I love the fact that on Kimmel, Eddie is clean, sober and healthy. Great hair, Great goatee, Great physicality, Great clothes. He was perfect here. Absolutely perfect. Too bad cancer came back and destroyed all of that and him.

When you slow it down,Eddie runs over and punches Roth in the face then runs back.That my friend is Tremolo picking at it's best.

Troy, I really appreciate ALL that you have done to open up the world to understanding picking techniques! Amazing stuff! Be blessed brother!

I just did my "cracking", it's the new video on my channel, hope you like it!

NEEEERRRRD!! but seriously I've been improving my guitar techniques thanks to your videos, Its such a joy to find rare gems likes these on the internet and for you to share all of these information to us for us to improve as guitarists thank you Troy!

This was a very fascinating commentary on Eddies style of picking . I've been a student of Eddie's style of playing for years and have spent countless hours trying to get inside the notes of Edward inside the fingers of his style of playing to understand his GREATNESS! But another great guitar player I've always been fascinated is James Hetfield of Metallica . His "Machine Gun" style of picking is so unique its something I've never been close to mastering. That would be a very interesting story to tell !

People have been trying since the 70's to figure him out... lol good luck!

You can see his pick bend against the guitar

thank you Troy great job as usual bro !

R.I.P Eddie Van Halen. You changed goddamn music.

@1:42 Look at that super thin pick he uses bend! I could never use a pick that thin!

Troy Grady is a phenom. The world has never seen this kind of education for guitarists. What a world we live in!! Thank you, Troy! Talk about drive and perseverence. You are 'da man, Troy.

Wow, this is how I have always tremolo picked, and all these years I thought my technique was wrong (because most guitarists don't pivot their wrist in the same way I do, just like eddie does above) I feel worthy in the guitar world again :D

What if eddie enters himself is that a instant win ha. Keep up good vids troy.

It was the first technique I could do which made me 'sound' like EVH. I just copied the new haven concert video. From that it was the 3rd & 4th fingers used as counter weights when spinning your wrist that I was able to manage it. The hitting the body seems bizzare, but thinking back 80's guitar, of which I still have, have a greater space between strings and guitars. You basically cannot do this on say an Ibanez RG . Great video, love the enthusiasm...

These videos are amazing! You should do one on Meshuggah's "Bleed"

I was expecting a video on setting up my tremolo like Eddy Van Halen.

I'll have my video up in a couple days! Can't wait to see if I can help figure this out!!!

Pebber Brown talks about this. About it's relationship to Sarod picking. Or butterfly or hummingbird technique! I've heard it called all those things. Django used it do it too. I've heard it described as shaking out a match. It's sort of that spasm zone where you shake your whole hand as fast as possible but you can only do that for a second! Only build up endurance.

Thanks again Troy for another amazing video. Love what you are doing for the world of guitar players. We can't thank you enough! Thank you for sharing your wisdom. I for one am very grateful! The cracking the code series has certainly opened my eye's and mind to a few things, and is currently taking my playing to new levels! Not to mention how awesome and entertaining your video's are - I've even show sections to some of my students! :-) So, not to knock the legend that is Eddie, but is it me or does he actually make a mistake during the tremolo section of this vid..? sounds to me like he hits a semitone sharp on the repeated section and does it twice ( maybe he's trying the Jazz musician concept of : 'if you make a mistake, make it deliberately again and carry on....and you're a Jazz musician....' hehe ) i.e around 0:9/0:10 seconds of this video......this doesn't change anything of course, it just proves HE IS HUMAN!!! Makes me feel better knowing that if Eddie can fluff the odd solo, then there is hope for us all! So I guess a spin off question from this dialogue would be: How do the 'greats' all manage to play such fast and technically complicated lines with such accuracy and fluidity, seemingly never making mistakes...I know rehearsal is key and practicing your material etc...but do you think it may be a mindset thing going on too..? The more you think the better you play..is it confidence maybe? or connecting to an inner power?...but i'm talking about improvising in particular. Satriani for example, (he can still pick like a boss) has only ever made one 'mistake' live of his solo material to my knowledge (and that wasn't even a wrong note just a missed phrase), which then caused part of the universe to implode on itself..... so how do these master's (yourself included) play without mistakes seemingly all the time when improvising live (like the guitarists of the G3 concerts etc?) I know some really great top session players, yet mistakes still rear there ugly heads once in a while...imagine if Eric fluffed the intro to Cliffs of Dover....? I think the sun would probably explode. Yet for some reason, we all know he probably wont. Ever. IT'S NOT FAIR! ;-)Forgetting the 'mistake', that's not what we are focusing on here I realise this, but more to the point: isn't Eddie using an extreme version of DPS? Only using rotational tremolo pick mechanics with small, fast movements. It looks a bit like Marty Friedman's picking angle maybe... or similar, only faster than light speed. Anyway, thanks in advance for your time Troy and keep on changing the world! \m/ All the best. Damien 'Be excellent to each other.....'

