No Palm Muting? No Problem! Noise Control Secrets of the Flexed Form

[@lemniscatusofficial]

So, you just flex hard enough to scare the strings and they stay muted by fear?

[@troygrady]

Ha!

[@anthonystark5412]

@JayB B I think you might be right. I read somewhere that strings suffer from a fear of being picked on. Apparently, it can lead to those who are more highly strung becoming so tightly wound that they fret constantly.

[@Jimjolnir]

JayB B & Anthony Stark I wish I could save comments to a 'favourite' list. xD

[@michaelcraig9449]

@@anthonystark5412 GOOD one!! Someone still knows how to joke around in a classic way!!

[@michaelcraig9449]

Surprise flex!

[@rust_in_peace5123]

The thing about Troy Grady that just blows my mind is how well he's able to learn all of these techniques and replicate them

[@CarpeDiem23]

Well, dude is badass pleya

[@russellward4624]

Troy “Yoda” Grady at it again. Breaking down stuff most of us hadn’t even noticed.

[@troygrady]

I prefer Baby Yoda!

[@russellward4624]

@@troygrady But baby yoda passes out after doing something bad ass.

[@franknada8235]

@@troygradyMaster Troyda!

[@Wesley.Deuren]

Dude, these lessons are excellent. The guitar lesson community is saturated with instructors and videos, but these really stand out. Well done to you and your team.

[@musicityisreality2565]

Troy you have transformed my playing. I’d spent months not knowing how to alternate pick properly and you have showed me the way. I thank you very much man. Keep shreddin

[@coolmacatrain9434]

Superb tuition.. incredible really that we get this level of insight for basically nothing. I implore anybody reading this to purchase Troy's teaching videos - you will not regret it (just my personal opinion, you understand)

[@troygrady]

Thank you!

[@Gregorypeckory]

@@troygrady Back at you-your generosity with these incredible analytical videos is unbelievable, and I have never seen anyone else in this niche of super detailed analysis of guitar technique. With all the teaching videos out there, you created a whole field; an incredible achievement. I recall seeing an old video of yours where you had long hair (not sure it's still up), and gave some amazing insights and demos showing some of Shawn Lane's incredible contributions. When I listened to Shawn at the time, I had no idea how he was doing much of his playing, since it's so overwhelming, but you took the time to dig in, and have the chops to demo some of the technique, and it was mind blowing. Then you just kept digging deeper for the years since-great job and a great service to the guitar community!

[@hungnose666]

This is the only guitar channel that come away from knowing how to play less and feel worse about my playing, so much to re-learn

[@TruthSurge]

:11 I thought that was called "Bad Technique" hahah or some childhood accident. I think that arm posture is a double-edged sword. It limits in some ways and helps in others. But he's managed to play some interesting stuff like that.

[@venvalhalla5893]

you also commented on Jake E Lee's Suicude Solution video...

[@TruthSurge]

@@venvalhalla5893 ok

[@dhruvpendharkar488]

6:43 Tailor: How short do you want the sleeves to be ? Troy : Yes

[@LeeXhaf]

Haaaaaaaa! You made me lol

[@milotighfield]

By your comment i have 100% confidence you're american. You guys really love baggy/unflatering clothes. Short sleeves and tighter cuts is much more flattering to your proportions unless you're obese

[@christopherhanna5754]

That is just a superb professorial exposition on why high-gain amps do what they do in terms of compression and noise control.

[@JasonMauer]

Except that's not how compression works at all. Compression reduces dynamic range, making quiet parts relatively louder and loud parts relatively quieter. Here it is described as lowering the noise floor (i.e. making quiet parts quieter) when the opposite happens in reality. (And if the amp were to behave this way, wouldn't that be the case regardless of playing technique?)

[@Havanacuba1985]

Jason Mauer yes as far as I’ve always experienced compression as well as taming louder parts also brings up quieter parts wanted or not like noise

[@troygrady]

When two sounds occur simultaneously, as in strings ringing in the background during continuous playing, the compression definitely causes the noise to go down in level. The compressor can't separate the louder note you're playing from the noise in the background. It can only turn the level of the entire signal down. The loud notes go over the threshold, the level goes down. And the noise goes down with it. This is pretty easy to test and you can do with any high-gain amp. For sure, when you stop playing, the compressor stops compressing, and the noise level comes back up. So you do have a reduction of dynamic range in the sense of the difference between loud and soft parts of your playing. The same would be true for sustained notes which slowly die off, which we also talk about in the lesson. Hence the need for a barre or other approaches at that point.

