Hey ben just wondering what motion you are using to lift one of the fingers off the fretboard when doing any picked line with no pull ons or pull offs?
Interesting, and makes a lot of sense. Would I be right in saying the action on the guitar is very, very low though? I will give this a try, but my action appears higher as I like to bend, and apply vibrato to bends. I wonder how well this will apply. Will try later. Thanks.
Action is pretty low and the fretboard is as flat as possible for this - generally speaking you can do that and still have access to bends and vibrato provided your fretwork is immaculate. A lot of people don’t know what a good fret job looks like, it’s pretty rare!
Agree. Any advance I can make on guitar depends upon relaxed repetition of sequences. Hope of retrieving the sequence for use at appropriate times depends on being relaxed.
I am very grateful to have found your channel and its excellent content. I am currently trying to play this brazilian tune that doubles in speed towards the end, it has been quite a technical odyssey. Your approach will definitely give me an interesting perspective to work with. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CIRfTrIsRYE.html Sorry for my English, it's not my native language.
I also don't like the methodology of visual mimicry, out if all the self teaching resources I've tried, these videos are the ones that have least helped (unless we're talking about software, but that's in general and only barely relevant to guitars)
Is your pick super slanted? I've seen soo many people holding their picks almost like its facing the headstock a little bit rather than being just a slight rotation.
@@Kerriben Yea I understand, I've tried holding my arm around 45 degrees with the pick but it's just felt ncomfortable to pick like that and the sound of the attack is really quiet
More than all the greats and their lesson videos, you and Anton Oparin have both helped me so much! Not only with my right hand but left hand technique also. I'm 40 now and I've been playing seriously since I was 13 years young, I became really good in my first few years of playing. I even got to apprentice at a reputable recording studio in my hometown of Sudbury (Mission Studios, thx Shawn!). However I didn't yet know about the speed pickers aside from Steve Vai ala For the Love of God. Still to this day I have been trying to get my right hand up to speed, studied Speed Kills M.A.B., Paul Gilberts instructional vids, Friedman's Melodic Control, Satriani's guitar secrets book(a little speed picking but mainly on one string), so many lessons, so much time. Troy Grady helped me some but it's mostly been thanks to you and Anton. Thanks for helping me achieve my dreams :) Wishing you, family, and friends all the best.
Thanks man, that means a lot and I’m glad to see the stuff I put out there helps! All those instructional DVDs are infuriating ( I also watched them all and wondered why I couldn’t get any of it to work) - it’s a rite of passage!
The thing about "pick slanting" or whatever Troy Grady is calling it these days is that it's a concept built on an after-the-fact observation. Everyone who developed this technique did it, not through mimic'ing a person doing such... or even conscious thought. It was with slow methodical practice where these motions became fluid, natural, and subconscious in order to play precisely and accurately. A trend when asking great players about how they did such-and-such is an answer like, "I don't know, I just do it" or, "I wasn't aware my wrist was doing that". The greats typically never know how they are doing it, they just *are* from years of hard work. To make an analogy, it's like the difference between learning to be an athlete by years of steady training verse not knowing how to walk, watching a few youtube videos of athletes running, realizing that they are moving each leg back and forth at a fast pace, then getting out on the track and trying to run by doing just that. It just doesn't work like that! People who try pick slanting may get some kind of results because those dynamics are in play, but the person ends up focusing on flip-flopping their wrist with ever string change _in addition_ to all the other stuff we need to focus on while playing accurately. And most are _still_ stuck around 16ths at 120-140 BPM. Furthermore, the whole "cracking the code" thing seems more of a clever marketing scheme that sells a monthly subscription to struggling guitar players than something that's actually educational. Sure the videos are entertaining and do a great job of drawing in the viewer, but that's because it's designed that way; it's a hook. An advertisement. The goal is to get you paying Troy Grady $20/mo indefinitely while you lament on the forum about how you still struggle with 16ths past 140bpm. I spent a few years poking around on the forum and two things stood out: most people still couldn't alternate pick 16ths consistently, accurately, or in time with years of pick slanting, and any interaction with other members that were of vein of, "can you show us you playing at 160+ BPM", or literally any asking for people to provide video of them playing was shut down by the Admin. It's not a space for learning; it's a place to empty your wallet and keep you coming back. There's a reason Troy doesn't put of the videos like he was doing at the get go. Those were only made to entice guitar players and sell them on a narrative; that you have a problem - string hopping... and that you need to "crack the code" with "pick slanting". It's almost genius...
