Well, if you were able to play this back in a early 90s and be a too rock musician you could have Lamborghini. But now ? All that music scene is gone... I had a chance to signed with major record labels but I resigned that. Why ? I'm too old to be a old hard rock musician and tour with that music. No one like to hear any longer. Everyone loves criminal gang related rap songs.... That's the reality.
@@maxinpains6937well there's a reason why it stopped being popular. If you keep doing the same thing over and over people eventually lose interest. Hip hop came with something new altogether and won all the audiences, same as it happened with grunge. It's easy to blame society for one's own mistakes. it's good that shredding hair metal bands existed but they seriously needed an improvement or a replacement
Boob, I disagree with "he [Troy] is overcomplicating it". What he has done over the course of many extremely clear and well-researched videos is codify an aspect of picking technique that nearly all guitarists are never taught and are expected to figure out on their own. This can and usually does result in years of wasted time if your goal is to master your instrument. Chris Mullin, a former NBA player known for his shooting form, said to the effect that you can either take 1000 shots a day with poor form to become a good shooter or 2-300 with good form to become a good shooter. (Pardon my paraphrasing if the numbers are off) This is your choice as a guitar player or with any endeavor that takes repetition to master. You can figure out what works all on your own or you can learn from others that have worked out the details so you won't have to reinvent the wheel. Keep up the great work, Troy. You have a good thing going and you are greatly appreciated.
I went to Michael Angelo Batio's guitar clinic 5-28-19 in Havelock NC. He is so personable and really down to earth. I was impressed by his dedication to the art of music and his sensible approach to answering our questions.
This guy's videos are so good. He is so right in everything he says. Yngwie's playing was unbelievable at the time. No one was doing anything like it, but eventually people would realise it wasn't so complicated in the techniques. MAB though is just like a full on robot with that alternate picking.
man, you seriously need a column in guitar world...I might have to start a petition...you have single handedly helped me more than all my previous guitar instructors combined...you got to the root of it...now I actually have to get off my ass and practice...and finally learn this stuff....I predict a huge surge in guitar proficiency after everybody gets hip to your technique dissection...thank you....hope to buy you a beer someday....or maybe coffee...
I agree Evan... Troy is going to help an entire generation of younger (older too) players get better .... faster. I am 53 been playing since I was a teen and wish I had this when younger. The Internet is awesome.
he actually freely tells you what it is.. its tremolo picking, and because micahel is also very analytical AND self taught, i love the fact he gives it all away. "teaches secret of alternate picking". Alternate picking at speed becomes tremolo picking
+will gibson yeah i agree with you i've always listening to his a new day composition that can kick many neoclassical player and his jazz is absolutely good but sadly many of his composition is on electric guitar if he just compose more on acoustic than electric maybe this guy is one of legend now ( I'm a big fan of MAB he's a down to earth man a good teacher ive bought his video tutorial and that freakin awesome but sadly he became a machine gun to me .. )
+will gibson Im going to remove the "emotion" crap and simply say, he is not a "tasteful" player. He's gaudy, flashy, and its ALWAYS kind of "in your face". I can see the appeal, but its relentless and over time becomes repetitive for people like me. Same with yngwie. God I remember as a kid finding yngwie, holy shit. I spent YEARS trying to copy yngwie... and then out of nowhere I just got "bored". MAB never appealed to me, because yngwie already existed :). His music is largely generic (Sorry?), and his attitude is anything but humble. Even EVH has some amount of humility. Batio does not.
It's hard to believe they're owned by Volkswagen these days. And arguably making their best cars ever. Although for all us '80s kids the Countach will have a special place in our hearts.
Fascinating stuff. Batio really does play like a 100% accurate machine. I wonder how many times he had to practice a lick to get it up to speed. I don't find him the most musical of players, but it's fun to play his stuff.
First of all thanks Troy for all the research, it helped my picking tremendously. Now that Troy mentioned Shawn Lane and George Benson: Just yesterday I tried the shawn lane style trailing edge picking and I am really thrilled. Changing pickslanting during 3 nps passages feels very comfortable, fours come naturally. With leading edge picking my index finger hurted after a while due to the not natural pressure applied from the side on the joint, my middle and ring finger (which I use a lot for hybrid picking) felt "trapped" and I could not reach higher strings without straining. Changing between dwps and uwps during 3 note per string passages was only possible when floating the hand, which made dampening the strings nearly impossible when playing with high gain. It seems that the shawn lane mode is the way to go ...for me at least, as all problems seem to have dissapeared over night, after 25 years of struggling. Ironically I started out with trailing edge picking, but made the mistake not to fully extend the thumb (as I realized now), this seems important for maintaning stability holding the pick. Anyone else with similar experience?
This is the video that brought me to become a "Masters in mechanics" subscriber. I wasn't disappointed. Now I am less afraid to play these kind of licks.
Your a wonderful teacher brother. Mab is and always has been unreal. I noticed something you may or may not have noticed. If you pay close attention, you will see that he locks his shoulder right before he goes into warp. What if his key is the way he locks his shoulder. If so, it goes to show just how far some players go in order to separate themselves as it should be. Best players in the world always had more going on with the right hand than the left for sure. You should try some videos on Jeff beck and Danny gatton,chett Atkins, ect. Players that didn't use picks or used picks and finger combining. Good stuff Troy.
I have a CS degree and worked for several years as a DB Engineer. I thought I had an analytical mind/personality, but this is some serious high granularity stuff lol. Good job.
I discovered something interesting that works for string changes - if you were playing 3nps, keep your pinky over the next string to keep it muted, and move the pick straight across over the next string, almost like you're sweeling. that way, there's no awkward hopping and the pick is right there on the string for a quick up-pick.