[@JasonMauer]

@@troygrady Yes, but how is that unique to this picking technique? It has been presented here as if it's something specific to this particular picking style when it's not. Maybe playing this way is cleaner (producing less noise, errant string hits, sympathetic ringing, etc), but that wouldn't be due to amp compression.

[@troygrady]

Not sure what the objection is here. How flexed players avoid noise is a legit question that lots of people have, and we’re answering it here. It’s several pieces and they need to be coordinated just so to get the best results. I think I’ve covered those pieces but there’s always room for improvement. You can split semantic hairs and say it’s not the picking per se, but we’re just trying to help people.

[@troygrady]

Free tablature for the lick that plays at 6:24? So glad you asked! Grab it right here: troygrady.com/channels/music/neoclassical-flex

[@tawny624]

Troy, will you please make a lesson explaining precisely what to use to get good guitar tones the same as those exhibited in your video? Thanks

[@troygrady]

@@tawny624 Honestly, I do nothing! It's just the amp miked with an sm57 like everyone else, no effects except a little reverb. I can't take any credit!

[@MartinBergnerGuitar]

@@troygrady hey troy the link isnt working it seems I just get an error 404 "page not found"!

[@NikolajChristensen]

Correct link here: troygrady.com/channels/music/neoclassical-flex/

[@troygrady]

@@MartinBergnerGuitar Argh, sorry! I didn't notice the link was dead. I think it's just the trailing slash that's wrong. It's fixed now - sorry for that! You can also find this by just going to the home page, clicking "channels" -> "music" and the scrolling down to "Neoclassical Flex"

[@cmhardin37]

Marty's picking hand hurts to look at.

[@MegaVypyr]

i straight out just suck.

[@gigatesla]

You'd be surprised at how comfortable it actually is. Make a relaxed fist and bang it on the table. Then roll it forward so it's resting on your pinky and ring fingers. Tada! That's it. Then you can use a combination of gentle wrist rolls and extending/retracting your thumb+index finger to pick. It kinda feels like you're letting your fingers squish and unsquish into the table. This style has a number of benefits: 1. Easy rest strokes. When downpicking the pick will naturally come to rest on the next string, which is great for sweeps. 2. It's much easier to overcome friction between the pick and the string because the pick isn't hitting the string straight-on - instead it kind of slips over it. Depending on how you use your fingers it may also move slightly towards the headstock while still in contact with the string, which helps overcome the static coefficient of friction in preparation to start a note. 3. Good leverage. This position makes it easy to apply a lot of force to the pick through a wide range of picking speeds, enabling you to stay relaxed and tension free. All of these factors taken together make it much easier to execute smooth downward sweeps, which are crucial to Marty's style.

[@EJ-74]

I have a friend that picks like that we have been playing around 30yrs and it still weirds me out every time I see him pick like that 🤣 I've tried it a couple times and 🤣 it just doesn't work for me 🤣👍✌️ 🤘🔥💀🔥🤘

[@amagion]

@@gigatesla This comment was one of the best things i've read, seriously.

[@gigatesla]

@@zidan40o0 You're ready. Go get 'em!

[@DoritoKstyo]

Hey Troy, as a one handed guitar player here, this just opened a promising path for me to end my struggle with noise control xDD Still figuring out how to palm mute, but lets go step by step XDDD

[@RichLyles]

The best technical guitar source on the internet. Troy Grady should get a Peabody Award for his service to education in guitar technique. Thank you.

[@GeneralTHC]

Been watching this guy for years from afar. His chops totally exploded after he got into the whole pick slanting thing.

[@Bucketheadland1]

I've seen Buckethead live he was flawless.. I kept waiting for it but 2 hours of clean guitar work

[@donald-parker]

The acid test - pure legato. Keep your right hand out of the equation completely. If you can prevent unwanted sounds that way (without some sort of external dampening device) you have nailed it.

[@ViniciusDallacqua]

This video has so much information I had to watch several times. Seriously, congrats dude. As a super beginer I was desperately googling picking techniques to improve my noise on picking and fretting. This video has seriously a lot of info to unpack!

