THIS!!! Broken down especially about both pick slants being used at the same time. Troy showed us, Ben Eller gave some great exercises, but you slowed it down to really understand the dynamic between what’s done at slow and fast speeds. This is the go to video for the most fundamental understanding of pick slanting! Thank you!
exactly..this is absolutly 100% true about myself too...I also developed a natural 2 way pickslant over the years, and just got aware of it because the cracking the code series. Troy more or less helped me, to really take care of my motions, and improve them in some ways
One thing I have noticed about my own playing, and my efforts to master both upward and downward pick slanting, is that a lot depends on your first pick movement. If your first pick movement is an upstroke, then upward pick slanting works best (with pure alternate picking for even numbers of notes per string, and economy picking for odd numbers of notes per string). Both ascending and descending. If your first pick movement is a downstroke, then downward pick slanting is most effective. And I seem to naturally start with upstrokes when descending and downstrokes when ascending, so I try to change pick slanting based on what direction I'm heading.
I think Jorge Struntz was the first guy that Troy Grady showed doing swipes...on nylon string! My picking at around 13 NPS becomes easiest with elbow along the plane of the strings...time to embrace swiping. Embracing of swiping is quite a psychological leap.
My technique is very similar to Steve Morse. I'm known as a string skips player. I've talked about this technique with Steve and our hand position uses the ring finger as a bridge to mute top strings when not being struck and a whip like action to play big interval skips
@Milehighshred Sounds more like the kind of thing most people would use sweep picking for but alternate picked e.g, the way John Petrucci plays the arpeggios in Glass Prison etc.
I believe that most players develop two way pick slanting on their own. I’ve been playing 25 years or so and I didn’t pay attention to my exact picking mechanics until Cracking the Code became a thing. On another note you’re a great teacher dude. As a patreon member, I’d recommend your patreon to any level player.
I NEVER comment gushing reviews of videos. Most the time I’m left confused and not much the wiser. This is the only time I can say you pointed out several things I was doing and answered questions I had that this video isn’t even about. I really appreciate this, my man. Definitely subscribing’
Holy ... what the ... no way. I had never considered just cutting across the string like that. I was watching you demonstrate it, jaw on the floor, and my internal dialogue put on its best Morpheus impersonation and asked " Do you think that's air you're breathing now?" I really struck RUclips gold today. Anyhow, off to dodge some bullets. Thank you, good sir.
Wow thank you for that wonderful video I noticed that when I pick my fastest it is a combination of my wrist but mostly my elbow a lot of players will tell you that picking from the elbow is wrong thank you for clearing up so many things for me.
@Milehighshred When Petrucci uses elbow, and I keep seeing guys say "Now he's using his wrist." when clearly his entire forearm is moving from elbow flex. People see only what they want to see.
I've been going over to elbow motion at high speed, as opposed to wrist motion, it feels more natural and I can play faster. Also I now just let my fingers stick out as opposed to resting on the top of my guitar. I've watched this video several times, one of my favorites.
Awesome information. I use both downward and upward pick slanting, but mostly downward. I stumbled on it through thousands of hours practicing. I also stumbled upon Cracking The Code about 5 or 6 years ago and realized what I had been doing for a long time. Cracking The Code helped me maximize movements that I already used. It's a great channel, as is yours! Keep up the great work.
3:26 to 3:35 - Exactly. Focus on the putting the proper amount of "workload" on your body (i.e., metronome work, speed bursts), and your body will do what it needs to do to catch up. Focus on the sound, not the technique. Great advice! :)
@@Milehighshred Thanks, man! Although, you did mention something in this video that piqued my interest, can you tell me where I can get more info on "swiping?" I know that Troy Grady mentions this, but I'm having a TON of trouble using pick slanting with 3NPS licks.
@@saltyphucker777 He's the only guy I know who really talks about it. I think Shawn Lane may have mentioned it in some seminar floating around online? I'm not sure though.