Nothing to do with his fingers, Probably just has the wet delay like 70% on the right channel and 30% on the left or something. Pretty sure its just stereo delay anyway
Troy, I'm pretty sure it's related to "economy in movements" Michaelangelo has a very exquisite technique and he master the "extremely low movements" I think if we could measure in milimeters the range from an upstroke to a downstroke we'll have about 3mm. That way you won't be trapped between the strings
Hi Troy, great work! It seems to me, when you showed on slow motion, that MAB plays the lowest note with an upstroke and then continues all the way with alternate picking. Even though when he shows how to play the lick slowlt, he plays the lowest note with a downstroke. I found it much easier to play when starting with an upstroke... Cheers!
I bought the Antigravity pack and it'is just incredible, top level material. I have a specific question for you Troy: regarding Michael's "swipe" technique, I was thinking, why don't just use swipe with dwps while ascending and swipe with upws while descending? I mean, instead of using two way pickslanting. Can you give me some insights?
BTW, you can play the ascending 4s pattern across the strings using the Ynqwie system (down-slanted economy picking) just by re-fingering a single note, for example (I notate it as string/fret/pick stroke etc).....[35d,32u,34d,35u], [37d,34u,35d,37u], [39d,35u,37d,25d],[26u,37d,25d,26u], [28d,25u,26d,28u], 210d. Works out better for the left hand at some points on the scale than others. Not sure how Ynqwie does it across strings but he must do because there are examples where he would simply run out of frets on one string, eg, in Evil Eye at around 3min20.
I think he does the circular picking where his risk is lock in but he just uses his fingers where most people use their risk to pick fast. That’s probably why he’s able to pick fast cause he’s not doing a bunch of movement
I keep thinking he has a piece of glass under his pick or something. I can pick faster on my old Ibanez because it has three single coil pups and the middle one serves as a gliding surface. LOVE your videos btw.
Never been able to figure out that descending part/pattern right after he flies up and lands on the A note at 17! Kinda like a harmonic minorish type thing!
I think i cracked this one. I never had a teacher and i somehow do things funny. i never watched someones picking technique cause the use of notes was always way more interesting, but thanks to you i just watched myself play and i play fours quite often. im not a fast or precise picker but i noticed i didnt hop in a literal way but i did a vertical bow around the string and came back from the other side. quite hard to explain^^
Love your channel and your videos, really been helping me out, only been playing 2 years and thanks to this channel i've discovered music thats new to me and getting over problems some players have for years, thank you, I was wondering if we'd ever see anything Jason Becker related? like sweep picking?
The amount I learned in the first two years of playing was huge -- it's like going from zero to 80 percent. It's an amazing time, enjoy it! Jason is great, but he wasn't someone I really knew about in the time period we talk about in the show. However we do address sweeping as part of Yngwie's technique, and I'm sure we'll talk more about it again down the line.
***** that is so true.. it really starts slowing down after a few years, its like you finished drawing the outline and now your in for the long haul of coloring it in, but trust me before you know it you can just take a look back and that stuff that you thought you would never be able to do is now second nature
matt p We discuss this with respect to Yngwie's playing in the Volcano seminar, and the short story is, it's just a motion mechanic -- pickslanting is still required for clean string changes, regardless of whether you achieve it via finger, wrist, or forearm movement.
***** Troy are you familiar with what is called by some "pick snapping?" I know the singer/guitar player from Vektor and I've seen his picking technique up close. He appears to twist the pick as he plays. He has a pretty fast picking technique, his thumb flexes as he does down and upstrokes. I believe he is picking with the leading edge of the pick on one stroke and the back edge of the pick on the next. Imagine snapping a down stroke with the leading edge of the pick, lowering the pick just enough to snap back up with the back edge of the pick. I have never seen this style of picking before. Its unique as far as I know. I'd love to see you slow-mo his picking technique. His thumb joint is constantly flexing as he picks.
It sounds like this is the same thing -- finger-based motion mechanic. No matter how you move the pick, even in a wrist-based mechanic, you'll always hit the string with the leading edge on a downstroke and the trailing edge on the upstroke. If you use leading-edge picking. If you use trailing-edge picking, like Shawn Lane and George Benson, it will be the reverse. The point here is really that moving the pick can be accomplished any number of ways, but that by itself is not picking technique -- it's just one component of it. There still needs to be pickslanting to get over the string, string tracking to move across the strings, chunking for hand synchronization, and so on. It's many movements happening simultaneously.
Do you guys have any future plan to break the code of music theory & generalize how 90% of most popular songs ,solos are used with same/limited number of scale ,chords how to build a complete song with chord progression ,how to make songs more soothing to ear musically (chord progression,mistake which not to do).
Sometime back in the 80's I figured to use a jazz pick (looks like MAB is using a Jazz III here), held perpendicular to the guitar and about 30 degrees off the direction of the string. I didn't know YJM used a single string, so I worked out the same string crossing ascending and descending 4's. Can't do it as clean as MAB though.