[@rzk_audio]

I've been looking for in-depth advanced lessons like this for years!

[@dmeemd7787]

plus I'll use 2 fingers to try and mute certain strings)l like dropped tunings for fast galloping and when you do a set of 5 then 3 then 1 (like in 'This Calling' from All That Remains) so I can mute anywhere and be ready for harmonics, or whatever... like you are playing a 2 finger power chord, except its just on one string your low E, D, B, etc. depending on tunings, number of strings, etc. this channel is GENIUS.. helps the things I am also aleady working on take shape.. Love it!!!!

[@manutdzone1]

I find this only works when you pick every single note. But do legato and hammer on / pull off trills and the second you stop picking, the resonant string noise starts to ring through loudly - until you pick another note to suppress it again.

[@Kriegter]

I see marty friedman put his thumb over the strings to stop this

[@michael1]

Yeah you'll struggle to play musically like this. For Troy's target market that's not really a big concern.

[@Bigbuddyandblue]

Q: What stops the other strings from ringing? A: (shrugs) I dunno! Love that! They just DON’T ring out.

[@michaeltaylors2456]

I was doing this by trial and error and was doing fairly well , Then got side tracked by my GIT summer session grad teacher who got me slamming my palm down ,,, sheesh

[@troygrady]

I love all the approaches - they're all great. It's not so much that some work and others don't, it's more a question of what their capabilities are, when they are appropriate, and how to actually do them to the level of ease that we see in great players.

[@jaredwilliams1031]

I think the answer - correct me if I'm wrong - is that you're hitting the target string with enough precision and intensity to basically force the signal to ring out and cancel those generated by the other strings.

[@demolitionwilliams7419]

@@jaredwilliams1031 that's what I'm gathering here too

[@nat2r]

@@jaredwilliams1031 so increase pick thickness

[@Bleachdemon88]

I’ve played 15 years and never realized this, I always wondered why my tube amp didn’t have a certain shreddy sound (6505) compared to my older peavey vypyr which was a solid state. I’m gonna experiment with this thank you for the info, subbed

[@NONE2NONE]

The website is awesome and Troy legit responds to people in the forum. The forum is super cool too because people respond politely. It's not your typical internet guy that knows everything

[@serph2951]

I got used to be an up picker because I would always be muting, always had trouble with downward picking, this is good useful info

[@CMM5300]

I must admit Mr Grady, your studies of expert picking technic is always fasinating! It needed to be done. That's almost everyone's biggest down fall when learning to play. Learning better picking technic. You get it down to a science. I wish this kind of knowledge was around 25 years ago.

[@davidconnelly]

Best guitar teacher ever. SO far ahead of anyone else out there.

[@ericpeterson2960]

as one of the Gainy Persuasion. allow me to use that for the rest of my life. I have never really thought about how i mute the strings for me i use a combination of my palm and my fingers and thumb as i play.doing it for so long it just becomes second nature. really interesting thought tho for sure.

[@mauriciogutierrez9340]

I Don't know how you get the best guitarists of the world in your videos to help people, but thank you

[@GodzillaGoesGaga]

My thoughts: Looks like it is your fretting fingers as they pull off they are deadening the notes. I'm sure there's some subtle timing where the pick hits the string, you get resonance and as you lift up your fretting finger the string gets damped. Since you are moving your fretting fingers a lot you are causing a lot of damping. Do it with an open neck (no fretting) and I bet you will hear lot's of ringing. Try it with a capo too (no fret finger work). Would be interested to hear/see if that is the case.

[@alwilliams1997]

Troy, please do a video on the picking of Shawn Lane, thanks

[@joelthetrolls]

bump

[@andyisalwaysanxious8599]

Yeeesssssss

[@Gregorypeckory]

There is a very old one he did about Shawn; very cool, but I don't know if it's still available.

[@quintinpace2627]

Troy is the hero we need

[@magnushammersmith121]

Some points of this video were covered in Paul Gilbert's Shred Alert DVD (chapter 10 "Mastering Muting Techniques", to be precise). And there were some cool exercises for string muting too. I guess, this video should serve as a theoretical counterpart to Paul's video (which is a practical one). These two are everything you'll ever need to learn about fretting hand muting.