Great honest, insightful video. And thanks for the cool lick! Love that guitar. Could you please tell me the guitar maker? I think Damian Leski from Gorgasm plays one just like it.
Great lesson, John! Very inspiring! I like how you actually show your swiping approach. Sometimes we just get anal about technique as guitarists and consider swiping as cheating. But as you said, past certain speeds, it's virtually impossible to keep the double pick slanting motion going. Shred on! \m/
@@Milehighshred Damn right! ;) It's not cheating if it sounds the way you want it to. That's what matters most and you hit it right on the head. Besides, "cheating" is relative. Fingerstyle players might think you use a pick because you can't be bothered learning how to play with all of your fingers, classical guitarists might think you're cheating because you have fretboard inlays. Hell, violinists may think we're cheating unless we go fretless. It actually reminds me of a recent Frank Gambale interview where he says that some people go, "yeah, Gambale sweep picking/economy picking is fine, but it doesn't sound like alternate picking" and he went on to prove that unless he was sweeping crazy fast, you couldn't even tell which note was "economy picked" vs alternate picked when playing a scale or a melody. He also made a great point: only guitarists care about technique. A saxophone player, for example, doesn't give a rat's hind end about which technique you use and will expect you to play music, have interesting note choices, rather than some super cool technique that will only blow away other guitar players. That being said, I'm quite a technique nerd myself. XD Rock on, John!
@@CharlesEBusa the shred guitar world certainly is an interesting one in how people nitpick technique. Of course, I think all of the big name players out there never complain about how others play; it's only basement shredders with something to say!
Nice video ! I think the motion you describe @2min33 is "the bounce technique" as they called it in CrackingTheCode. However, it is done with a wrist motion, not a forearm rotation (well you are doing a forearm rotation right ?). Apparently it is used a lot for bluegrass. I struggle a lot with the 2Wpickslant motion. Any sets of exercises you advice to work on 2 way pickslanting ? Cheers
It sounds like you're referring to "stringhopping", which is what Eric Johnson is talking about on his instructional videos when he says "bounce technique". Stringhopping is a type of inefficient wrist motion which looks vertical and V-shaped. It works at slow speeds, but can't go fast because it causes arm tension. Players who do lots of alternate picked arpeggios, like bluegrass players and Steve Morse, don't do that. They use motions which don't cause arm tension, and can be done much faster without fatigue. There are lots of ways to do this. Wrist motion, forearm motions, finger motions, you name it. Think of it as more of a category of motions which all share the common characteristic of "escaping the strings" in both directions, so you can play upstrokes and downstrokes that move to a new string. I think John's motion here is this better kind of double escape motion, which doesn't cause arm tension. It's not as fast as his high-speed wrist and elbow motions, but still a better choice than stringhopping. Whew! That's a long answer.
@@troygrady It's so hard to change the way we pick, I've watched tons of CTC videos, I know exactly what's wrong in my playing (depends on the lick ofc but usually around 120bpm 16th note, it starts to fall) and I cant manage to switch.. It's a giangantic time consummer and let's be honest, not very funny process as you feel like you have to re-learn how to play guitar, but well, no pain no gain ^^ (psychological pain in this case)
I think you're the first guitar player that I've seen explain this concept that picks in a similar manner to how I do. Thank you so much for the enlightening video. I do have one question: When I go fast I also engage my elbow to complemente the wrist motion - learned this through a lot of tremolo pick practice. How do you transition from the slower picking that uses 2 way pick slanting to the faster one? I feel like I am practicing two very different motions at slow and high speeds and it feels very difficult to track progress because I reach a speed where I cannot play with the "slower" method, if that makes sense.
Doing 5 BPM increments with the metronome, and focusing on how it sounds rather than the motions being made. You can also just play in that "weird" sticking point speed for longer periods of time until it starts to become more comfortable.
You address the points Troy doesn't cover great content and your so right you really don't notice that your slanting when your playing fast until you watch yourself playing that's wild.
I'm not trying to be narcissistic but if you don't do yourself the favor of recording oneself you cant critique your playing accurately, I enjoyed the video great stuff and I love your chops bro.