I play exactly like this actually. I can also do it for "nondeterministic" patterns where I randomly play short bursts of a string of notes in the scale up or down, without knowing the amount of notes I'm going to play. It's kind of a variable "fit all" alternate picking. You brute force it. Edit: I realize I actually do this: So for instance, let's say I just played a down stroke on the A string, and I need to play an upstroke for my next stroke for a note played on the D string (so I need to travel "down" for my next upstroke). On the down stroke, I'll aim to "end" my stroke *past the D string with my arm* so that I can upstroke just by "pulling backwards" with my wrist. It's more an arm mechanic than a wrist one. I don't intentionally bounce my hand to dodge strings. I change the "centerpoint" of my arm's resting position to account for the varying strokes and patterns. It's not the same as string hopping because I'm not "going away and towards the strings" to handle dodging unintentional string striking. It's a more fluid motion that just narrowly dodges the string with angling the arm as opposed to the using the wrist. Just think of a pendulum that swings back and forth, and then you can pick up the apex of this pendulum and place it elsewhere at will such that the pendulum will hit certain spots perfectly, no matter how far you have to shift. I can tell Michelangelo does this, except he's killed all useless and excessive movement in his playing so it looks natural. He also includes his wrist as well as his arm in probably the perfect blend to get the sweet uniform results we hear.
I think The secret of Batio is to play with the pick far from the strings in a way that it touch very lightly on the strings and for a very little portion of its surface, then it is a very nervous super fast little movement with is arm and thumb, but more of the arm. I have developped a similer way of picking but instead i grab the pick between my index and middle finger.
+Giuseppe Raffa When I say far I mean that the pick is not positionated between the strings but just above, so that only the liitle extremity of the pick make the contact
Hey Troy, I really love these videos you are doing, we must be close in age. The DWPS stuff with Yngwie and EJ are amazingly eye opening, Growing up playing the 3nps style, I think I do understand how M.A.B. is able to do what he does. The secret here, I believe, is he using only the very tip of the pick. I think that is why there is very little apparent hopping. Though I never took it to this level, after spending countless hours with a metronome (and laughably a stylus pick sometimes!) I could get a fluid flow of these one measure circles, but that's about it. None of it is was very musical. What I did gain from those practice sessions was pick control that helped with sweeping. The problem I have with this style is as you state in this video, it's very rigid and mechanical sounding. It really does not lend itself to free expression. I tried to explore the George Benson picking style for a while, but I wasn't very successful because what I thought was the correct angle was too foreign. I was able to lose the thumb bump I've always played with but my slant and edge angle went the wrong way. However, I now know from your videos that what I really was looking for was the downward slant. Not sure how it is going to work with bebop, but that's my job.....Thanks for these videos and all the work you're doing.
6:05 -6:19 ... loop and or replay, slow motion. You're welcome. Love troy's stuff? Support the channel with a like and check out the website: troygrady.com
Troy you should get a high speed camera to film MAB's picking. The frame advancing at only 24 or 30 FPS just isn't enough for someone who can play that fast. It would be cool to see it at like 1000-2000 FPS. Just and Idea!
I remember going to an internet cafe and seeing MAB in like 2009. I saw that speed kills video and I said to myself (I was like 10) I have got to do this! I still can't of course but began to play because of him, he's my biggest guitar hero ever! Funny how I was oblivious of Metal music or rock music in general until that, always surrounded by Mexican country or rap that I never really enjoyed.
Indeed, this is a section from our Antigravity Seminar which is exhaustive in its outline of the Batio system. We'll eventually do a more complete Batio lesson for the channel at some point for sure.
he's resting his fingers pick hand, I'm doing the same on the Les Paul.. thats what I mean, what if I take the pickguard off & let go- don't rest my fingers, leave them free floating, could I go faster ?
With practice, I think so. I’ve found it hard personally to try floating after years of staying anchored, but I know with persistence and building strength while floating, it could definitely be done
I don't have the eye for picking out all the details in picking techniques, but based on what I'm seeing, and how you're talking about it, I think what he's doing is called scalpel picking. If there's another name for it, I'd love to hear it. The idea is his pick slices through the string, taking advantage of the pick to string angle. The pick moves across the string largely around the edge, instead of like slapping it with the side. I don't see his thumb articulating, which is for me the tell-tale sign, but I'm not great at seeing these things at all. Hell, when Guitar Player Magazine was featuring Mike Varney's Spotlight and all the shred guys were first making names for themselves, I was copping riffs from John Lee Hooker and finger picking.
Indeed, in the show we call this "edge picking", and almost all players use some amount of it, in all musical styles -- even those that may think they play completely flat. It is simply very difficult to play with zero degrees of edge picking, and still get the pick to slide over the string.
I think he does what i do unconciously while playing fast with pure alternate and I thiunk its just mutting those strings that are in the middle and he cant aboid but he strike them almost at the same time as the correct string, so at the end you hear more strokes than different notes (which I think we can all hear) but still he plays all the notes correctly
Um...I got this down years ago with the Star Licks video he did. Its actually harder to play it slow than it is fast, at least for me. Michael is a REALLY good teacher, BTW.
Pretty sure it's just because when he plays fast he raises his pick to minimize string resistance and when he picks fast he's picking slightly harder too, simply because of the speed. He doesn't need to "hop" because his pick is already just gliding over the top of the string and if he accidentally lowers the pick, he's moving with enough force that it won't slow him down too much before he raises it again. Obviously he angles his pick too like most people including myself that enjoy fast playing.
This seemed most natural for me: I exaggerate the downstroke / upstroke when switching strings to get the opposite return stroke on the way back..if that makes any sense. 4th string -- down up down 3rd string -- up down up down up 4th string -- down 3rd string - up down 4th string - up down 3rd string -- up 4th string -- down up repeat
@@jallalabadreturns But he kinda does that himself too. I have his new speed kills course and he was doing that when he demonstrated the warm up exercises
it looks like Mike actually goes from string hopping to that pick slanting you speak of in your other videos.It's really subtle, but I think you can see his fingers flex a little and the pick turn when he speeds up. So, like string tapping was a bit of a trade secret among elite guitarists for quite some time, pick slanting was obviously used by many of these speed guitarists. And quite honestly, they may have accomplished it almost unconsciously.