[@MarlonVanderLinde]

I don't see many folks talking about the gain & noise floor stuff, with gain and drive a lot of what the masters use (for good and evil) comes from the accidental (but skillful) control of the physics of vibrating strings. This video really makes me think...

[@VOLAIRE]

17:39 I love the closing statement for this video

[@troygrady]

We’re all about the description rather than the prescription. If great players use it, then it’s good - we just want to know how it works.

[@kukulalibor]

Troy. Your instructional videos are pure gold. But what I admire the most is your application to amazing sounding licks. I know you have Volcano and Cascade series, but you should do your own licks section.

[@renleblanc2993]

Troy - you need to feature Matteo Mancuso - his fingerstyle technique on electric is unique and faster and cleaner than anything I've seen. It would be worth looking into.

[@jakemf1]

Rene LeBlanc that guy is killer

[@bingefeller]

Matteo is an absolute beast. He is the only guy I have seen play Technical Difficulties using only his fingers. He is going to be a big name in the guitar world.

[@franknada8235]

Troy Grady: The 4th Dimension, as in 4 fingers picking.

[@renleblanc2993]

@broomsterm there is nothing stopping him from analysing fingerstyle players as well. I think we can safely say the picking has been done to death - Troy cracked it!

[@SketchEtcher]

I definitely needed to watch this. I’ve been rubbing my palm raw trying to learn to shred and mute at the same time LOL. No more of that. I know now what I must do!

[@homemmoita]

Man, you deserve to be filthy rich for all the knowledge you spread to the guitar community! Thanks!

[@Sacrifice13]

The service you provide, and the information you present is outstanding! In my opinion you have a great legacy which is not a small statement! Thank you very much!

[@TheBlackHelicopterRevue]

I understand the conpression effect on string noise from the ampon electric, but you have shown an acoustic player, too. How does that work on acoustic when there in no amp?

[@zzzdee1980]

Thank you man...🙏🙏🙏 I thought I'm going crazy how these pros playing without muting...😅 I'm like "what the hell"... That's what kept me from trying their technique... Now, I'm gonna try it out... You saved my entire 5 years😆😆😆🤣🤣🤣

[@jimwinters3986]

I'd say your left would compensate for what your right doesn't mute, once you've adapted to the amp and gain. There's also the point of contact with your fingertip, as the pick touches the string as dampening... Like combining all these micro-moves. Granted, if you're new to playing it's bound to be a mess until you learn to control all of this. Although some never do.

[@WorldvsTruth]

Very nice, warm high gain - like a razor sharp knife gliding through pastured pork lard. Delightful. I'd actually never reached for the volume knob at either the end of a phrase or completed bar. I "instinctively" rest my right hand knife-edged across other strings; sometimes it's the left-hand fingers lifting up but not quite off the string. I never really thought about how I dampened the extraneous string noise until attempting to explain it now - thanks to your awesome ocd (obsessive compulsive dedication) analysis. As you said at some point, certain "techniques" or methods just happen or develop - kind of like setting upon a target or objective, and the necessary technical abilities/ components seem to just come about fully furnished to accommodate or execute your objective. Your playing, discipline, dedication and focus is amazing. Inspirational. Thank you, and God bless you. 🙏🏽 😊

[@monocyte2210]

i still dont know why you have only 150+ K subscribers . dude you have been uploading quality content for years

[@MrCameratape]

"Forget everything you know" this video is practically the prime example of that

[@Murphmonster69]

Dude it still blows my mind how you play a damn mustang and it sounds like a mockingbird or something. Plus you’re shredding on like a vintage fender neck holy cow you’re a mad man!

[@Joker-qy2fv]

Weird flex but ok

[@troygrady]

10/10!!!!!

[@Joker-qy2fv]

Thanks

[@bradleyrayson2955]

I have a very severe nerve condition , I'm unable to hold a regular pic. I use a banjo pick that wraps around my thumb and it's in an odd place because I play metal. This is great because for all of my leads I never mute, I only really mute when chugging

[@ourclarioncall]

I’m starting to think what you do would be better. A regular pick seems less stable to me. It can move and flow around too much. I would like to make some sort of plectrum that’s not currently on the market . Something like like a stick that your finger wrap around with a plectrum attached. Like wrapping your 4 fingers around a double A battery or a wooden or plastic cylinder that’s shaped for comfort

[@RICCARDOREARDON]

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE ❤️ LOVE ❤️ LOVE ❤️ LOVE ❤️ LOVE THE INFORMATIVE NATURE OF THIS VIDEO... THANK YOU....

