[oompa]

i got a question for you guys about righthand positioning.

i just got curious and started checking out some players wrist motions and im abit confused.

are you supposed to move your wrist slightly down and up as you go down and up the strings when muting? i have a hard time telling from for example petruccis videos.

i mean, if im supposed to find a position in wich i can reach all 7 strings (like.. in the middle of the bridge) then i need to stretch my thumb quite some to reach the high e while muting for example.

when you sweep, do you keep your wrist locked in position or do you move it up and down as you sweep? :s

i got kinda confused here, cus the way MAB ban's thumb flicking, i suppose this is bad, on the other hand, if i start doin scales and get them up to tempo i scratch the strings some as i move my wrist up and down if im muting.

so wich one is right? i mean, ive always just played and at a certain pace you start to get into the evil elbow-motion instead of the wristmotion, thats one thing, but what about moving the wrist up and down as you go up and down the strings? :|

[distressed_romeo]

This was touched on in a different thread...

Personally, when I'm picking (and this goes for both alternate and economy picking/sweeping) the motion is about 80% wrist and 20% arm. The string-crossing motion comes more from the arm, so the wrist tends to stay at the same sort of angle to the arm as it moves across the strings. My hand kinda 'glides' over the strings rather than being rigidly positioned (as MAB's does), which can actually help with muting on the seven, as your hand can always be where it's most needed to keep unused strings quiet.
Michael Angelo's thumb-flicking ban actually means don't rely on the thumb and fingers for the actual picking motion (although some guys who are into circle-picking, such as the late Criss Oliva and various jazzers, do actually do that and get great results). You'll notice when he plays that his thumb actually does move, but it's just to change the angle the pick strikes the string at. I do the same; generally my pick hits the strings at a slight forward angle, but for big sweeps I'll flatten it by straightening the thumb slightly to cut out the 'scrapey' noise you get when your pick sweeps across the strings at and angle.

I don't claim to be a master picker by any means, but generally I get decent results this way. Hope that helps!

[oompa]

thanks man =) i guess im doin it pretty much like you described. i just have to practice more on the light mutes. say im climbing a 6string scale or something, goin from low E to high E string. when i mute them i scratch them some as i move the hand down and up the strings if you know what i mean. its a bother mainly on the wound strings.

i tried for a while to just.. lock my wrist in the middle of the bridge sorta, and try to get used to reaching all strings. it would actually be very clean if not very economic to play this way, but its hard cus i need to reach me a new level of agility and extend my thumb through surgery or something haha

its hard when you are trying to perfect something into detail but you dont have any trainer or tutor around :x you dont wanna spend a year practicing a technique that turns out to be bad..

anyboo, thanks for the confirmation - im off to practice! =)