Troygrady.com > Rubaan's Profile > Technique Critique > a new DBX attempt

a new DBX attempt

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Hi Troy, It’s been a long time since my last upload. I took a break because I felt stuck with learning DBX and didn’t enjoy practicing anymore without any results. Lately I stumbled into a "happy accident", and was wondering what you thought (2nd video) Just to recap: I can play DSX from a pronated position — fast and clean. For bluegrass, though, I need to be able to escape on upstrokes, or to play DBX. I can rotate my arm to escape on an upstroke, but it throws off my timing and doesn’t hold up in lines that need multiple upstroke escapes. Another guitarist recently told me I’m actually using an RDT motion. He noticed wrist extension on my downstroke and was very confident about it. According to him, the combination of a pronated setup and RDT would make DBX impossible because my upstrokes will always dig into the lower string. He suggested switching to a more supinated setup so the same motion could escape on both strokes. That contradicts your earlier observation that I’m using a DT motion. Since I trust both of your expertise, this left me unsure which direction to follow. I’ve also noticed that when I try to work on DBX, my pick path sometimes forms a kind of reverse “U” and gets trapped on both sides. I kinda gave up then. On the positive side, I did play some songs using my DSX motion and that works great for hard rock. The downside is that I end up rearranging lines — starting 2nps lines on upstrokes, and rearranging notes — just to keep everything playable with that motion. I now have 2 new videos: 1: Shows my DSX motion again (the motion you identified as DT but the other guitarist as RDT). I also show what happens when I try 2nps starting on downstrokes — it's basically a disaster. 2: A "happy accident": Here I try a supinated setup, as far as I can. I told my hand to just play the G string. Surprisingly, some upstrokes “float” over the D string on their own, letting me play outside picking between G and D without consciously trying. It feels effortless, almost like regular single-note picking. It's really funny because my brain tells my hand to just play the G string, but I get the D string in return. Addition: I've heard so many times that dbx picking should feel effortless. This here is effortless, unlike my old dsx + arm twisting motion. What do you think, any suggestions to move on from here?