Good content, interesting and well produced. The gloves I could do without.

PS: I know you did mention this on the video, but that is a subject that is so interesting that I would love to hear it from you

I've played with a combination of switching between first and middle finger grip for as long as I can remember. Ironically I think that the first time that I really noticed it was while learning "I'm the One." Everyone knows that it isn't straight; there's a ton of groove and swing to it to get it right. By moving the pick to the middle finger it loosens my wrist and changes the pivot point and centers the rotational axis. Instead of having three fingers and most of my palm swinging around the axis of my first finger everything is more towards the center. It's more comfortable and less strenuous. Now I'm a hack and I know it, but even still I can feel and hear the difference between the two grips in my playing. There's things rhythmically that I can't seem to get the right feel out of with a traditional grip.

Fascinating!

First of all, great channel!! As a total guitar geek myself, I have to say Troy Grady is one of the most talented people I've ever seen at deconstructing and explaining complex guitar lines, which is both an art and a science in and of itself. I just stumbled across this channel today, and I am already subscribed. That being said, I'm pretty sure the axis about which Ed rotates his hand while trem picking is not through his palm. It is an imaginary axis running the length of his entire forearm, which is highly unconventional. He is effectively locking his wrist and rotating the entire forearm. The reason it is so hard for most players to emulate this is that the pick is held quite a distance from the actual axis of rotation, making it difficult to control (thus the reason he rests his arm on the body - for extra stability). Most modern "shredders" try to keep their forearms still, while rotating their picking hand about an imaginary axis running through their wrist, thus moving ONLY their hand, which is technically more energy efficient as your muscles are moving less mass on each sweep of the pick. To be honest, I don't know if I would even recommend people try copying his specific method (for this particular technique). It works for him, but he's a mad scientist. LOL! It is in fact easier to trem pick the more conventional way, IMHO. FULL DISCLOSURE: I've tried it his way, and I had absolutely no control. If you can pull it off, all the power to you. As you can tell from my user name, I'm obviously a HUGE Van Halen fan. Cheers! ;o)

A lot of that sound is the thin pick slapping back. I used to get that sound when I used .60. Now with .88 or 1s I got attack way more aggressively to somewhat get that sound.

Love your channel

It is quite obvious why he holds the pick like that, he does it so he can tap with his first finger whenever he wants without having to move the pick out of the way.

I've been waiting for this kind of video.. Only to find out it's not a tutorial lol.. I'd have to say that his style of picking is very unorthodox and requires lots of forearm strength.. It hurts mine after just a few seconds.. It also is just complimentary of EVH's picking style, which is aggressive, which give his tremelo picking that thick, rapid sound, and also the way re regularly picks, he is very aggressive and pushes his strength through his thumb from his middle finger.. Wish I could do his because it looks awesome

There never will be another EV. He was always ahead of all the rest.