Guitar Radio Good catch! You are correct, Mike is an upward pickslanter, and most likely not aware of it. But that's not the only mystery here because even upward pickslanting, by itself isn't enough to solve this pattern when Mike clicks on the turbo. It's really amazing how much is going on that elite players do by feel.
***** Fantastic, truly great lesson and coverage of Michael's playing. You truly manage to grab the audience with your passion and knowledge... And I very much agree that this lick is hell to play like that!! ;-) Congratulations and keep it up!
it seems like he is using such small nano movements and pick slope and edge that he can get to those speeds that most people could probably never unless they adopted a nano approach as well
I honestly don't see what the big deal is. When I do that lick, the hops are very, VERY subtle probably because I have practiced the technique a lot. I think unless you master a technique more or less, it gets a little bit difficult to explain it. When I slow down my movement, it is identical to how I play it fast, and in both speeds I barely do any hops. It works with just a minor lift of the pick, it is barely visible at all and I had a hard time catching myself doing it.
Vinnie Moore and Chris Impellitteri were both sued for their instructional videos encouraging stiff wrist picking. Many of the people who bought the videos back in the 80's developed tennis elbow and hired lawyers and then all the videos had to be recalled off the shelves in music stores. That is when Mike Varney had too much legal fees and grunge came in and dominated the rock scene. It was all because of Vinnie Moore and Chris Impellitteri teaching improper picking techniques or at least not explaining that they were left handed and playing right handed with an inefficient picking technique. Impellitteri mustard up the courage to start picking from the wrist but by that time is was too late.
There are sooo many dumb comments here lol like watch the other CTC vids. “It’s just alternate picking” like duh bro the whole point of CTC is a granular analysis of the motions involved in alternate picking because while every guitar instructional video ever discussed alternate picking, almost NONE of them actually address the specific mechanics of navigating string changes with alternate picking at max speeds
I never liked Batio nearly as much as a prime Yngwie (1983-1989). He has always sounded so robotic to me. He's an unbelievably great technical player, but Yngwie just had so much more power and soul in his playing. Plus, Yngwie's early albums are actually enjoyable from a songwriting point of view.
@@lukex1337 I would just listen to the whole Odyssey album. It's his most popular, and I think it's his best. Also, Marching Out is great. You would probably like Hold On, Heaven Tonight, and Dreaming from Odyssey, but I recommend listening to the whole album.
probably the most in depth guitar lessons on the planet
you sir are legend in your own right
Well I now have the keys, but still waiting for my Lamborghini.
.If you have the ceys of a car iin your garage or the parking lot, do you wait for the car to come to your room ?You'll have to go get it I guess
That's pretty funny considering you basically copied the comment right below this one.
Well, if you were able to play this back in a early 90s and be a too rock musician you could have Lamborghini. But now ? All that music scene is gone... I had a chance to signed with major record labels but I resigned that. Why ? I'm too old to be a old hard rock musician and tour with that music. No one like to hear any longer. Everyone loves criminal gang related rap songs.... That's the reality.
😂
@@maxinpains6937well there's a reason why it stopped being popular. If you keep doing the same thing over and over people eventually lose interest. Hip hop came with something new altogether and won all the audiences, same as it happened with grunge. It's easy to blame society for one's own mistakes. it's good that shredding hair metal bands existed but they seriously needed an improvement or a replacement
I love how scientific this all is.
x2
Same here
Doug F*ing Steele! - you will never be asked the question "do you even science, bro?" The proof is right here.
Boob, I disagree with "he [Troy] is overcomplicating it". What he has done over the course of many extremely clear and well-researched videos is codify an aspect of picking technique that nearly all guitarists are never taught and are expected to figure out on their own. This can and usually does result in years of wasted time if your goal is to master your instrument.
Chris Mullin, a former NBA player known for his shooting form, said to the effect that you can either take 1000 shots a day with poor form to become a good shooter or 2-300 with good form to become a good shooter. (Pardon my paraphrasing if the numbers are off)
This is your choice as a guitar player or with any endeavor that takes repetition to master. You can figure out what works all on your own or you can learn from others that have worked out the details so you won't have to reinvent the wheel.
Keep up the great work, Troy. You have a good thing going and you are greatly appreciated.
Preach it, brother!
There's no such thing as a self taught musician anyway. You listen to music? Then have teachers lol
I went to Michael Angelo Batio's guitar clinic 5-28-19 in Havelock NC. He is so personable and really down to earth. I was impressed by his dedication to the art of music and his sensible approach to answering our questions.
Hey, 5-28 is my birthday.
I agree. He's such a nice guy.
This guy's videos are so good. He is so right in everything he says. Yngwie's playing was unbelievable at the time. No one was doing anything like it, but eventually people would realise it wasn't so complicated in the techniques. MAB though is just like a full on robot with that alternate picking.
man, you seriously need a column in guitar world...I might have to start a petition...you have single handedly helped me more than all my previous guitar instructors combined...you got to the root of it...now I actually have to get off my ass and practice...and finally learn this stuff....I predict a huge surge in guitar proficiency after everybody gets hip to your technique dissection...thank you....hope to buy you a beer someday....or maybe coffee...
I agree Evan... Troy is going to help an entire generation of younger (older too) players get better .... faster. I am 53 been playing since I was a teen and wish I had this when younger. The Internet is awesome.
word
he actually freely tells you what it is.. its tremolo picking, and because micahel is also very analytical AND self taught, i love the fact he gives it all away. "teaches secret of alternate picking".
Alternate picking at speed becomes tremolo picking
I heard him say that too. Not sure why this dude didn't just ask him.
i have nothing but admiration for your analytical mind. bravo!
