A selection of real questions players have brought to the instructor team.
I’ve started and stopped this course several times and I’m ready to finally get to it. My background. I’ve played for years and still consider myself a mediocre player although I would say I’m better than 87% of other players. Speed is great but it can wait. I want to focus on and develop accuracy. Where do I start?
All my life I’ve been a downward pick slanter with my right hand fingers being more open. recently I’ve been getting into playing Bluegrass guitar and a lot of the vocabulary is played with more of an upward slant and I find myself more comfortable with the closed fist when I’m playing those type of licks. The problem is that when I go to switch to downward my technique, doesn’t seem to match my upper technique and so I’m having trouble unifying them. I feel more comfortable, arching my wrist and rotating my arm like Eddie Van Halen on the downward picking, but that technique doesn’t work for upward picking for me. When I try to remove the forearm arch I feel a lot of tension in my DWPS.
Kurtozan251
I’ve been a leading edge player since I first started playing and the fastest I ever got with it was about 170bpm where the hand kind cramps up. But about 4 months ago I discovered that the fastest motion I can do is the trailing edge at about 200bpm, although I don’t find it nearly as comfortable as leading edge. So I wanna translate my trailing edge speed into leading edge.
Hi, I paused my subscription back in April this year and just renewed it. I haven't practiced my picking motion for months and would like to resume by submitting a technique critique first. I was practicing DSX before, but recently found performing USX is easier. I recorded myself playing tremolo with USX at my current top maximum speed. I would like to know if my current technique looks okay or if there is anything I need to adjust. Thanks!
How should i go about playing gypsy jazz but using Dsx technique?
I’m looking for feedback on my picking motion, mainly from a pain-prevention standpoint. I’ve been dealing with pain on the ulnar side of my picking hand — the pinky side of the hand, around the 5th metacarpal / “boxer’s fracture” area. The pain tends to flare up after a few minutes of picking exercises. I saw a hand specialist and had an X-ray. The doctor did not see any major red flags or bone issue. He thought it may be related to old scar tissue from a previous break being irritated by certain movements. He said I probably won’t do damage by playing, but recommended occupational therapy and possibly further imaging later if the pain persists. The pain mostly went away when I stopped playing guitar for about two weeks, but it has started to come back slowly now that I’ve resumed playing. The motion that seemed to set it off was a slightly outward-rotated picking motion, almost like turning a doorknob away from the body of the guitar. That motion felt faster and more efficient at first, but after a few minutes of exercises it seemed to irritate the pinky-side area of my picking hand. I’ve completed the Pickslanting Primer and uploaded a few clips. I included three licks from the Primer, plus a short solo clip to show how I naturally pick when I’m not thinking too much about mechanics. I can alternate pick around 175 bpm, but I’m not trying to become a shredder. My main goal is to find a reliable primary motion that lets me play country / chicken-pickin’ type lines, light rhythm, and general lead parts without irritating my hand. What I’m hoping someone can help me with: Do you see anything in my motion that could be contributing to ulnar-side hand pain? Am I using too much wrist rotation, deviation, finger motion, anchoring, or pick grip tension? Which motion family does my playing seem closest to? What primary motion would you suggest I try instead? Are there any obvious setup changes I should test, such as pick grip, edge picking, wrist position, arm position, or pick depth? How would you recommend I rebuild this without flaring the pain back up? I’m mainly looking for a second opinion on whether my current motion looks mechanically stressful, and what lower-stress alternatives I should try.
MichaelTapp
Hi! I’ve been working with the team for a while now and am checking in to get some feedback on what to keep working on. I’ve added a couple face on and picking hand videos for review. On a single string my triplets and chromatic 16ths feel better and faster and I think my picking technique is improving. My biggest struggle is the 16th not box that I’ve been practicing on adjacent strings. Example would be D string 7 to 9 then G string 7 to 9 & repeat. I’ve been stalled there for several months around 120 bpm and am not sure how to progress. It feels like my picking gets really hoppy at speed and doesn’t feel like my single string picking. It feels like I’m just stalled out here and don’t think I’ve improved in a couple months. Overall any feedback on what to do next would be really helpful. Thanks!
It blows my mind to 'finally' see inside my pick technique. I've just received my 1st magnet and already feel like I've learned a lot. I'm a 64yr old 'has-been' still trying to get my right hand fixed BEFORE I go knocking on Heaven's Door. I positioned my grip in various styles because I'm still wrestling with what feels most comfortable and ergonimic. I've recently discovered the EVH 3 finger grip works an absolute treat for 'rhythm' playing, and I'm in the process of trying to re-program my action. However, even though this feels very natural for strumming, when picking, it still feels kinda comfortable, but erratic in terms of accuracy. I still don't quite know which direction I should be focused on, because my other grip has developed into a smoother tremelo.
MickeyT9
have an issue with bouncing, and once i go over 140 bpm my elbow starts to get involved, a teacher told me that leads to tendonitis so im trying to avoid that
I'm trying to do the fast downstroke power chord section in Deep Indigo, specifically the part that begins at 0:54 in this video: https://youtu.be/JYvDOIAhh9U?si=Dyx6gUmem47olXdm&t=54 Attached is a video of me attempting this, which is pretty poor. Not only is it sloppy and not exactly on tempo, it's very tiring. I've watched some videos from the Obsidian seminar which explain this a bit (e.g., https://troygrady.com/seminars/obsidian/chapter-1-downstroke-mechanics/) , but I'm still struggling: as recommended in the video I linked, I'm using a downwards slant, and I believe my motion is similar to the one used by the instructor. But especially the movement where I'm going back to the top to do another downstroke feels very unnatural and "heavy".
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