Great video. Just a question if you don’t mind: I also am an upward pick slanter and find that to be much more natural when playing three notes per string. However, two notes per string is a huge problem for me. I can shred through two note per string phrases IF I begin on an UPstroke. As an upward slanter, how do you deal with that, personally?
I hardly play two notes per string phrases. Nothing wrong with starting things with an up stroke if it allows you to play what you want. Could also try rearranging the notes so you have 3 on one string, then one on another, and do some kind of economy picking or legato run instead.
Hey John. Do you experience any thumb contact on adjacent strings when playing? For example, say I’m playing a run on the D string, I find that my thumb will make contact with the A string during my upstrokes.
a great video! Thanks for the explanation. I've just started introducing pick slanting into my students lessons. I try to use the oud technique they adapted for gyspy jazz however in metal you can't palm mute that way. I've never heard of busting through the string at high speeds and I'm curious to know if I do it now. I try to stay away from elbow picking and bending the wrist up as it causes me tension. I wish I knew how you were able to do that without tension.
It's controlled tension. Tension is inevitable when pushing the limits. Eventually, the tension becomes less and less. I approach shred guitar training the same way I approach the gym 💪
@@Milehighshred Thanks for the reply John. I'll certain take all your comments into consideration this coming months lessons. I was always of the opinion relaxing is better but when you sing extreme style I was only able to get high notes and great tones by trading muscles and pushing until it sat right and didn't cause 'bad' tension. All the best and thanks again!
Theres 3 types of slanting. Not 2. Downward, upward and diagonal. And in your "fastest" picking it looked like you were using not only upward. But diagonal pickslanting also (Diagonal is when the pick isnt parallel with the string)
Since I created the term "pickslanting" I feel qualified to weigh in on this. (Ha.) It sounds like you're referring to edge picking, where instead of playing with the pick flat against the string, you play with some amount of the pick's edge against the string. For sure, this is a super important component of pick attack, but it's not pickslanting.
That's fair. When I looked up pickslanting the first time I heard of it that was the explanation I recieved. Thanks for the correction. That is what I meant
FREE eBook on how to make progress now, and reach speeds faster than you've ever played before: www.milehighshred.com/metronome_method.html
THIS!!! Broken down especially about both pick slants being used at the same time. Troy showed us, Ben Eller gave some great exercises, but you slowed it down to really understand the dynamic between what’s done at slow and fast speeds. This is the go to video for the most fundamental understanding of pick slanting! Thank you!
Thank you! This comment made my morning 🙂
Anybody who gets into the Cracking The code science is my friend!
🤘🤘🤘
Excellent breakdown! Clear and concise. I've been working too hard to NOT bump over adjacent strings, needlessly it turns out. Thank you!
A lot of people think it's wrong to hit strings. Time to blast through them!
exactly..this is absolutly 100% true about myself too...I also developed a natural 2 way pickslant over the years, and just got aware of it because the cracking the code series. Troy more or less helped me, to really take care of my motions, and improve them in some ways
Pretty weird when you become aware of it, isn't it?
One thing I have noticed about my own playing, and my efforts to master both upward and downward pick slanting, is that a lot depends on your first pick movement. If your first pick movement is an upstroke, then upward pick slanting works best (with pure alternate picking for even numbers of notes per string, and economy picking for odd numbers of notes per string). Both ascending and descending. If your first pick movement is a downstroke, then downward pick slanting is most effective. And I seem to naturally start with upstrokes when descending and downstrokes when ascending, so I try to change pick slanting based on what direction I'm heading.
Definitely a good thing you're able to notice what's working well for you!
I think Jorge Struntz was the first guy that Troy Grady showed doing swipes...on nylon string!
My picking at around 13 NPS becomes easiest with elbow along the plane of the strings...time to embrace swiping. Embracing of swiping is quite a psychological leap.
Swiping is absolutely difficult for a lot of people to accept as being okay. You're correct, so much of this stuff is psychological!