I don't get why so many people hate MAB, he's amazing and he's my favorite guitarist
+will gibson Why? simply because he does not play with any sense of feel or emotion.
+charvelstrat81 have you ever really listened to his music? there are alot of songs that have so much emotion and feel to them
+will gibson yeah i agree with you i've always listening to his a new day composition that can kick many neoclassical player and his jazz is absolutely good but sadly many of his composition is on electric guitar if he just compose more on acoustic than electric maybe this guy is one of legend now ( I'm a big fan of MAB he's a down to earth man a good teacher ive bought his video tutorial and that freakin awesome but sadly he became a machine gun to me .. )
+will gibson Im going to remove the "emotion" crap and simply say, he is not a "tasteful" player. He's gaudy, flashy, and its ALWAYS kind of "in your face". I can see the appeal, but its relentless and over time becomes repetitive for people like me. Same with yngwie. God I remember as a kid finding yngwie, holy shit. I spent YEARS trying to copy yngwie... and then out of nowhere I just got "bored". MAB never appealed to me, because yngwie already existed :). His music is largely generic (Sorry?), and his attitude is anything but humble. Even EVH has some amount of humility. Batio does not.
+will gibson long story short, MAB sounds "Sterile" to me. Technical proficiency not-withstanding.
These antigravity videos are absolutely fantastic! I can't wait to see the rest of em and hopefully soon.
Cheers and thanks for the great work.
Can you make a video about Michael Romeo from Symphony X?
Vaeis Omar that dude is a way sic machine too.
He utilizes yngwie technique
@@aeksinsang932 not at all man, Michael Romeo uses alternate picking as well, even 2ntp uses alternate.
@@aeksinsang932 nope, Romeo uses both alternate and economy picking, and his tone is pretty similar to Shawn Lane's.
MAB gave me the keys, now I need my Lamborghini.
It's hard to believe they're owned by Volkswagen these days. And arguably making their best cars ever. Although for all us '80s kids the Countach will have a special place in our hearts.
***** You better believe I had a white Countach with the doors open poster hanging on my wall!
26 Persons didnt recived the keys of the lamborghini
XironDarkar76 i believe that deal expired around 1995 i gues. Around that era.or when audi bought lamborgini
Of course they got it just that they don't know how to drive it
Fascinating stuff. Batio really does play like a 100% accurate machine. I wonder how many times he had to practice a lick to get it up to speed. I don't find him the most musical of players, but it's fun to play his stuff.
First of all thanks Troy for all the research, it helped my picking tremendously. Now that Troy mentioned Shawn Lane and George Benson: Just yesterday I tried the shawn lane style trailing edge picking and I am really thrilled. Changing pickslanting during 3 nps passages feels very comfortable, fours come naturally. With leading edge picking my index finger hurted after a while due to the not natural pressure applied from the side on the joint, my middle and ring finger (which I use a lot for hybrid picking) felt "trapped" and I could not reach higher strings without straining. Changing between dwps and uwps during 3 note per string passages was only possible when floating the hand, which made dampening the strings nearly impossible when playing with high gain. It seems that the shawn lane mode is the way to go ...for me at least, as all problems seem to have dissapeared over night, after 25 years of struggling. Ironically I started out with trailing edge picking, but made the mistake not to fully extend the thumb (as I realized now), this seems important for maintaning stability holding the pick. Anyone else with similar experience?
MAB Great Master !!!!!!!!!!! Thanks Troy
Literally effortless.
these videos are gold. refreshing. guitar videos and literature are always so gimmicky and novelty based. nice to see something real
This is the video that brought me to become a "Masters in mechanics" subscriber. I wasn't disappointed. Now I am less afraid to play these kind of licks.
Right on!
Your a wonderful teacher brother. Mab is and always has been unreal. I noticed something you may or may not have noticed. If you pay close attention, you will see that he locks his shoulder right before he goes into warp. What if his key is the way he locks his shoulder. If so, it goes to show just how far some players go in order to separate themselves as it should be. Best players in the world always had more going on with the right hand than the left for sure. You should try some videos on Jeff beck and Danny gatton,chett Atkins, ect. Players that didn't use picks or used picks and finger combining. Good stuff Troy.
Dude your analysis is spot on!! This string hopping has been a bugaboo of mine for ages until I watched Mike explain the upstroke concept...
I have a CS degree and worked for several years as a DB Engineer. I thought I had an analytical mind/personality, but this is some serious high granularity stuff lol. Good job.
"The keys to the Lamborghini". I frigging LOVE that phrase. Hahaha.
excelente canal, gracias por compartir tus videos!
raulzv17 Gracias por mirar!
"the machine of alternate picking took over".. love it 👍🤣
I discovered something interesting that works for string changes - if you were playing 3nps, keep your pinky over the next string to keep it muted, and move the pick straight across over the next string, almost like you're sweeling. that way, there's no awkward hopping and the pick is right there on the string for a quick up-pick.
How does he get that crazy stereo tone!?? it sounds so clear.
+Julian Lakay I think a lot of it is in his fingers! Ultra-precise alternate picking, with a little reverb/delay.
Nothing to do with his fingers, Probably just has the wet delay like 70% on the right channel and 30% on the left or something. Pretty sure its just stereo delay anyway
DangerZone cheers
you gotta do a video on guthrie govan... that'd be incredible!
Troy, I'm pretty sure it's related to "economy in movements"
Michaelangelo has a very exquisite technique and he master the "extremely low movements"
I think if we could measure in milimeters the range from an upstroke to a downstroke we'll have about 3mm. That way you won't be trapped between the strings
What do you think ***** ?
