I recently found out this is a thing! @Troy demonstrates it marvellously here: https://youtu.be/ghGYLHaR4Z8?si=UNmYxagKOFsPP7oW
I already can do some usx wrist forearm, which feels on the whole quite comfortable, and seems more consistent than my wrist (maybe with some elbow) thing I’ve been doing for much longer.
Are there any major changes in set up i need to do to achieve mixed escape wrist-foream vs usx wrist-forearm?
Thank you 
Unless your existing “fast” technique already looks like this, with this much super obvious forearm involvement, I don’t recommend trying to copy this.
Just from what we see in TC, very few players actually look like this. I try not to take it personally, being a misfit! Kidding, I just mean, when players show us their “forearm” or “forearm-wrist” technique there is rarely as much obvious forearm as what I use in some of the techniques I know. They mostly just look like wrist players with a small amount of forearm motion.
If that’s you, then I recommend following the instructions in the Primer for wrist motion. The presence of a small amount of forearm doesn’t change the instructions for learning these techniques. Some amount of forearm is almost always present at various points, even in very “wristy” players like Andy Wood.
TLDR I recommend doing whatever is most similar to your current technique and not worrying about small variations in the motion. The big-picture form of how to hold the instrument, anchor, and move, are the most important steps to get any picking motion to work.
You know my side hobby is trying to learn as many of these motions as I can (sort of kidding but sort of not) I’ve spent about no time on it, but that’s one that I couldn’t even get started on.
How did you stumble upon it? Were you imitating someone (for example Jimmy Herring?) or did your wrist just sort of “figure it out” while you pushed your speed playing things that needed these complex escapes?
I’ve always done some version of wrist forearm, so this wasn’t really something I “figured out”. It’s the same motions I demonstrate in Antigravity. I just started trying to play these types of lines with that technique. Sure, there is probably some minor form alteration so that the motion wasn’t making USX all the time. But not much. Thisis essentially what I was already doing.
Again, I just think most people really aren’t forearm players. The vast majority are wrist and elbow.
Does that mean you will be abandoning the forearm wrist blend tutorials in the primer? I personally found that section to be the most helpful to me, as a forearm/wrist picker, albeit a USX only one.
No, they’re still there, and they are all located in the same “motion tutorials” section now. The idea is that players should choose whichever one is closest to what they can already do, or whichever one they can get that goes fast and is easy.
When players send us footage of their “wrist forearm” technique, it almost always looks like they are doing reverse dart wrist. But that’s ok — as long as the motion goes tremolo speed and feels easy, then we don’t care what they call it. If they watch the “wrist forearm” lessons but end up learning “wrist”, that’s fine with us!
Ah okay that makes perfect sense!
@Troy I’ve seen you do “pure” USX (your rotational motion that looks gypsy-ish), the Doug Aldrich style, and your DBX mixed escape noted here, which are all some form of wrist/forearm blend. Either in your mind, or physically, what do you do to activate these different “modes”?
I’m thinking along the lines of the RDT stuff you showed us where you got all the different escapes just by tilting a little, but the core motion remained the same, and I think while you were filming in one place you thought you were getting DSX but upon review it was actually DBX and you just notated it as text on the video.
Pure forearm rotation is the EVH tremolo technique. Whether you do with with Eddie’s form or the form I more commonly use which looks like Gypsy (but isn’t) it’s just the arm turning. It’s not the same motion as wrist forearm. If you’ve experimented with wiggling your arm rapidly in the air to simulate EVH-style motion then that’s the best / easiest way to experience it.
Wrist-forearm is something else. I give tips for it in the main tutorial:
I also have a lesson in the reference section where I demonstrate the difference between pure rotation and wrist forearm, so you can see how they differ:
Most people don’t really do pure rotation as their main motion, so I put it in reference for now. Maybe I’ll move it back to the basic tutorials later on if we start seeing more people doing it.
Yes, this is from the wrist motion lessons. DSX and DBX wrist motion can be done from the same centralized overall form with no changes, so that when you go fast you may not really know which one you’re actually doing. I think the difference in feel can be learned but it’s just subtle.
The difference between forearm rotation and wrist-forearm is not really that subtle. In the lesson where I flip flop the two, the visual difference should be easy to spot.
Awesome! Thanks for that thorough breakdown.