Eddie did that with a pick. But this kid is gifted.

another very interesting and important thing I found out many years ago when you hold the pick with your middle and thumb finger your palm mutes are ever so slightly deeper more brown try it yourself , start chugging some barre chords and simply switch between pointer and middle finger pick holding you'll notice a slightly deeper (browner) sound while palm mute chugging with the middle and thumb versus the more common pointer and thumb try playing "aint talking bout' love" withe the pointer and thumb (not as brown) now try it with the middle finger and thumb (like ED) , now notice the slight difference I can tell with my ears

Actually there is nothing hard about it . It is the first tremolo technique you should learn . First of all it's on one string Usually the E. This is what it is ... Hold a pencil , now hold the pencil up by the eraser . Pretend it's a drum stick , Tap lightly on a table, or your knee . That is the motion you want .the wrist is fluttering and twisting like your twisting a screw driver . Do it with a guitar pick extend your picky out for better momentum . That is all

Tanks men

Troy Grady a Hell a Player in his Own Right

;~) Anyone else at Donnington 1984? What an excellent line up of bands that year!

Hey look its George Lynch. Nice gloves man ;)

Hi troy. I have been watching your videos on different picking styles and was wondering if you would like to see how I approach it. I'm no evh but like him I have a very unorthodox approach to the guitar.

When triling I arch my wrist like EVH and use forearm rotation - guess where I got that from - but I keep my pick between thumb and index. I didn't realise EVH was using this middle finger grip for this. Comparing it with how I've been doing it does allow for an easier rotation and a firmer hold of the pick. I always try to apply forearm rotation to all my picking rather than a side to side wrist movement. This means you have to stop anchoring the palm of your hand on the bridge to free it up for this rotation, which feels like jumping off a balcony. It also means not sitting down whilst playing as the angles are all wrong, and I took to doing all my scales, exercises etc standing up. After all, if your going to play gigs, you're not going to be sitting down so get the mechanics sorted as you'll need them for real.

Have you seen EVH's Smithonian interview Troy? He shares some great insights into his playing and upbringing in a musical family.

sweet gloves bro! You're missing the electric boogaloo bandannas.

I use a part of his picking style in that i hold the pick with my thumb and second finger and not the index. Sometimes i will use both index and second finger like schenker does to hold the pick But that fan motion ed uses for the right hand is not efficient for me at all so mine is much closer to yngwies in that respect.

I tried this with a 2mm pick and it was impossible until I used a very thin .93mm pick

Someone asked me if I was an Eddie fan because I hold the pick the same way. I hold the pick in the middle finger because I lost the tip of my index finger 8 years ago and can't hold a pick with my index and I can't fingerpick because it's too short.

My dad once met Eddie Van Halen at a bar when he was just like in his early days of van halen

I'd like to shed some light on this technique. Pick slanting and picking from the wrist are very obvious parts of Ed's technique, especially for "Cracking the Code" viewers. However, nobody gave an explanation on why he holds the pick between the middle finger and thumb instead of the index finger. Imagine the axis going through your right hand, a straight line, from you elbow to your wrist, coming out of your middle and third finger. If you rotate your wrist, as in the picking motion, your hand rotates around this same axis. When holding the pick normally, the edge of it will be located when the index finger is, and that is to the side of the afore mentioned axis. When you pick like this, if you pay attention you can see that the pick traces a semi circle, the radius of which is the distance between the pick and the center of the axis. Now if you hold your pick between thumb and middle finger, you're much closer to the middle of the rotation - the entire dynamic changes.

how does he stop the pick slipping out his fingers?

A fan of EVH since 1978.

Give me a day. I've been able to do it since I was in high school in the 80's.

Does this mean you can only do this on the high E string?

Tutorial will be up in an hour. Its about 15 minutes long. Hopefully it answers the question. I recorded on my MBP camera and it is creating it now.

door knob rotation movement,called "hummingbird" technique...great vids BTW,you actually break down the mechanics of speed picking.I think you're one of the extremely few people who address the mechanics of string skipping.(Pebber Brown comes to mind)

You can totally see Joe from Gojira use this mechanic playing Backbone live at bloodstock

Another great video, Troy! I've been playing for almost 3 years, and discovered you via Mr Ben Eller, another awesome KZfaq teacher. I hate how many trolls you youtube guys have to put up with. So my question is this-the technique is brilliant, but very difficult to palm mute with. Any suggestions? Maybe (hint/wink) an EVH picking technique video for use with rhythm playing!