Hi Troy, great work!
It seems to me, when you showed on slow motion, that MAB plays the lowest note with an upstroke and then continues all the way with alternate picking. Even though when he shows how to play the lick slowlt, he plays the lowest note with a downstroke.
I found it much easier to play when starting with an upstroke...
Cheers!
I bought the Antigravity pack and it'is just incredible, top level material. I have a specific question for you Troy: regarding Michael's "swipe" technique, I was thinking, why don't just use swipe with dwps while ascending and swipe with upws while descending? I mean, instead of using two way pickslanting. Can you give me some insights?
BTW, you can play the ascending 4s pattern across the strings using the Ynqwie system (down-slanted economy picking) just by re-fingering a single note, for example (I notate it as string/fret/pick stroke etc).....[35d,32u,34d,35u], [37d,34u,35d,37u], [39d,35u,37d,25d],[26u,37d,25d,26u], [28d,25u,26d,28u], 210d. Works out better for the left hand at some points on the scale than others. Not sure how Ynqwie does it across strings but he must do because there are examples where he would simply run out of frets on one string, eg, in Evil Eye at around 3min20.
does he move his whole arm instead of moving just the wrist?
Charaf B. yeah he does, it's more efficient for speed
Charaf B. also always has two fingers for a proper anchor to keep it more stable
I think he does the circular picking where his risk is lock in but he just uses his fingers where most people use their risk to pick fast. That’s probably why he’s able to pick fast cause he’s not doing a bunch of movement
some awesome work man, MAB is quite a wonder with how he picks, he really is a damn robot lol
I remember seeing those ads in Guitar For Practicing Musician for The Metal Method back in the early '90s.
I keep thinking he has a piece of glass under his pick or something. I can pick faster on my old Ibanez because it has three single coil pups and the middle one serves as a gliding surface. LOVE your videos btw.
At 2:34 is the story of my entire discouraged-from-speed-practicing life to date...
Wow your vids are sooo awesome. thanks
Thanks Troy for this amazing material, tell us something about your guitar, love your tone as well!
Well I got the keys to the Ford Focus - I'm happy enough :)
Never been able to figure out that descending part/pattern right after he flies up and lands on the A note at 17! Kinda like a harmonic minorish type thing!
I think i cracked this one.
I never had a teacher and i somehow do things funny. i never watched someones picking technique cause the use of notes was always way more interesting, but thanks to you i just watched myself play and i play fours quite often. im not a fast or precise picker but i noticed i didnt hop in a literal way but i did a vertical bow around the string and came back from the other side. quite hard to explain^^
Love your channel and your videos, really been helping me out, only been playing 2 years and thanks to this channel i've discovered music thats new to me and getting over problems some players have for years, thank you, I was wondering if we'd ever see anything Jason Becker related? like sweep picking?
The amount I learned in the first two years of playing was huge -- it's like going from zero to 80 percent. It's an amazing time, enjoy it! Jason is great, but he wasn't someone I really knew about in the time period we talk about in the show. However we do address sweeping as part of Yngwie's technique, and I'm sure we'll talk more about it again down the line.
awesome hahaha thanks for responding dude, always keeping an eye out for new stuff ;)
***** that is so true.. it really starts slowing down after a few years, its like you finished drawing the outline and now your in for the long haul of coloring it in, but trust me before you know it you can just take a look back and that stuff that you thought you would never be able to do is now second nature
will we touch on circular picking and the breaking of the thumb joint in future cracking the code episodes?
matt p We discuss this with respect to Yngwie's playing in the Volcano seminar, and the short story is, it's just a motion mechanic -- pickslanting is still required for clean string changes, regardless of whether you achieve it via finger, wrist, or forearm movement.
***** Troy are you familiar with what is called by some "pick snapping?" I know the singer/guitar player from Vektor and I've seen his picking technique up close. He appears to twist the pick as he plays. He has a pretty fast picking technique, his thumb flexes as he does down and upstrokes. I believe he is picking with the leading edge of the pick on one stroke and the back edge of the pick on the next. Imagine snapping a down stroke with the leading edge of the pick, lowering the pick just enough to snap back up with the back edge of the pick. I have never seen this style of picking before. Its unique as far as I know. I'd love to see you slow-mo his picking technique. His thumb joint is constantly flexing as he picks.
It sounds like this is the same thing -- finger-based motion mechanic. No matter how you move the pick, even in a wrist-based mechanic, you'll always hit the string with the leading edge on a downstroke and the trailing edge on the upstroke. If you use leading-edge picking. If you use trailing-edge picking, like Shawn Lane and George Benson, it will be the reverse. The point here is really that moving the pick can be accomplished any number of ways, but that by itself is not picking technique -- it's just one component of it. There still needs to be pickslanting to get over the string, string tracking to move across the strings, chunking for hand synchronization, and so on. It's many movements happening simultaneously.
I love the fact that someone out there is shredding the fuck out of a Fender Mustang
hey troy! you are a genius!
Do you guys have any future plan to break the code of music theory & generalize how 90% of most popular songs ,solos are used with same/limited number of scale ,chords how to build a complete song with chord progression ,how to make songs more soothing to ear musically (chord progression,mistake which not to do).
mab is the one whos hands picking is so sincronise
Sometime back in the 80's I figured to use a jazz pick (looks like MAB is using a Jazz III here), held perpendicular to the guitar and about 30 degrees off the direction of the string. I didn't know YJM used a single string, so I worked out the same string crossing ascending and descending 4's. Can't do it as clean as MAB though.
I play exactly like this actually.
