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!