In the early 70s Carlos Santana and John MgLaughlin did an album devoted to "A LOVE SUPREME" , the famous JOHN COLTRANE recording ... Have you heard CARLOS SANTANA'S tremelo picking on that album it is insanely fast and rivals EVH's some 5 years prior to the first Van Halen record ... Its blistering fast in that van halen type of way --- single string tremelo picked notes ... Just Asking , your courses are excellent and im very grateful for the insight and know how youve provided ... Sincerly , FRANKY the INTUITIVE GUITARIST

Troy, did you notice that his pick is so light that it is kind of bending? What does it have to do with his tremolo mechanic? maybe that is a variable to consider... ;)

"Re: gloves, fingerless are the ultimate warmup glove, especially for chilly NY winters!" - suuuuuure... yeaah... I believe you.. lol

The video is really good but I can't stop looking at the fingerless gloves

I’ve tried to imitate Eddies tremolo technique and failed miserably but I find I can basically get the same results by just moving my forearm really fast and just bearing down. So I’ve never seen the need to develop it the way Eddie does it.

Hey Troy! What's your opinion about Zakk Wylde? i love his style of playing and i want to have a similar attack on the strings.

The arc of the arm -It reminds me of Batio.

I think the pick is almost flat against the string during each beat of this technique.

I figured this out but it took a long time then it was like aha! But it's like a magician telling you how a trick is done. You kinda don't want to give it away.

bro, I can't find seasson 1 in youtube...

Where can I find the solo that plays at 5:09?

Awesome video. I was watching Ed do this the other day and was thinking how cool it was to finally be able to see the technique in HD.

I think the large movement he does while tremolo picking contributes to the sort of "slamming" effect I hear only in his trem picking. It almost whooshes in what I can only describe as "helicopter-like".

I think Eddie uses thin flexible picks and he does all kinds of out of the box things with the pick. He'll palm the pick when he is tapping and that middle finger being the main pick holding finger is definitely not orthodox.

Eddie uses .60mm Dunlop Max Grip Nylon picks. I'm guessing these make it easier to trem pick too.

Hey I got same gloves as u Troy lol... Did u buy them at target?

How thin is his pick?,60mm?Keep up the good job,Troy!!!!I love your videos.

He changed guitar its techniques like a revolutionary!!! I always be so grateful with the universe for having shared this world with the most incredible musician ever!!

Also it looks like a super thin pick thats flopping around which I always heard was the absolute wrong away !Always go with the thick titanium steel hard ones !No Way!I always preferred the thin and am finally vindicated even if its in my own mind!

He is whipping from his wrist. It reminds me of packing a can of dip!

If I do that, B and G strings will resonate making a mess of a sound, as there is no muting. Any ideas how to fix that?

Hello I have the answer. This is called 'sarod' picking. Apparently it stems from indian sitar playing or something like that. PEBBER BROWN explains this in depth and has tutorials on it.

whats with the pokemon trainer gloves

Is he using a thin pick when he does this? It looks like it is, i mean he's doing it on a 8 gauge high E.

Where can I find your T'shirt troy?

Master !!!🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🤘🤘🤘

Someone at last asked about picking in the "Ask Eddie" feature on the EVH site (I asked the same question some time ago, but apparently there were more interesting ones at the time), answer is not rocket science but still it's interesting to hear the man himself speaking about it. www.evhgear.com/news/2015/07/ask-eddie-how-to-hold-a-pick/ " I tend to hold it more with my thumb and middle finger with a little bit of my index finger, but mostly just my thumb and middle finger"

Ed's style in 77 is way different than now. It may sound the same, but he has aches and pains like all of us. Thus the style now taking the stress off his forearm.

