when pickin'......

Hootsmon · September 2015

when pickin' down strokes does your hand rotate away from the guitar or does it rotate away from the guitar for up strokes?

sounds crazy but the motion of rotation away from the guitar/bridge can be used for either an up stroke or down stroke!!

musteatbrain · September 2015

Depends which way you slant the pick. I keep it neutral so it doesn't move away or towards the guitar unless I want to change strings. To change strings I pick the down stroke by anti clockwise forearm rotation so the pick comes away from the guitar and over the next string ready for an upstroke. Unless I'm picking two notes per string. Then downstrokes go towards the body if I start on a downstroke or away if I start on an upstroke. Betcha sorry you asked!

ElectroDan · September 2015

My hand (where the fat part of the base of the thumb is) rotates outward slightly on upstrokes.

Hootsmon · September 2015

ElectroDan said:

My hand (where the fat part of the base of the thumb is) rotates outward slightly on upstrokes.

that's reverse to me Dan Dan

PolarityMan · September 2015

I think the plane of rotation for me is basically paralell to the strings so there isnt a concept of "away".

thomasross20 · September 2015

Mine changes - depends if I'm upward or downward pick-slanting. Tough to ingrain.

Hootsmon · September 2015

I guess what I'm getting on at is, imagine an upstroke on the B string from UNDENEATH the string rotating away from the face of the guitar now contrast that with an upstroke on the TOP of the string rotating into the guitar(towards your face)

Hootsmon · September 2015

thomasross20 said:

Mine changes - depends if I'm upward or downward pick-slanting. Tough to ingrain.

T20 this is the question/answer I've been a searchin' for days now.......what you said there ^

this troy grady stuff about rotation AWAY from the face of the guitar for an UPSTROKE when down slanting

does the "away" upstroke rotation change at all for an upstroke when UP SLANTING or is it the same...pick from underneath the string?

because if it stays the same, whether you are up or down slantin', the upstroke (rotate away) will be the same for both.....sort of a thing

Hootsmon · September 2015

the type of rotation I am on about is explained here at 3:30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcT7hAb3auM

Hootsmon · September 2015

ElectroDan said:

My hand (where the fat part of the base of the thumb is) rotates outward slightly on upstrokes.

so you are pickin' from UNDERNEATH the string ?

PolarityMan · September 2015

I think I'm marginally picking from on top of the string for both up strokes and down strokes but I could totally misinterpret what your saying, doesn't picking from underneath result in a really spanky sound?

I guess more like a pluck action than a pick?

PolarityMan · September 2015

Oh yeah I may also reposition my right hand laterally on the bridge depending on what im playing, especially for palm muting

thomasross20 · September 2015

hootsmon said:

thomasross20 said:

Mine changes - depends if I'm upward or downward pick-slanting. Tough to ingrain.

T20 this is the question/answer I've been a searchin' for days now.......what you said there ^
this troy grady stuff about rotation AWAY from the face of the guitar for an UPSTROKE when down slanting
does the "away" upstroke rotation change at all for an upstroke when UP SLANTING or is it the same...pick from underneath the string?
because if it stays the same, whether you are up or down slantin', the upstroke (rotate away) will be the same for both.....sort of a thing

@ me if you want a reply as I might just forget about a thread

If you upslant it means when you downpick, the pick goes away from the guitar body. The up-pick will be toward the body.

If you downslant it means when you downpick, the pick goes into the guitar body. The up-pick will be away from the body.

Just watch more of the videos, they're helpful. You can't just use one technique (well, many famous players do, actually!!) - I think it's best to meld both otherwise your technique will be handicapped to cope with certain situations. Steve Morse doesn't do either. The pick moves away from the body for up and down picks - but only very slightly.... which is how he can do fast arpeggios (alternate picked) across strings. I can do this to an extent but like I said, until it's internalised, there will always be some mistakes...

There are a bunch of other things to consider but lets not muddy the waters for now!

Does that all make sense? I think Troy has done a great thing with his videos.

Hootsmon · September 2015

thomasross20 said:

hootsmon said:

thomasross20 said:

Mine changes - depends if I'm upward or downward pick-slanting. Tough to ingrain.