[@CammedFox]

Mike Batio is such a great teacher, and a very cool guy.

[@jimmyomega]

Am I the only one thinking that this is a really professional video and it deserves a lot more views and subscribers?

[@troygrady]

Thanks!

[@JohnHorneGuitar]

You're sounding great here, Troy and great info as always!

[@troygrady]

Thanks John!

[@williamjensen6747]

I think Zakk Wyldes technique is based around this too

[@AlexDDDDDDD]

indeed

[@jeremyrock9305]

William Jensen oh yeah I’ve watched many videos you can see his wrist is bent like that

[@jonathancompan4508]

Pickslanting.

[@davekay3938]

Yeah, but too bad he sucks so bad.

[@sunavila]

@@davekay3938 What are you even talking about?

[@ArnoVlmt]

You sir, are like a wizard revealing his tricks. Great video! Thanks.

[@waranghira]

Not that saturated? His tone IS that saturated. He's just really a clean player.

[@chrischoir3594]

it's not saturated like say Malmsteen or Satriani

[@michaelcraig9449]

@@chrischoir3594 Malmsteen is not that saturated..he has old school 1970 style gain, not late 80's super saturation gain.

[@chrischoir3594]

@@michaelcraig9449 he is over the top saturated... he used the bass pickup. Although I do think his sound has gotten more saturated over the years. He was cleaner in the early 80s.

[@cmhardin37]

@@chrischoir3594 nah he's not saturated at all bra

[@chrischoir3594]

@@cmhardin37 he has so much delay and chorus going on not to mention he uses the bass neck pickup, you know nothing about tone. Get back to your x-box lol

[@SSSweeper]

There's also a thought that when you try to use your fretting hand for muting (like using index finger for fretting one note and muting the string above), your fretted note becomes "duller" because of less tension made by the finger. Of course I'm not following that because I always found it natural to mute with index finger as Troy showed in the video, but still. Another point is muting with your picking hand - you don't always palm mute all the strings, you can lay your palm on the strings you don't use in the phrase and play with a "straight hand" position on the other strings and by doing that way you won't need freting hand muting.

[@EOHRyan]

I spent years trying to train myself out of this technique. I wasn’t able to do fast palm mute stuff at all on the G, B and E strings

[@vonmilash823]

Mab's style on one of troys videos is the single biggest factor in how I learned after over thirty years to downward pick slant. Only difference is that a planted my pinky with nothing else touching at all. Another thing at 3:13 Troy asks him if ascending was easier or more difficult. A few months back I asked Troy the exact same question... 😀

[@manantialzeus420]

you are very good explaining the theory and the praxis. Nice video man

[@michaelknight4041]

When I analyze my muting techniques I'm always kind of amazed because I don't ever remember practicing all these subtle little things that I just do now automatically without thinking about it. It might just be one finger moving a fraction of an inch to just barely deaden a string that would ring. Also I can strum across all six strings but only the notes that I want which might only be two or three will sound and I'll have the rest muted. All the different mechanics are quite technical and precise but I guess they just developed out of playing a lot because I've never consciously worked them out. It's pretty crazy

[@bigchiefsmackaho387]

i recently changed my picking style to essentially this because i found it SO much easier to play fast and clean. I used to use an open palm style of picking and i feel like that offered less control over the attack of the pick and i would find the pick slipping when i tried playing extra fast. I wish i had found this video 15 years ago when i started lol

[@chasemcdaniel3620]

Whats a good guitar for smaller hands? Nobody talks about it in detail. But it's so important to play a comfortable guitar.

[@troygrady]

You’re looking at it! I’m playing a 22.5” scale Duo-Sonic from the ‘60s. Found on the internet for under a grand. They come up every once in a while if you look.

[@BrunoBild]

Damn man you deserve millions of views

[@michellegrounds3919]

I found moving my picking hand back to the bridge helps. I usually play directly between the pickups neck and middle so for me and my habits over the years move it back and the tensions helps e by my strong attack. I hope that make sense and helps people who like to read the comments like me.

[@DavidAddis]

I saw Eddie doing this and could never figure it out - thanks for the explanation in full!!

