Fishbonebeau's Videos

Single string tremolo - no fretting

This is as fast as I could go at the moment.

Single string

I tried different combinations of fret hand fingerings and my fastest is 4-3-1, 4-3-1, 4-3-1… in that order. I could keep trying to get faster, and might be able to improve by a few more bpm, but this is presently, roughly as fast as I can go. Hope this helps.

Another attempt

I tried shortening my range of motion here in this latest piece. Not perfect but it felt better. Hopefully I tapped into a higher bpm?

Full throttle

I know it’s probably still medium speed but it’s as fast as I could possibly go at the moment without derailing lol! I think this is one of your licks Tommo. :)

Breakthrough

I believe this is a significant improvement in speed compared to the last video!

Breakthrough!

This is a phrase I learned some time ago somewhere on YouTube but it really started clicking tonight! My hand sync and gypsy style USX really felt good so I just wanted to capture it from the magnet angle which just recently arrived in the mail. Tonight really feels like I had a major breakthrough!

Been a minute

This pattern was the last assignment given to me by Tommo on my last critique several months ago. I haven’t worked on it as much as I would like to and so no real significant break through’s. It’s a little discouraging that I can’t seem to get both hands in sync. Single picks per note like in this clip are especially difficult.

DWPS demo

This is the 3 PS's per note, & 4 PS's per note single string exercises demonstrated twice using all forearm rotation DWPS position.

UWPS demo

This is the 3 PS’s per note, & 4 PS’s per note single string exercises demonstrated twice using all elbow UWPS position.

Elbow - upward pick slant

The elbow motion is a lot easier and more “locked in” with the upward pick slant on the low E, A, & D string with palm (part of palm just below the thumb) resting on the body of the guitar just above the strings. Crossing over to the higher strings is a challenge because my palm hits the low E string when trying to move downward to pick higher strings. Hope that makes sense it’s difficult to explain in words. The elbow movement has the advantages and disadvantages. Advantages are the tremolo is faster and smoother and superior to the forearm rotation movement. With pick slanted downward it’s much more difficult to use the elbow motion and that’s when the forearm movement comes more into play. So, in essence both pick angles have pros and cons. Upward pick slant - Pros - easy to use pure elbow movement which is my fastest, most accurate and smoothest motion. Cons - due to palm resting on the body, it’s very difficult to cross downward to higher strings. Downward Pick slant - Pros - palm is lifted in the air above and away from the string plane which eliminates conflict between palm and strings when trying to cross downward to the higher 3 strings. Cons - due to the awkward hand position it is difficult to incorporate the elbow motion and so the forearm rotation comes into play which is not as consistent, accurate, or nearly as fast.

Just experimenting!

Please pardon me if this video causes any confusion I just wanted to give the downward pick slant, DSX, pure elbow motion another try. Unfortunately the downward pick slant motion only works on the low E string, A string, and D string. The G, B, and high E will not work sufficiently due to conflict between my palm of picking hand and the low end of the string plane (it works for single string playing but becomes a problem when trying to cross over to another string). If there was a solution that could fix that problem I would gladly stick with the downward pickslant movement. Nevertheless, today I just felt the need to experiment! So this is’nt even close to perfect but as close as I could get for part of what you suggested in the last critique. Please pardon the sloppiness I’m still struggling with hitting outside strings. The first run should be the 4 pick-strokes per note, and the second run I tried to play the 3 pick-strokes per note, as you suggested.

1-2-3 finger Tommo lick!

Here is the 1-2-3 fingering, as close to tremolo speed as I could get, with the phrase you demonstrated on your last clip.

My own 1-2-4 single string exercise

Hi Tommo Ok, first of all to answer your questions about hearing the difference between synced VS less synced, in the video, and in real time. The answer is yes I think I can feel the difference as well as hear the difference. In this video my tremolo speed isn’t quite as fast as I would prefer, but I was focusing harder on the timing and the sync. I will continue to practice this exercise and focus on speed and accuracy as I move along. I hope this video is helpful for you in determining our next move. Also, I worked on the left hand and keeping the thumb further back gripping the neck and it definitely feels better VS having the thumb wrapped around the neck position. I tried resting the guitar on left knee but it didn’t feel right however I will continue to experiment with posture.

First 1-3-4 pattern then 1-2-4

I may be seeing some improvement now after warming up for the last several hours. It seems if I start out just tremolo picking on 5th fret for a second or so and then proceeding with the finger pattern I’m able to set my pace a little more accurately. So, as requested I wanted to give you the 1-3-4 pattern again with some improvements hopefully - and then give you the 1-2-4 pattern with improvements tambien. I feel much better now, please pardon my discouraging words expressed in my earlier message. I think it’s fair to say that most of us musicians tend to have trouble with being more patient - I am certainly guilty in that department. Thank you Tommo and I hope this helps! I might also add that the 1-2-4 finger sequence feels much stronger and smoother flowing than 1-3-4. The middle finger and pinky finger keep better timing than the ring and pinky finger.

