I've been working on this lick and am getting better at it, but I don't feel quite "there" yet. I repeat the notes on the B and high E strings a few times because that was the original trouble spot. Mainly, I think, due to the fingering, not the picking. Question: is this pick angle too steep? I think there is too much tension in my left (fretting) hand. I press down too hard on the strings. I've become mindful of this and the more I relax, the more fluid my playing becomes. I'm working on some licks and patterns designed for downward escape picking. By the way, I tried to switch to upward escape picking (or downward pickslanting) for an exercise I got from "Uncle" Ben Eller that uses DSX for a while and then switches to USX. I switched to a standard pick grip for the USX part and realized that I was doing DSX that way too! (That way is my default for rhythm playing.) No fricking wonder I've struggled so long----I was (mainly) an upward pickslanter all along but never realized it or knew what followed from that. Doh!

Uploaded: Nov 18, 2022 12:00 AM

Tommo requested a video of me playing this pattern on a guitar without a volume knob where the one is on my PRS guitar. Don't play this guitar much, and usually just to strum and sing. Take this very slow up and back.

Uploaded: Nov 30, 2022 12:00 AM

Another video requested by Tommo. I have an issue with the volume knob on this guitar. (I accidentally turn it down while playing fast on the high E string.) Tommo was wondering if my hand now tends to recoil from the volume knob. This is why he wanted me to play on a guitar without a volume knob so close to the high E string. (I used an acoustic. See the "Acoustic 5-6-7" video.)

Uploaded: Nov 30, 2022 12:00 AM

Two things. First an exercise from the Chris Brooks book "Alternate Picking Guitar Technique." This is four measures of sixteenth notes. I can play parts fast but not all parts together fast. One reason this is here is so that NEXT time you hear me play it, you should be able to say, "Ah, that's so much better!" ;o) Second, a shorter exercise from the same book, a simple ascending pattern. This crosses all six strings and is pretty fast. Not blazing but pretty danged fast for me. I switched back to my Telecaster (-to avoid the hitting-the-volume-knob issue I was having w my PRS SE Custom) and am making slight adjustments with hand position and also pick position. Right hand muting seems out the window with this approach. That worries me. But one thing at a time, right? ;o)

Uploaded: Dec 13, 2022 12:00 AM

The reverse of what I've been doing. On an acoustic guitar. I like the definition and muting. (Hate the squeak: this is why I put flatwounds on my electric guitars!)

Uploaded: Dec 16, 2022 12:00 AM

Experimenting with a conventional pick grip and pronated forearm postion, resulting in DSX picking. The opposite of before (Supinated forearm, trailing edge picking.) I feel the sixteenths here in groups of eight notes (-two beats). I think this is steadier than when I made my first Unlocking the Tremolo video submission. The other way----Supinated forearm----FEELS much faster but I'm not sure it really is. That might be an illusion,

Uploaded: Dec 19, 2022 12:00 AM