[@demoncole]

your a legend showing everyone this all the greats use that pick angle for a reason its so much easier to synchronize and it sounds better wish this knowledge was around 20 fucking years ago

[@slippy8813]

Im 13 and wanting to learn guitar and your videos help me so much i love the switch strings when upstroking vid

[@troygrady]

Awesome keep it up!

[@citizentcrusader8091]

Yes Troy my problem is a synchronization problem. I’ll have to post a vid on the forum. Thanks for your help

[@randomstory6757]

CitizenT Crusader actually to sync up your fingers defense on the lick that you are learning. play it slowly let say 60bpm for 1 minute and jump to 90 and 120, 190, speed it up till u think u can't follow the tempos.

[@citizentcrusader8091]

Kisah Lain thanks for the good advice happy new year

[@GregorHoul]

Bear with me if this has been addressed before, as I'm just watching this now, but I use that left hand fingertip muting towards the end to mute stray one note per string alternate picking strokes. It kills the string very effectively.

[@sepultubob]

First and foremost it's a very precise and clean picking technique !!! Lots of practice, and yes the flexed forearm make it easier as it helps avoiding contact with upper strings. Great playing

[@dmeemd7787]

this is BRILLIANT (the picking technique and amp settings, makes SOOO much sense 💡) awesome!👌

[@BenOnuMuDiyorum]

You are the god of guitar teaching 👏👏

[@hitama8620]

Those two single coils sound absolutely monstrous!!

[@Ianochez]

It is your comment that actually made me notice that ahah I wonder if it is new hightech or old school vintage pickups.

[@alancosens]

I have to wonder whether the lack of natural compression on a solid-state amp makes it so that this effect of letting the amp squash the noise for the sakes of the stronger note is absent on non-valve amps.

[@snowrider4495]

I'm so glad there is OCD guitarist in this world like Troy "OCD" Grady! that I can learn from cause I'm too lazy too!

[@ThePickingPythagorean]

Troy, you're a genius. I love the way you're breaking down all these guitar styles. We must preserve these styles and techniques before we lose them forever. The guitar is a fairly new instrument and it needs this kind of in depth study. And you are the best at it. Thank you my friend.

[@TypingHazard]

Charlie Hunter has a speech where he talks about how people tend to think of the fretting hand as the 'conception hand' and the strumming hand as the 'execution hand' and how really that's not true, how both hands are involved in both aspects of the process. He doesn't use a pick of course, but the idea is the same and this video here seems to be in that same camp. Dig it

[@troygrady]

Charlie's great, I've seen him play here in NYC. For sure, there is an interplay, and it's very often subconscious. I don't think any of the players we have interviewed really sat around working out lines for specific picking techniques, at least not to the level of the patterns (notes per string and so on) that we have now become aware of. But those constraints are there, in the background, influencing what things come out.

[@AllenGarberGuitarFun]

Joscho seems to be doing the Van Halen “Spanish Fly” sextuplets at 7:40 again, but of course much cleaner. I think Eddie used basically the same pick angle and probably picking direction (D-U-D on the B string and U-D-U on the high E) and possibly that same or similar unmuted flex position? As you pointed out to me in one of my forum posts, Eddie doesn’t quite achieve what Joscho achieves, but I think this is what Eddie is attempting when he plays these sextuplets...

[@troygrady]

Joscho is actually swiping here! But it’s some of the quietest swiping you’ll ever (not!) hear.

[@AllenGarberGuitarFun]

Troy Grady Is it D-U-D, Swipe, Up-Down-Up?

[@klaytonvonkluge4905]

I need to watch this stuff more often man, it makes me wanna practice again haha

[@DatAnydex]

Great video as always. I was hoping to see a brief explanation of a Guthrie Govan ‘hairband on the first fret’ technique, but perhaps it’s already explained on another video.

[@troygrady]

I’ve never used that so I really can’t comment on it. What about using a hair band would you want to know more about?

[@DatAnydex]

Troy Grady No worries, Troy. At the moment I don’t use one, but it just catches my interest how GG almost always has one ready to slip onto the first fret for muting if he’s about to play lead runs. Thanks.