Just fingers 1-2-4

Frustrating when I’m being “recorded” I can never perform comfortably enough to adequately convey my true capabilities. But unfortunately this is the best I can capture on camera for now. When the camera is not recording I play faster and more accurately. Lol

Fingers 1-2-4, & 1-2-3

Fingers 1-2-4 felt a lot easier than fingers 1-2-3 but that’s mostly because my middle finger (#2) and ring finger (#3) cannot easily stretch apart enough to skip 1 full fret. I’m also finding it difficult to avoid hitting outside strings with my picking hand.

Making headway (I hope)

So I tried every pattern suggested and this one (5-5-6-6-8-8) naturally seemed the most comfortable at the present time. The other ones were very difficult to do at tremolo speed.

Chromatic 4nps Exercise

I know the speed is not impressive but I’m just trying to get both hands in synch and play as clean as possible

Another of the same pattern slightly faster

Single string pattern

In this clip I’m picking as fast as I can. It’s on the G string again using the same pattern as in the last clips (a pattern I made up myself because it feels more comfortable on the fretting hand)) starting on 10th fret (10-9-7-10-9-7-9-10-10-9-7-10-9-7-9-10-10…) placing special emphasis on 10 at the end of each cycle. I think it’s 8 notes and then cycle starts again I hope this is close enough to what you’re looking for.

Single string pattern - Accuracy damned

I realize this is not quite up to tremolo speed but I’m continuing to work on it and getting closer. This pattern feels more comfortable to my fretting hand. I hope the video shows at least some improvements

A tad bit of hope? A tad less embarrassing!

Single string pattern - accuracy damned embarrassing lol

Quite embarrassing but hopefully this will help in determining the next steps!? The single string patterns feel harder to me than the multi-string patterns. And now that my motion has switched to USX I’m still taking the lessons for DSX style and just reversing upstrokes to downstrokes/even numbered and odd numbered strings… everything reversed

Tremolo w/fake mole

Please pardon my man boob hanging over the guitar.

Picking motion from a different angle

Perhaps a different camera angle will provide more clarity to the picking motion Im using. It feels to me EXACTLY like the forearm rotation used in the table tapping tests. With respect of course. Thank you for everything y’all have done so far I feel happy and grateful that I found the CTC lessons, very grateful to Troy and the awesome staff of teachers, and super grateful for the scholarship that helped make it affordable for me. I look forward to learning more from you as time goes on. Thank you kindly

Forearm rotation @ 210bpm

Elbow motion @ 220bpm

Di-Meola style wrist @ 180bpm

VH style wrist @ 175bpm

Table tap test

Tremolo on high E

Tremolo G string

Tremolo low E

From DSX to USX

From DSX to USX

Big change!!

I kept trying to maneuver around the problem of alternate picking/navigating across the G, B, & high E string. The problem that seemed to persist was the conflict between the palm of my picking hand (part of the palm just below the thumb) and the lower strings, especially the low E string, when trying to navigate the pick across the higher strings. It seemed that the most obvious solution was to somehow raise the picking hand out and away from the string plane just enough to provide clearance and alleviate the conflict between the palm and the strings. I was reluctant because I didn’t know how I would do it without drastically changing my overall form and everything I’d learned so far. But I tried it anyway and the results were very surprising! Although I was unable to prevent it from making a drastic change to my overall form it was worth its weight in gold! Making this adjustment forced my picking hand into a different position which converted my overall form from an upward pick slant player with a downstroke pick escape, to a downward pick slant player with an upstroke pick escape. In addition, this also caused me to change my picking motion from exclusively elbow to a combination of elbow and forearm rotation. Raising the picking hand away from the string plane changed everything but it solved the conflict between the palm and the low E string when trying to cross over multiple strings. It feels so much better now I must admit I think I had some help from the man above discovering and solving this issue but I truly believe I’m on the right track now!

Been a minute

Been a minute

Hope there is some improvement regarding speed I haven’t been able to practice as much as I’d like. Hopefully this is helpful in observing any changes since the last critique.

2 weeks since my last homewrk assignment from Tommo

“Fast Car”

In one of your lessons you used the “fast car” as an example referencing the quest to find one’s fastest most efficient picking angle. And the need to stick to your fastest movement because you can always slow it down to help gain control and train the left fretting hand to slowly work up to the faster speeds. That seems to be where I’m at now. My fastest movement is from the elbow joint as is probably obvious in the video… so the challenge is slowing that movement down while preventing it from morphing into an entirely different movement. It’s very difficult to do while keeping the same exact movement. Easy to do it fast on just one string, but also very difficult to maintain the same movement over multiple strings. Any suggestions on how to establish a slower speed, maintaining the same form, so I can now focus on the left hand?