My technique is very similar to Steve Morse. I'm known as a string skips player. I've talked about this technique with Steve and our hand position uses the ring finger as a bridge to mute top strings when not being struck and a whip like action to play big interval skips
String skips player meaning you skip strings a lot when you play?
@@Milehighshred one note per string arpeggios etc at very fast tempos
@@tonyspada2744Sounds like sweep picking. Or is it slightly different in some way?
@Milehighshred Sounds more like the kind of thing most people would use sweep picking for but alternate picked e.g, the way John Petrucci plays the arpeggios in Glass Prison etc.
@@Milehighshredno he means he alternate picks arpeggios, like steve in tumeni notes . its called crosspicking
I believe that most players develop two way pick slanting on their own. I’ve been playing 25 years or so and I didn’t pay attention to my exact picking mechanics until Cracking the Code became a thing.
On another note you’re a great teacher dude. As a patreon member, I’d recommend your patreon to any level player.
Thank you VERY much! Glad to have you as part of the Patreon group 🙂
This video is the most realistic approach on this issue.
Thank you!
I NEVER comment gushing reviews of videos. Most the time I’m left confused and not much the wiser. This is the only time I can say you pointed out several things I was doing and answered questions I had that this video isn’t even about. I really appreciate this, my man. Definitely subscribing’
Thank you so much! Very glad this video could help 🤘
Holy ... what the ... no way.
I had never considered just cutting across the string like that.
I was watching you demonstrate it, jaw on the floor, and my internal dialogue put on its best Morpheus impersonation and asked " Do you think that's air you're breathing now?"
I really struck RUclips gold today.
Anyhow, off to dodge some bullets.
Thank you, good sir.
Glad you found a new approach! I hope this technique helps you hit those crazy fast speeds 🤘
Wow thank you for that wonderful video I noticed that when I pick my fastest it is a combination of my wrist but mostly my elbow a lot of players will tell you that picking from the elbow is wrong thank you for clearing up so many things for me.
You're quite welcome! The whole anti elbow thing is ridiculous. Definitely use whatever works to help you play what you want.
@Milehighshred
When Petrucci uses elbow, and I keep seeing guys say "Now he's using his wrist." when clearly his entire forearm is moving from elbow flex.
People see only what they want to see.
Best lesson ! Can’t really argue with someone shredding clean at 240 haha. Plus you kinda sound like MAB too 😅
Thank you!
They cover this in the batio video. He really does cover every base possible in that series. It's a revelation.
I’m a fan of your efficient video editing too as well as your efficient picking technique ;)
Excellent teacher, and stunning playing.
Thank you!
I've been going over to elbow motion at high speed, as opposed to wrist motion, it feels more natural and I can play faster. Also I now just let my fingers stick out as opposed to resting on the top of my guitar. I've watched this video several times, one of my favorites.
Awesome! Glad you're finding success with the new techniques.
@@Milehighshred Thank you, you are beyond awesome!
Awesome information. I use both downward and upward pick slanting, but mostly downward. I stumbled on it through thousands of hours practicing. I also stumbled upon Cracking The Code about 5 or 6 years ago and realized what I had been doing for a long time. Cracking The Code helped me maximize movements that I already used. It's a great channel, as is yours! Keep up the great work.
Thank you!
Thanks man! That's some very solid advice! Best advice i have seen so far!
Thank you!
3:26 to 3:35 - Exactly. Focus on the putting the proper amount of "workload" on your body (i.e., metronome work, speed bursts), and your body will do what it needs to do to catch up. Focus on the sound, not the technique. Great advice! :)
😉🤘🤘🤘
@@Milehighshred Thanks, man! Although, you did mention something in this video that piqued my interest, can you tell me where I can get more info on "swiping?" I know that Troy Grady mentions this, but I'm having a TON of trouble using pick slanting with 3NPS licks.
@@saltyphucker777 He's the only guy I know who really talks about it. I think Shawn Lane may have mentioned it in some seminar floating around online? I'm not sure though.