Why is it so hard to trem pick like this!!

I can do the tremolo pick

Yah..yah....but what about keeing the right hand perfectly still but using the left arm to rapidly pull the guitar up and down?

the pick hitting the guitar is key here. he is using this as a reference or ancor. the pick is almost vertical.

He uses downward pick slanting and edge picking at the same time,and the way he attacks the strings really dictates getting the EVH tone just perfect. But what I think what a lot of people overlook when trying to figure Ed out is how on the DLR-era albums until 1984,how downtuning a 1/2 step really helped him getting that "thwap" off the pick to get the tone he wanted.

Hey Troy, what bank do you work at?

You can really only do this with a curved thumb ;-; It's nearly impossible to do it with a thumb like mine that doesn't curve at all, you need that pick angle that comes with that thumb curve.

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ar6EnrWmtt6oqGg.html Also called hummingbird picking, butterfly picking. it can be done at most any angle, but angling the pick can help get you going a little quicker. it can be done with thin or thick picks. The first step is to get the rotation down. Think of reaching out and turning a doorknob - that's the basic maneuver. Then grab a pick and do that rotation in the air. If it is easier to hold between your index and thumb, do that at first, and if you get that down and wish to try holding the pick between your middle and thumb, try that as well. There are very subtle differences that you can hear depending on your grip and angle. Starting with an upstroke seems to me to be the easiest, but it can be started with a downstroke as well. It is also fun to try and harness this style and control it in short stutters like this kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mbuippximpfWd6s.html. It is a really fun technique to play around with and add to your arsenal! Also, you can do this on mandolin or most any other stringed instrument. like this: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/r5ZgZ8V0ubzWdYE.html

one question: what's with those gloves, pal ?

There's no twisting inside the palm. Too many guitar players strum from the elbow which is very slow. EVH is not strumming up and down from the elbow, probably never. He's twisting the forearm, not moving the forearm up and down at the elbow. Here we see EVH twisting the two large bones in the forearm, which makes the entire hand strum across the strings the quickest way possible. It really doesn't matter if his wrist is bent or straight, the up-and-down movement of the pick is created by twisting the two large bones of the forearm.

Eddie does an occasional Q&A on his homepage, he said that he now uses Dunlop nylon .60 mm picks, and that he used to go even lighter back in the day www.evhgear.com/news/2014/01/ask-eddie-all-about-the-picks/

He used to put picks in this mouth, but now they are swallowed up into his right palm.. Yeah I noticed this shit in 1981. Nice you caught up.

He still looks cool

This is such a great video. I do the same tremolo wrist arm position. But keep my picks in the index thumb still... was searching out if I’m doing it wrong, works for Eddie, works for me. Stamina is crazy longer that way as well

Oh he's definitely hitting the body. You can see the pick bending where it presses up against it. I think this technique seems to rely a lot on the thinness of the pick. It's also kind of inconsistent. You can hear every few notes he'll like, miss one, or hit one differently, and it's kind of odd sounding. It sort of adds in context, but by itself it's kind of odd.

Some techniques work fine for some guitar players but not for others. My hand just doesn't wanna go very fast in this manner, where it's natural for others. It's best to do what comes natural to your unique physical make up IMO. - i.e. Shawn Lane said that his fast playing was possible because he had a faster nervous system than most people.

Middle finger pick grip.

How funny, this is how I tremolo pick, I don't even know how it is physically possibly to tremolo any other way, I am actually more fascinated by how other people tremolo without this method. This method is simple, hold your arm out, try to do the fastest strum possible (like in a quick funk riff, with forearm rotation), next step, limit that motion to just one string, takes about a week to get down, of coirse DWPS works best as UWPS somewhat limits full forearm rotation, which I find is needed to keep the forearm rotational "twitch" happening, maybe it has something to do with my anatomy but there is a certain "handover" point that my forearm muscles need to be in to switch from supinating to pronating that quickly, which requires a larger picking motion...hope that makes sense