Question on wrist movement

[Dan Shipway]

I have been playing guitar for quite a few years but I am starting to doubt myself, I find that i begin to question the amount of movement in my wrist because I feel like it isn’t very loose. I play quite a lot of rhythm so I have a decent amount of control but I am unsure if It is too much? I tend to play fast so I have small picking movements
.
Will send a video when I have my guitar cleaned and re set up

 

[Noah Berends]

If you’re playing for speed, less movement is better because you can turn the pick around in the other direction faster. Most people usually find they move too much and thus have to lessen their overall movement. As far as tension, that usually depends on the tone you’re going for. A tighter and harder attack will make the note louder and more prominent, while a loose, soft attack with do the opposite. It’s all about personal preference and tone. If you find the note goes sharp when you pick then in that case you are playing too tight, but especially in metal oftentimes players tent to be tighter, moreso for the speed it provides.

 

[Dan Shipway]

Cheers mate, I play really aggressive to get a rammstein style attack but I think it may be beneficial to try out new styles to help.

 

[idssdi]

It all depends where you’re going for. Someone like SRV is pretty aggressive and jazz players will be less aggressive. aggressive tends to mean more motion

 

[Guest]

I think wrist movement will change depending on a lick or exercise. This also depends on you as an individual, cause I believe the way we hold a pick can be quite unique. What works for you wont necessarily work for others.
Generally, if this is about alternate picking (Hard to tell what genre from the title), then the less movement the better. This can be achieved just by going a little slower, so you can really build that muscle memory you have. For the purpose of any alternate picking exercise, attempt any exercise really slowly, with least movement possible – you will realise just how much movement is required in order to get a noise from a picked string.
I’m a huge fan of rammstein, and find that they use alot of down motion picking to get that rammstein sound. You will find with Rammstein that they will have big movement in order to achieve a real punchy, aggressive riff – and this sounds great! Listen and learn the repetitive riff from Rammsteins song ‘Asche Zu Asche’, or maybe ‘Links 2 3 4’.
Other genres such as Funk, I find I make so much movement but its required to get a rhythmic sound. I think my suggestion would be to learn a bit of Funk, maybe a bit of Hip Hop, because I think this would require a very loose wrist in order to work.
Hope this helps!

 

[Dan Shipway]

Thanks fo all the support, I will definitely have to try that out!