Great advice - thanks MHS 😊
Welcome!
Very informative! Excellent explanation
Thank you very much!
I naturally slant the pick on a 45 degree angle side to side, not up/down..Works for me..
Sounds like pick angling, which is different than pick slanting.
Great honest, insightful video. And thanks for the cool lick! Love that guitar. Could you please tell me the guitar maker? I think Damian Leski from Gorgasm plays one just like it.
Thank you! Monson is the guitar brand. The Witch is the body design.
@@Milehighshred Thank you, very cool!
Great lesson, John! Very inspiring! I like how you actually show your swiping approach. Sometimes we just get anal about technique as guitarists and consider swiping as cheating. But as you said, past certain speeds, it's virtually impossible to keep the double pick slanting motion going.
Shred on! \m/
Thank you! I will continue to "cheat" as long as I can 😉
@@Milehighshred Damn right! ;) It's not cheating if it sounds the way you want it to. That's what matters most and you hit it right on the head. Besides, "cheating" is relative. Fingerstyle players might think you use a pick because you can't be bothered learning how to play with all of your fingers, classical guitarists might think you're cheating because you have fretboard inlays.
Hell, violinists may think we're cheating unless we go fretless.
It actually reminds me of a recent Frank Gambale interview where he says that some people go, "yeah, Gambale sweep picking/economy picking is fine, but it doesn't sound like alternate picking" and he went on to prove that unless he was sweeping crazy fast, you couldn't even tell which note was "economy picked" vs alternate picked when playing a scale or a melody.
He also made a great point: only guitarists care about technique. A saxophone player, for example, doesn't give a rat's hind end about which technique you use and will expect you to play music, have interesting note choices, rather than some super cool technique that will only blow away other guitar players.
That being said, I'm quite a technique nerd myself. XD
Rock on, John!
@@CharlesEBusa the shred guitar world certainly is an interesting one in how people nitpick technique. Of course, I think all of the big name players out there never complain about how others play; it's only basement shredders with something to say!
I need to become a two way picker muhaha
Yeah that might be good place to start, good luck Shred! 😊
Excellent vid! Subbed!
Thank you!
Great stuff as always John! Thank you 🤘🏻
You're very welcome!
Awesome. Never occurred to me to strike through the strings at high speed. I’m an upward pick slanter, so looking forward to trying this approach out
Let me know how it goes!
Yes!
I use downward only. Works fine
Works quite well for a lot of people 🙂
Nice video !
I think the motion you describe @2min33 is "the bounce technique" as they called it in CrackingTheCode. However, it is done with a wrist motion, not a forearm rotation (well you are doing a forearm rotation right ?). Apparently it is used a lot for bluegrass. I struggle a lot with the 2Wpickslant motion.
Any sets of exercises you advice to work on 2 way pickslanting ?
Cheers
It sounds like you're referring to "stringhopping", which is what Eric Johnson is talking about on his instructional videos when he says "bounce technique". Stringhopping is a type of inefficient wrist motion which looks vertical and V-shaped. It works at slow speeds, but can't go fast because it causes arm tension. Players who do lots of alternate picked arpeggios, like bluegrass players and Steve Morse, don't do that. They use motions which don't cause arm tension, and can be done much faster without fatigue. There are lots of ways to do this. Wrist motion, forearm motions, finger motions, you name it. Think of it as more of a category of motions which all share the common characteristic of "escaping the strings" in both directions, so you can play upstrokes and downstrokes that move to a new string. I think John's motion here is this better kind of double escape motion, which doesn't cause arm tension. It's not as fast as his high-speed wrist and elbow motions, but still a better choice than stringhopping. Whew! That's a long answer.
Running scales that involve 3 notes per string will work 2 way slanting since you keep changing the pick stroke direction with each string you leave.
