, you’re also using some forearm motion (at least sometimes), it’s just not always very pronounced. You can see it really clear at about 0:24 in the first video, when you pick something on the low E string - that’s definitely forearm rotation. The tremolo picking at the end also kind of confirms it.

A trick I used to figure out how if I was incorporating forearm or not was fanning my fingers out - like, making an OK sign with my picking hand. If my forearm was rotating, the fingers would flap up and down, relative to the body of the guitar. If the motion was only my wrist, the fingers would only wave back and forth, never going up away from the guitar.

I would just throw it under “forearm-wrist USX” and call it a day. If that’s what works, that’s what works. It’s a totally fine technique, and you may have success turning it into a DBX motion someday.

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#3

I’m not sure if it’s the camera angle, but your guitar seems to be resting at a strange angle that you’re unlikely to do while standing; do you get the same results if you stand?

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#4

This is great input, thank you. That tip with fanning the fingers is actually pretty useful to make sure I’m incorporating a tiny bit of forearm movement in my picking in a consistent manner. I’ve discovered that the “forearm-wrist USX” thing is exactly correct. I use a tiny bit of forearm movement to accelerate the pick to fast speeds. When I do only RDT wrist motion, it tends to be slower.

#5

No, you’re totally right. It’s a bad habit. I kinda let the guitar slip out a little bit so I can see the fretboard better. I don’t even really ever look at the side markers.

Thing is, I can play just fine standing up and if I just keep the guitar fully parallel to my body like most people do, I don’t have any issues. So that’s good.