I can also do it for "nondeterministic" patterns where I randomly play short bursts of a string of notes in the scale up or down, without knowing the amount of notes I'm going to play. It's kind of a variable "fit all" alternate picking. You brute force it.
Edit: I realize I actually do this:
So for instance, let's say I just played a down stroke on the A string, and I need to play an upstroke for my next stroke for a note played on the D string (so I need to travel "down" for my next upstroke). On the down stroke, I'll aim to "end" my stroke *past the D string with my arm* so that I can upstroke just by "pulling backwards" with my wrist. It's more an arm mechanic than a wrist one.
I don't intentionally bounce my hand to dodge strings. I change the "centerpoint" of my arm's resting position to account for the varying strokes and patterns.
It's not the same as string hopping because I'm not "going away and towards the strings" to handle dodging unintentional string striking. It's a more fluid motion that just narrowly dodges the string with angling the arm as opposed to the using the wrist.
Just think of a pendulum that swings back and forth, and then you can pick up the apex of this pendulum and place it elsewhere at will such that the pendulum will hit certain spots perfectly, no matter how far you have to shift.
I can tell Michelangelo does this, except he's killed all useless and excessive movement in his playing so it looks natural. He also includes his wrist as well as his arm in probably the perfect blend to get the sweet uniform results we hear.
I think The secret of Batio is to play with the pick far from the strings in a way that it touch very lightly on the strings and for a very little portion of its surface, then it is a very nervous super fast little movement with is arm and thumb, but more of the arm. I have developped a similer way of picking but instead i grab the pick between my index and middle finger.
+Giuseppe Raffa When I say far I mean that the pick is not positionated between the strings but just above, so that only the liitle extremity of the pick make the contact
And he doesn't move his wrist sideways, but Upwards and downwards.
bouncing has been my brick wall. do you have a video on how to correct it? thanks -new subscriber
Hey Troy, I really love these videos you are doing, we must be close in age. The DWPS stuff with Yngwie and EJ are amazingly eye opening, Growing up playing the 3nps style, I think I do understand how M.A.B. is able to do what he does. The secret here, I believe, is he using only the very tip of the pick. I think that is why there is very little apparent hopping. Though I never took it to this level, after spending countless hours with a metronome (and laughably a stylus pick sometimes!) I could get a fluid flow of these one measure circles, but that's about it. None of it is was very musical. What I did gain from those practice sessions was pick control that helped with sweeping. The problem I have with this style is as you state in this video, it's very rigid and mechanical sounding. It really does not lend itself to free expression. I tried to explore the George Benson picking style for a while, but I wasn't very successful because what I thought was the correct angle was too foreign. I was able to lose the thumb bump I've always played with but my slant and edge angle went the wrong way. However, I now know from your videos that what I really was looking for was the downward slant. Not sure how it is going to work with bebop, but that's my job.....Thanks for these videos and all the work you're doing.
6:05 -6:19 ... loop and or replay, slow motion. You're welcome. Love troy's stuff? Support the channel with a like and check out the website: troygrady.com
Troy you should get a high speed camera to film MAB's picking. The frame advancing at only 24 or 30 FPS just isn't enough for someone who can play that fast. It would be cool to see it at like 1000-2000 FPS. Just and Idea!
Does guitar action play a factor in speed picking?
I remember going to an internet cafe and seeing MAB in like 2009. I saw that speed kills video and I said to myself (I was like 10) I have got to do this! I still can't of course but began to play because of him, he's my biggest guitar hero ever! Funny how I was oblivious of Metal music or rock music in general until that, always surrounded by Mexican country or rap that I never really enjoyed.
what year is your Mustang Troy, I got a '77 =)
How long did it take you to play at that speed?
Is there a next chapter of this video?
Indeed, this is a section from our Antigravity Seminar which is exhaustive in its outline of the Batio system. We'll eventually do a more complete Batio lesson for the channel at some point for sure.
thanx for exploding my brain, troy
he's resting his fingers pick hand, I'm doing the same on the Les Paul.. thats what I mean, what if I take the pickguard off & let go- don't rest my fingers, leave them free floating, could I go faster ?
paul gilbert
marty friedman :)
With practice, I think so. I’ve found it hard personally to try floating after years of staying anchored, but I know with persistence and building strength while floating, it could definitely be done
Finally somebody putting my university years into youtube videos! Haha!
Great work!
I don't have the eye for picking out all the details in picking techniques, but based on what I'm seeing, and how you're talking about it, I think what he's doing is called scalpel picking. If there's another name for it, I'd love to hear it. The idea is his pick slices through the string, taking advantage of the pick to string angle. The pick moves across the string largely around the edge, instead of like slapping it with the side. I don't see his thumb articulating, which is for me the tell-tale sign, but I'm not great at seeing these things at all. Hell, when Guitar Player Magazine was featuring Mike Varney's Spotlight and all the shred guys were first making names for themselves, I was copping riffs from John Lee Hooker and finger picking.
Indeed, in the show we call this "edge picking", and almost all players use some amount of it, in all musical styles -- even those that may think they play completely flat. It is simply very difficult to play with zero degrees of edge picking, and still get the pick to slide over the string.
Looking forward to an analysis of Shawn Lane
On question to the guy in Golds gym top though… DYEL?
I think he does what i do unconciously while playing fast with pure alternate and I thiunk its just mutting those strings that are in the middle and he cant aboid but he strike them almost at the same time as the correct string, so at the end you hear more strokes than different notes (which I think we can all hear) but still he plays all the notes correctly
Um...I got this down years ago with the Star Licks video he did. Its actually harder to play it slow than it is fast, at least for me. Michael is a REALLY good teacher, BTW.