T20 this is the question/answer I've been a searchin' for days now.......what you said there ^
this troy grady stuff about rotation AWAY from the face of the guitar for an UPSTROKE when down slanting
does the "away" upstroke rotation change at all for an upstroke when UP SLANTING or is it the same...pick from underneath the string?
because if it stays the same, whether you are up or down slantin', the upstroke (rotate away) will be the same for both.....sort of a thing

@ me if you want a reply as I might just forget about a thread

If you upslant it means when you downpick, the pick goes away from the guitar body. The up-pick will be toward the body.

If you downslant it means when you downpick, the pick goes into the guitar body. The up-pick will be away from the body.

Just watch more of the videos, they're helpful. You can't just use one technique (well, many famous players do, actually!!) - I think it's best to meld both otherwise your technique will be handicapped to cope with certain situations. Steve Morse doesn't do either. The pick moves away from the body for up and down picks - but only very slightly.... which is how he can do fast arpeggios (alternate picked) across strings. I can do this to an extent but like I said, until it's internalised, there will always be some mistakes...

There are a bunch of other things to consider but lets not muddy the waters for now!

Does that all make sense? I think Troy has done a great thing with his videos.

@thomasross20

I figure this is only valid when pickin' from UNDERNEATH the string as opposed to the top of the string!

Hootsmon · September 2015

it's UNDERNEATH string pickin' that causes the hand to rotate away from the guitar with an up stroke ala troy dude theory

thomasross20 · September 2015

At some point your pick is always going to be under the string

ElectroDan · September 2015

Any chance you could post a pic (or a few) of what you mean by picking underneath the string? Maybe we can see where your getting stuck.

All of my picking is with a downward slant on the pick. The only exception to this is when trying to sweep in an upward direction, which I wouldn't worry about for now if you're still honing your picking technique.

It sounds like as Thomas said earlier that you may be playing with an upward pickslant, meaning that your hand rotates out on a downstroke.

Perhaps the reason I gravitated to playing opposite to this, is that when I rest my hand on the bridge, the pick naturally sits at a slight downward angle. I never felt I could generate enough speed by deviating the wrist, it doesn't feel right to me, so started using the forearm rotation.

Hootsmon · September 2015

ElectroDan said:

Any chance you could post a pic (or a few) of what you mean by picking underneath the string? Maybe we can see where your getting stuck.
All of my picking is with a downward slant on the pick. The only exception to this is when trying to sweep in an upward direction, which I wouldn't worry about for now if you're still honing your picking technique.
It sounds like as Thomas said earlier that you may be playing with an upward pickslant, meaning that your hand rotates out on a downstroke.
Perhaps the reason I gravitated to playing opposite to this, is that when I rest my hand on the bridge, the pick naturally sits at a slight downward angle. I never felt I could generate enough speed by deviating the wrist, it doesn't feel right to me, so started using the forearm rotation.

imagine you are about to play an upstroke on the B string.......pick from the underside of the string and in an exaggerated motion your hand and forearm will rotate away from the face of the guitar..........pick on the top of the string,, on the same upstroke, and your hand and forearm will rotate the other way (towqrds for face)

thomasross20 · September 2015

So sounds like you downslant your pick - like Yngwie..

thomasross20 · September 2015

You've a lot to live up to now!

ElectroDan · September 2015

hootsmon said:

ElectroDan said:

Any chance you could post a pic (or a few) of what you mean by picking underneath the string? Maybe we can see where your getting stuck.
All of my picking is with a downward slant on the pick. The only exception to this is when trying to sweep in an upward direction, which I wouldn't worry about for now if you're still honing your picking technique.
It sounds like as Thomas said earlier that you may be playing with an upward pickslant, meaning that your hand rotates out on a downstroke.
Perhaps the reason I gravitated to playing opposite to this, is that when I rest my hand on the bridge, the pick naturally sits at a slight downward angle. I never felt I could generate enough speed by deviating the wrist, it doesn't feel right to me, so started using the forearm rotation.

imagine you are about to play an upstroke on the B string.......pick from the underside of the string and in an exaggerated motion your hand and forearm will rotate away from the face of the guitar..........pick on the top of the string,, on the same upstroke, and your hand and forearm will rotate the other way (towqrds for face)

Ok. I'm with you now. You are describing downward pick-slanting and upward pick-slanting respectively.

Which of those you use is down to your own preference. Which feels the most natural to you?

If you are downward slanting, the pick will be free of the strings after an upstroke. If you are up slanting the pick will be free after a downstroke.

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when pickin'......

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