@@troygrady It's so hard to change the way we pick, I've watched tons of CTC videos, I know exactly what's wrong in my playing (depends on the lick ofc but usually around 120bpm 16th note, it starts to fall) and I cant manage to switch.. It's a giangantic time consummer and let's be honest, not very funny process as you feel like you have to re-learn how to play guitar, but well, no pain no gain ^^ (psychological pain in this case)
I think you're the first guitar player that I've seen explain this concept that picks in a similar manner to how I do. Thank you so much for the enlightening video. I do have one question: When I go fast I also engage my elbow to complemente the wrist motion - learned this through a lot of tremolo pick practice. How do you transition from the slower picking that uses 2 way pick slanting to the faster one? I feel like I am practicing two very different motions at slow and high speeds and it feels very difficult to track progress because I reach a speed where I cannot play with the "slower" method, if that makes sense.
Doing 5 BPM increments with the metronome, and focusing on how it sounds rather than the motions being made. You can also just play in that "weird" sticking point speed for longer periods of time until it starts to become more comfortable.
@@Milehighshred Lots of work to be done, that sticking point is stubborn! Thanks for answering
Nows its DSX downstroke string escape and USX Upward String Escape
Indeed it is!
You address the points Troy doesn't cover great content and your so right you really don't notice that your slanting when your playing fast until you watch yourself playing that's wild.
I'm not trying to be narcissistic but if you don't do yourself the favor of recording oneself you cant critique your playing accurately, I enjoyed the video great stuff and I love your chops bro.
Thanks, I believe I’ve been paralyzed by the analyzer !! 😂
Happens to a lot of people!
Great video. Just a question if you don’t mind: I also am an upward pick slanter and find that to be much more natural when playing three notes per string.
However, two notes per string is a huge problem for me. I can shred through two note per string phrases IF I begin on an UPstroke.
As an upward slanter, how do you deal with that, personally?
I hardly play two notes per string phrases. Nothing wrong with starting things with an up stroke if it allows you to play what you want. Could also try rearranging the notes so you have 3 on one string, then one on another, and do some kind of economy picking or legato run instead.
@@Milehighshred Got it, thanks for the reply. As a guitar instructor, myself, I’m always looking to better myself and your videos are helpful.
@@jimmy5196 Awesome! Thank you 🙂
How's business?
Hey John. Do you experience any thumb contact on adjacent strings when playing? For example, say I’m playing a run on the D string, I find that my thumb will make contact with the A string during my upstrokes.
I do not.
a great video! Thanks for the explanation. I've just started introducing pick slanting into my students lessons. I try to use the oud technique they adapted for gyspy jazz however in metal you can't palm mute that way. I've never heard of busting through the string at high speeds and I'm curious to know if I do it now. I try to stay away from elbow picking and bending the wrist up as it causes me tension. I wish I knew how you were able to do that without tension.
It's controlled tension. Tension is inevitable when pushing the limits. Eventually, the tension becomes less and less. I approach shred guitar training the same way I approach the gym 💪
@@Milehighshred Thanks for the reply John. I'll certain take all your comments into consideration this coming months lessons. I was always of the opinion relaxing is better but when you sing extreme style I was only able to get high notes and great tones by trading muscles and pushing until it sat right and didn't cause 'bad' tension. All the best and thanks again!
I like this
What kind of guitar pick are you using?
Bog Street Battle Axe 3mm
What guitar is this
Monson is the brand. Witch is the body design.
Great video. Sub'd
Thank you!
Theres 3 types of slanting. Not 2. Downward, upward and diagonal. And in your "fastest" picking it looked like you were using not only upward. But diagonal pickslanting also
(Diagonal is when the pick isnt parallel with the string)
Since I created the term "pickslanting" I feel qualified to weigh in on this. (Ha.) It sounds like you're referring to edge picking, where instead of playing with the pick flat against the string, you play with some amount of the pick's edge against the string. For sure, this is a super important component of pick attack, but it's not pickslanting.
That's fair. When I looked up pickslanting the first time I heard of it that was the explanation I recieved. Thanks for the correction. That is what I meant
Pick Slanting Lives Matter
😑