Troy’s stuff bothers me as well for similar reasons! There’s a lot of ego involved with that crowd - I still remember Troy personally chipping in on a discussion over Stephen (Steven?) Taranto’s instagram posts saying it was sped up and faked. It turns out the guy is just an incredible player, and doesn’t need to ‘crack the code’ to get to the level he has. It’s a shame really, because the video footage is valuable and using it the right way can help - and there are good courses out there! I talk about Anton Oparin a lot - I have discussed his work in detail with members of his course and although we diverge on some things, he’s spot on and his course will likely significantly improve 95% of the players in there.
I hear you and I agree a lot with some of the “selling stuff they don’t need or won’t help to guitarist”. But there IS a component you are not taking into account about the positive effect of Troy: 99% of the guitarists out there were NOT aware about the repeatable technique of pickslanting and how actually every “athlete” (to take your analogy) guitarist use it in some shape or form. Just being aware this is a thing and that this is what you should be working on building speed can 1) potentially bring already a massive boost in speed for certain pattern you used to struggle with and 2) speed up the process of learning and speeding up by giving a tool for thinking the patterns on guitar and figuring out what works for you. We humans always build on acquired knowledge, that’s the whole point of teaching and that’s how we get better as a whole into a field. Now people have words and frameworks on how to think picking and that’s all because it was brought up in a bombastic way by Troy. The kids are learning this and progress faster than us when we didn’t have internet and we thought we had to learn one technique per guitarist we were trying to emulate, hence why we would buy all those magazines with tapes or cds that had THE “X guitarist lick”. The premise was never that we didn’t have to train for hours and hours and that we would get good in an instant, the premise was “here is what’s happening, here is what they figured out so that’s what you should be training for”
@@TomatePasFraiche See the problem with this in a nutshell is that we don't actually see a significantly higher percentage of people having better technique than 20 - 30 years ago, at least in my estimation. It is still the case that nearly every guitarist with virtuosic chops was a child prodigy that the rest of us can't touch, even if we are aware of some pick slanting mechanics. Many people who have left the Code Cracking Cult end up in my private tuition where they actually start to see decent results - partly because there's no substitute for someone making micro adjustments to your technique in real time, but also because pick slanting isn't actually a good way of thinking about the problem. I would argue that RU-vid needs a heavy injection of people with sports science / physiology / biomechanics qualifications in this space - that stuff is severely lacking in music education!
