wrist placement?

[Shreddy Kruger]

For those of you that can really shred, do you slightly lift your wrist while picking, or leave it resting gently on the body of the guitar? I find that it is more accurate when resting, but much quicker when lifted. any suggestions?

chris

[James]

bump! I'm interested in this as well...

[Christoph]

Generally, when I do legato stuff, I'll lift my wrist up a little bit so only my thumb is touching the back of the neck for support. When I do picking, I leave my wrist against the neck.

[chris mood]

the proper technique is to keep the wrist very straight, hanging free from the body of the guitar, and move from the elbow. When doing this you are using your forearm muscle, which is much stronger then your wrist muscle. Imagine the motion in which a violinist bows his violin, use this same approach but in a up down motion. You will have much more speed and little fatigue once you master this technique.

[lalimacefolle]

I actually do the opposite!!!
I have seen people play from the elbow, but to me, it felt like there was a lot of waste...
I have studied my approach after seeing a guy from http://www.chopsfromhell.com
He was funny, because his picking was so tight it seemed like his hand wasn't moving, and he achieved an amazing speed!!! SO, I recorded myself on my webcam, and I actually do the same thing. My wrist gives the motion, while the fingers holding the pick change the angle so I hit the note like I want it to sound.
I have seen Steve MORSE play, and he has a bizarre approach too, everything is in his two fingers holding the pick , because his other fingers switch the pickups
Oh yeah, alternate picker from above : Al di Meola, he might be an A...hole, but dang, ain't he fast??

[chris mood]

Racing With the Devil on a Spanish Highway...a DiMeola classic!!

[lalimacefolle]

yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!! heard it with steve VAI???

[chris mood]

nope...did he ever record it?

[lalimacefolle]

yes, it's on di meola's record with a triangle drawn on it, can't remember the name though

[chris mood]

the only version I'm familiar with is the original, off the Elegant Gypsy album by Dimeola. I stopped listening to him once he started to get into all that egyptian stuff- I liked his old stuff w/all the spanish influence.

[lalimacefolle]

that record is amazingly blister generating!!!!
By the way, the record on which you can hear the version with VAI is "The infinite desire" and the track was renamed "race with the devil on a turkish highway"