I agree it's like a robot arm.
That circuit board guitar was cool.
Pretty sure it's just because when he plays fast he raises his pick to minimize string resistance and when he picks fast he's picking slightly harder too, simply because of the speed. He doesn't need to "hop" because his pick is already just gliding over the top of the string and if he accidentally lowers the pick, he's moving with enough force that it won't slow him down too much before he raises it again. Obviously he angles his pick too like most people including myself that enjoy fast playing.
This seemed most natural for me: I exaggerate the downstroke / upstroke when switching strings to get the opposite return stroke on the way back..if that makes any sense.
4th string -- down up down
3rd string -- up down up down up
4th string -- down
3rd string - up down
4th string - up down
3rd string -- up
4th string -- down up
repeat
if MAB use a linear motion then it might he touches some strings during changes
Now I need the Lamborghini, either give me a Countach or a Veneno.
delay with no feedback, fast speed and cut, immediate note after one has been played, half speed picking = double
I think the key take away is circle picking + finger motion + holding the pick light, Also practicing on lower notes is easier to learn the technique
If you watch some MAB videos where he talks about picking he doesn’t like circle picking - shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line
@@jallalabadreturns But he kinda does that himself too. I have his new speed kills course and he was doing that when he demonstrated the warm up exercises
it looks like Mike actually goes from string hopping to that pick slanting you speak of in your other videos.It's really subtle, but I think you can see his fingers flex a little and the pick turn when he speeds up. So, like string tapping was a bit of a trade secret among elite guitarists for quite some time, pick slanting was obviously used by many of these speed guitarists. And quite honestly, they may have accomplished it almost unconsciously.
Guitar Radio Good catch! You are correct, Mike is an upward pickslanter, and most likely not aware of it. But that's not the only mystery here because even upward pickslanting, by itself isn't enough to solve this pattern when Mike clicks on the turbo. It's really amazing how much is going on that elite players do by feel.
So, is the morale of this video: "I don't have a freaking idea how he plays that lick so fast in the way he does!"??
He literally said that it's alternate picking. Did you watch the full video?
so how is this done then? Swiping?
Alternate picking.
you rule !!!!
Whoa i see dat he actually anchors his middle and ring fingers while doin dis lick....inctrdible technique!!
It's the classic Batio hand position -- he's really amazingly consistent in his mechanical approach.
***** awesome there are so many ways to pick its not even fair but still awesome!!! Love your video's troy keep shredding
***** Fantastic, truly great lesson and coverage of Michael's playing. You truly manage to grab the audience with your passion and knowledge... And I very much agree that this lick is hell to play like that!! ;-)
Congratulations and keep it up!
it seems like he is using such small nano movements and pick slope and edge that he can get to those speeds that most people could probably never unless they adopted a nano approach as well
I honestly don't see what the big deal is. When I do that lick, the hops are very, VERY subtle probably because I have practiced the technique a lot. I think unless you master a technique more or less, it gets a little bit difficult to explain it. When I slow down my movement, it is identical to how I play it fast, and in both speeds I barely do any hops. It works with just a minor lift of the pick, it is barely visible at all and I had a hard time catching myself doing it.
I think that's why he is confident when he said hand without shadows. It's impossible.
Vinnie Moore and Chris Impellitteri were both sued for their instructional videos encouraging stiff wrist picking. Many of the people who bought the videos back in the 80's developed tennis elbow and hired lawyers and then all the videos had to be recalled off the shelves in music stores. That is when Mike Varney had too much legal fees and grunge came in and dominated the rock scene. It was all because of Vinnie Moore and Chris Impellitteri teaching improper picking techniques or at least not explaining that they were left handed and playing right handed with an inefficient picking technique. Impellitteri mustard up the courage to start picking from the wrist but by that time is was too late.
lol the Energizer Bunny
Simply, it’s called timing. Like a spark to your injectors in your engine.
There are sooo many dumb comments here lol like watch the other CTC vids. “It’s just alternate picking” like duh bro the whole point of CTC is a granular analysis of the motions involved in alternate picking because while every guitar instructional video ever discussed alternate picking, almost NONE of them actually address the specific mechanics of navigating string changes with alternate picking at max speeds
Thank you! You get it.
I need my keys
MAB, is the shred king, that's that's .
how many have their lamborghini here? i crashed mine because i have a neck disc. lol
You can also chunk it 3-3-3-3-4 ... weird, i know but, i've always been abnormal with things like this. Guess my internal metronome is off. Lol.
super
I never liked Batio nearly as much as a prime Yngwie (1983-1989). He has always sounded so robotic to me. He's an unbelievably great technical player, but Yngwie just had so much more power and soul in his playing. Plus, Yngwie's early albums are actually enjoyable from a songwriting point of view.
zackvanhalen got any good songs or albums to recommend by Yngwie? Perhaps a power ballad? Those are usually my favorite. Thank you
@@lukex1337 I would just listen to the whole Odyssey album. It's his most popular, and I think it's his best. Also, Marching Out is great. You would probably like Hold On, Heaven Tonight, and Dreaming from Odyssey, but I recommend listening to the whole album.
@@lukex1337 Now is the Time is great as well.
MAB is a lefty person who plays guitar on left.
Imagine if you're playing a guitar on right while you're right-handed.
I do due to a work accident I'm right handed and play lefty... Left handed for the slow...
I've seen that before on a guy that lost his first segment on the right hand and had to give up piano. I recognized it in Michael's playing.
i want the keys to the lamborghini now
the best
To me it looks like inverted pickslanting...
Did the great people in this community get to the bottom of this one eventually?
He's the boogeyman of guitar players... Mind boggling