@@Kerriben I think we see much more of the “stuck people” just because we can reach more of them on the internet in general. In my opinion it’s not broadly showcasing that people succeed less on average. And using Troy material i explained to concept to many friend who, on top of finding a renewed motivation for their training, did found they could reach higher speed (i know that low sample size but at least that’s from experience). You are right that those guys on the forum are mislead and they don’t understand the time and effort needed in general (that’s also something newer generation struggle with) but to me this balances more toward people figuring out faster thanks to pickslanting material and explaination out there. Just seeing how your guitar hero solves this complex puzzle is invaluable for training on their licks
I'll say this as someone with 18 years of playing experience who can shred, Discovering Troy Grady's pick slanting videos were thr last key I needed that helped me comfortably break into the 200s For certain note groupings where in the past I had used economy style picking instead, Steven Toronto's a very good player but I wouldn't learn technique from him or advise it to others. That being said I think the real issue with pickslanting is that only a small number of people are qualified to teach themselves the vast majority of people need instruction from another person who can see what they're doing, I believe this leads to people thinking they should be doing proper alternate picking 100% of the time when that's not the case, For example if you are playing odd Note groupings 3s 5s or 7s if you If you don't break alternate picking every time your pattern starts over again you will be starting on a down stroke one time and upstroke the other, Again to reiterate my point I think most people need some type of instruction to assist them I feel a lot of people heard about pickslanting and thought it would be the EZ cheat they've been searching for, People need to be honest about where they are and what to learn next, for example if you can't play 16ths at a 140 on 1 string learning pick slanting isn't gonna do anything for you A lot of people trying to learn pick slanting when they should be working on There are risk and finger movements to increase their picking speed@@Kerriben
The complexity doesn’t seem to be with “slanting” per se, rather than the context switch when a line does not follow the same escape pattern on all string changes. When you have an even number of notes per string, changing strings feels easy, and for anything else, you can sweep or add one legato note to fit the pattern, like Yngwie.
If you want that sound! It’s worth mentioning a lot of genres sound a bit shit if you economy pick everything. It works for Malmsteen, but he wasn’t a gospel / funk player or a prog metal guy who needs to be atomically accurate on the metronome.
Seriously, thank you for sharing this content. What I can make clear after watching your videos is that we have to experiment more with the instrument and leave aside the "tricks" that seem to only serve to sell us products.
That’s a really good way of looking at it- I think iterative processes are always superior ways of learning any skill, and while there are a few ‘tricks’ you are better off doing your own analysis as long as you know what to look for.
8:30 lmaooo This is the most accurate thing ive ever heard about gym content. Adam ragusea explains this quite well in his video "Cooking internet and weightlifting internet have the same problem"
I just realized a few days ago the thing about using the underside of the index finger as a reference point for fretting hand. I’ve tried to use the classical fretting position for a long time but it just doesnt feel natural.
Beautiful lesson! I'll add: I think Classical technique doesn't work for you, because you sit with the guitar horizontally. This will cause unnecessary tension, with the thumb-behind technique.
That's perfectly fine though, play whatever inspires you and feels most comfortable. I personally enjoy the sensation of classical, for the laid back-ness of it. Lean back on a couch, and legato your way around. I switch to thumb around for more Stratty chord stuff.
@@arunkarthikma3121 Thanks man! I’ve played both ways for some time - classical technique really falls down when attempting a lot of electric guitar specific articulation such as bends, vibrato (the wide blues kind), slides, etc. It works well for navigating tricky chord-heavy passages so I would recommend being able to play both ways to cover all bases. Thumb tension is a thing on an acoustic where you need a lot of force to fret notes, but on a well setup electric with decently low action I can play everything you see here with the thumb entirely off the neck, which makes it a bit redundant. As with everything, it all has a function for the most part and it’s best to learn it all and then discard the stuff not useful to your style!
@@Kerriben "bends, vibrato (the wide blues kind), slides" True, this is actually something I've found fascinating recently (since I switched to playing 7-string guitars). To adapt my playstyle, I've watched many players and most use neither "thumb around" nor "classical". For most articulation, the thumb is barely poking above the neck and pivoting along with the wrist. I watched my own playing... Turns out, I had already been doing this lol
@@Kerriben "Thumb tension is a thing on an acoustic where you need a lot of force to fret notes" Hmm, I disagree with this reasoning. Even on acoustic, you can hammer on and pull-off with the thumb entirely off the neck. Your thumb is back there, during classical position as a by-product of having the fingers turned upwards and "rounded" (but usually the fingers are flattened or diagonal because of muting, stretches, or finger rolling).
Excellent lesson. I wish I'd realised this earlier on in my development. It started to occur to me over the last 5 years. I remember starting to ask myself what's the experience a player like Malmsteen is having, rather than 'what' is he doing.
