Troygrady.com > KilPhollins' Profile > Technique Critique > Can’t make wrist motion work at speed — defaulting to elbow tremolo? (Zenith Passage riff)

Can’t make wrist motion work at speed — defaulting to elbow tremolo? (Zenith Passage riff)

Description

Hi everyone, I’m stuck on my playing in general. I’ve been working on this riff for ~3 weeks (probably 10+ hours total on this riff alone) and I still can’t play it reliably. Video: (first take, no warmup) 1. Problem riff – front view (first take, no warmup): 2. Problem riff – arm/side view (to show motion/anchor): 3. Single-string tremolo attempt (no elbow) — this is the wrist motion I’ve been trying to develop for the last months (inspired by Rafael Trujillo’s style), but it feels completely unsuccessful and fatiguing as hell: • I can play it clean sometimes, but only after a warmup and with extreme focus / tension. • The main issue are all the fast trems and galopps This is the frustrating part: I’ve been practicing very consistently 6–10 hours per day, and I don’t feel like I’m getting better at technique at all. It feels like I’m just reinforcing the same limitation (and building tension), not improving. My current picking motion (my best guess) • At fast speeds (especially tremolo): I tend to use elbow-driven motion to reach the speed. o This gets fatiguing quickly and becomes inaccurate, burns at the side oft he forearm that faces the hand • At slower speeds: I use wrist. • Over the last months I tried switching to wrist-only, because I feel like a lot of stuff I want to play (outside picking / riffs like this) requires a wrist motion that stays efficient at higher tempos. Context I’m taking lessons with Rafael Trujillo and he’s a big inspiration for me, but I still don’t understand how to actually “arrive at” a fast wrist motion if your default is something else. The motion in this video is basically what I’ve always done, and I feel it’s very limited. Questions 1. What does my current motion look like to you? 2. I would like to really nail the wrist-based motion, because the Elbow fatigues to fast for my needs, how do I get there? 3. What would be the best test / excercises to find an efficient wrist motion? 4. Should I post an additional single-string tremolo test clip (max speed bursts) so you can see what happens at higher speed? Thanks a lot for any feedback.