[oompa]

as topic says ^

as you all know, if you start out by wrist motion and increase speed gradually, you will eventually start involving the elbow. the transition is so smooth at first that its hard to notice, so i decided to try and restrict myself from using the elbow at all. i failed.

does anyone have any specific tips for practicing your wrist speed without involving the elbow? i mean, is there any way to (and i'd even accept physically) restrict your arm from doin the elbow motion, leaving you plain to the wrist?

please dont make me motivate this experiment haha

[distressed_romeo]

Maybe a better solution would be to balance your wrist and elbow motion, so they support each other (think of the way Rusty Cooley picks) rather than cultivating an exclusively wrist-based picking style? I've found that produces better results in my playing (it was something that happenned naturally...I assumed I was picking wrist-only until I realised about 20% of the motion was coming from my arm). I think it was Metal Ken who likened it to running; you wouldn't run using nothing but the motion from your knee-caps.

[D-EJ915]

I never use my elbow to pick, I probably should as I can't see just using my wrist is good for it.

[oompa]

yea guys i know, im not planning on goin all wrist or anything like that.

its for an experiment. wich i still avoid to elaborate on

[D-EJ915]

Well I don't know what to say except planting your wrist on the bridge would help a lot

[Mastodon]

I always use my wrist, playing from the elbow feels really uncomfortable to me.

Does it have advantages?

Edit: My apologies for the slight thread hijack

[D-EJ915]

much, much easier to skip strings and have fluid playing. Being consistent, fast and crushing is easier with the wrist though.

[Jongpil Yun]

Buckethead plays only with his wrist from what I can tell but I have the same problem as you.

[oompa]

problem for me is if im playing some fast stuff, nile for example. its alot of elbow. if i gradually increase speed, the transition is so smooth from wrist to elbow i mean, ive been playing for almost 15 years and ive never thought much about it so it has just become natural. its more like DR wrote, if i play some really fast stuff, i might be using 30-40% elbow or something. normally i dont (and i dont want to) use either one exclusively.

but i this case, i want to do an experiment and try and run using only the motion from the kneecaps but i dont know how. sure planting the wrist on the saddle helps out, but in the transition stage, the elbow movement is so .. ehm. subtle? fine? that it doesnt matter. the movements are so small that nothing helps. its more like a vibration than a muscular movement you know. very hard to prevent

[auxioluck]

Only recently have I discovered that I use a lot of elbow. I end up flexing the shit out of my arm, and I have a lot of endurance in that style from doing it so long, but I know it is incorrect. In some instances, I use circle picking, which I haven't developed to full speed with elbow and wrist yet, but hopefully soon. I think the best thing to do is play how you are comfortable playing. You eventually find that comfort, and even if you are changing picking styles, you will always retain that comfort. For my arm and style, I find using my elbow and wrist together is more stable than just the wrist. Not to mention it makes me feel like I have a little more agressive control over my guitars. I say try wrist only, and find a good medium with your elbow. If it's not comfortable, it's not going to happen!