[@FusioNNosferatu]

"Dude where's my muting?!" had me in tears XD nice reference ^^

[@davidlawson7786]

Killer technique, I just found your channel and just subscribed, thank you for making this video, I really like your sound and approach. I’m a long time guitar player and student of the guitar, always learning and picking up new skills and techniques. Very informative stuff here, thank you very very much. I’m off and running with this information. Happy New Year!

[@andyisalwaysanxious8599]

Killer playing man! Bad ass, thanks for the video 🤘

[@surethebest]

Just wonderful. Thanks man. Richard from Paris

[@Zifahrimas]

I teach these muting methods to my students. Now I’m gonna show them this video. Thanks.

[@klaytonvonkluge4905]

Some of this stuff just sorta happens naturally as you play and get better, but good instructional vid... Man oh MAN I wish we had this kind of detailed instructions as kids learning guitar! (I was just becoming a teenager as VH LP "1984" hit the charts/shelves)

[@masonsundstad9464]

Please do a video on John Browne’s downstroke technique for progressive metal

[@duckfootguitars76]

Would love to see something on Kotzen's technique when he used a pick. Everything Ive seen looks like the pick is completely parallel with strings

[@troygrady]

The question you really want to ask is not so much what the pick looks like but how is it moving. From "Rock Chops" Richie appears to have been a wrist player, and wrist motions move more side to side than the motion I'm using here, which is a mix of wrist and forearm motion that moves more vertically. However when you film wrist motion up close, it's still moving diagonally, just along a flatter trajectory. That's the only way you can get over the strings without hitting them. And this is probably what Richie was doing. You can check out this tutorial here ( kzbin.info/www/bejne/iGq9d599echpnqs ) for a look at just how flat that diagonal motion can be when you use wrist motion, and why you'd probably never see it by looking for the "slant" of the pick, or by viewing a player face-on from audience perspective.

[@duckfootguitars76]

@@troygrady thanks Troy! The second I checked his 100% tutorial from YG, fter refreshing myself with your video, I immediately caught the micro tilt and the "escape stroke" you talk about. It's interesting that his approach seems to be the same on a steel string acoustic. My picking technique is completely different from electric to acoustic in that I'm definitely a wrist picker on electric, and use a completely different pick and a variant of the gypsy technique on my acoustic. Blowing minds to kick off the new year! Thanks for the reply, and have a happy new year!

[@irishRocker1]

Does the same thing happen with digital modelling amps? Do they also suppress string noise like a real amplifier?

[@Atreus006]

They should. If not you can always manually add a compressor which will almost certainly do it.

[@pablogomez4959]

7:15 can you write the name of that guitarist? I didn't hear it well

[@JoJoGMusic]

That would be Teemu Mäntysaari!

[@WillMaskellTaylor]

A few people commented on my playing, saying that my hand position is really odd, and I realised it's because I play in a very similar style to this flexed form. I never really realised people don't do this. I play thrash so I do a lot off palm muting, but I still always anchor my finger on the guitar which the other guitarist in my band doesn't do. Now whenever I see videos of me playing live, I always notice my hand looks like a hook compared to everyone else XD. Another person I've noticed who does this is Matt Bellamy from Muse, his hand is hooked over his guitar and he uses the gypsy method on tremolo picking a lot too.

[@ArtbyPaulPetro]

great stuff, man! btw LOVE the tone you got happening with that rig!

[@troygrady]

Thanks! It’s just the Cornford - the old standby

[@Hericly]

First, i had to learn how to play in that speed kkkkk Thanks Troy Hugs From Brasil!

[@macbruce7562]

When I flex my wrist while dwps, my brachialis gets sore. It’s not soreness coming from the elbow, it’s between the middle of my bicep and tricep. When I use uwps I don’t get that feeling, my wrist moves back in forth and my forearm tilts in as I change strings. Doing analysis on my picking has been interesting, I’m buying a membership and a mount with my stimulus to break it down.

[@barakahfactor]

Where can we learn that lick that he plays throughout the video?

[@image30p]

Cool video! You play really well. I like your techniques. Great insight into the effects of compression via high gain amplification.

[@Marycha245]

How about a video with Michael Romeo's picking and tapping technique?

[@gapingshanus]

Great video!!! I have to tell you. !!!DUDE!!! You look, sound, and act exactly like how I imagine Marty McFly, from Back To The Future, would've as a grown ass, adult man!!!

[@Bricklinsv1970]

Troy is so underrated as aguitarist!