PICKING TECHNIQUE Devloping speed in jazz improv
DANNY T. S MITH
of woodsheddin' and still love to practice, and hone my skills.
My question concerns right technique while using a plectrum. I just
can't seem to get the type of speed with articulation that some of the
players I admire seem to so easly pull off. And yes, I've done All
diatonic major minor, modes, altered, diminished, whole tone, chromatic,
pentatonic, arpeggioes for all chord types that I consider practical in
all positions and with many fingerings. I know a ton of standards, and
jazz tunes both as chord melody for solo gigs and play in a lot of
combo's. All this leads me to believe that I need to move on to a
different approach in my practice routine. I know, and can use the
material from scales and arpeggioes with my own voice pretty much. (and
am still working on my own voice mind you).
I don't want to use speed as an end in itself, but it sure helps in
buiding a solo to that dramatic climax, and just basically gettin' off
playing. It would feel SOOO good to just lay back and solo with nice
lines, but when the time comes to just burn, to go to another level with
that perfect bop ine... I recently checked out one of Pat Martino's (a
guitarist I greatly admire) instructional videos, and learned a few of
the lines he presented. I just can't seem to match his right hand
picking technique or tempo's. Any ideas on developing fluent, musical
speed, or right hand technique?? I've tried everything I can think of.
Do you think it is simply a matter of our individual nervous system?
Maybe we just have a natural internal speed limit..... Can it be that we
just need to learn to hear faster rhythmically... learning odd groupings
tuplet figures... like a drummer, before we can play fast lines??? SORRY
THIS HAS GOTTEN SO LONG... I would REALLY appreciate any help idea's or
input on this subject..
You can email me directly along with posting if you wish
Danny
moo...@mindspring.com
Thanks!
Chasna1
>can't seem to get the type of speed with articulation that some of the
>players I admire seem to so easly pull off.
Question: Do your style-preferences dictate that you want to pick every note or
are left-hand techniques such as pull-offs a good fit with your tastes.
This is an important question that should be answered. Using strategically
placed pull-offs
will enable you to play extremely fast, but will also control somewhat your
playing style. Tal Farlow, a case in point, used pull-offs to his great
advantage in his great, early playing years.
I patterned my approach off his style and was rewarded with more speed than
I needed almost immediately. Over the years, however, I realized that playing
fast on a regular basis was ruining my playing and creativity.
Some years ago I started listening to vocalists and how they would phrase
and I noticed that the guitar and guitarists were very limited in this sense.
So I stopped playing fast as a habit and went back to playing more slowly with
all down strokes. What an awakening: The guitarist must at some point realize
his instrument is really "many" instruments of many styles and techniques which
all depend on the speed that one chooses to play at.
Chas
DANNY T. S MITH
>can't seem to get the type of speed with articulation that some of the
>players I admire seem to so easly pull off.
Question: Do your style-preferences dictate that you want to pick every
note or
are left-hand techniques such as pull-offs a good fit with your tastes.
Hi Chas.. Thanks for responding.. and I WILL check out some of the
earlier Tal Farlow recordings, that would be a treat anyway! Any
recomendations on recordings?
I'm not after speed as a means in itself, it's just that sometimes I
want to sound agressive... it just feels good when thats the state of
mind, or suites the tune I'm playing. I'm not opposed to slurs, and I
now use them quite a bit, but in trying to develop more picking speed, I
tend to PRACTICE picking each note. Pat Martino decribes his sound as
stacatto. Although to me it doesn't sound stacatto as in the true
definition of the word, each note does have a sharp attack. It creates a
lot of energy, and I think that's what I'm hearing, and want to develop
as another tool. I think I can say things with my playing in ballads and
medium tempo's, but fast bop tunes .. thats another story.
What is your right hand position like?
Do you contact the guitar with your hand (anchor your hand) while
picking the string, or does your hand float just above the strings?
Do you think learning to tap out complex rhythms would be a good
practice addition?? I've read about some players hearing lines more like
a percussionist would hear them.. more as pure rhythms... (maybe John
McLaughlin or Al Demeola). This makes sense to me, but how do you
practice something like that without taking up another discipline
(percussion?) Do you know of any books that are geared to this
approach to playing? I guess I need to talk to some percussion players
to.
Oh well... if you have any other ideas, I would appeaciate your
pointing me that way....
Thanks!
Danny
Bob Agnew
up pick. I found that the only way I could play the runs that Howard Roberts
is using in the melody line on "Dirty Little ol' Bossa Nova" on "HR is a
Dirty Guitar Player" is to use "pull-offs". I didn't know what to call them.
I don't have the record anymore, does any one else? Does anyone know if HR
is using pull-offs or double-picking on the IV, V down runs?
Chasna1 <cha...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:19990109155548...@ng-fa1.aol.com...
>>I just
>>can't seem to get the type of speed with articulation that some of the
>>players I admire seem to so easly pull off.
>
>Question: Do your style-preferences dictate that you want to pick every
note or
>are left-hand techniques such as pull-offs a good fit with your tastes.
>
Gil Plantinga
this past November (will be out on video in February). In the film, Jim
talks about how he works melodies, counterpoint, and compositioal devices
in his solos to cover his "lousy technique." If you dig him, you'll hear
all kinds of slurs, trills, hammers, pull-offs, and sweep-picked arpeggios
when he's putting a lot of notes out there. He just doesn't have that
shredder's right hand. I'm the same, and I'm too damn old to try to get all
that stuff down. But the lines are more important. You say you don't want
to "use speed as an end in itself"
your thing out there.
On the other hand, I've been working really hard to lose the habit of
anchoring my right hand on the pickguard. It has slowed me down a little,
but it's also made me listen more closely to my sound. I'm also working
with my thumb (and I'm stymied by the upstroke thing!). But it's just
another sound. What I'm coming up with as a result of this free hand
(non-anchored) thing, and the thumb thing, is a repetoire of different
sounds, stuff I never had before. If the going gets good, bopping tempo,
sure I let the anchor down and start to groove in the most relaxed but
burning eights I can alternate pick, but when there's space, I'm trying to
stretch into some different things, mostly involving timbre and
articulation.
Hope this helps.
In article <3697B7...@mindspring.com>, moo...@mindspring.com wrote:
>I have played professionally for most of my life. I've done my share
>of woodsheddin' and still love to practice, and hone my skills.
>My question concerns right technique while using a plectrum. I just
>can't seem to get the type of speed with articulation that some of the
--
Gil Plantinga
New Paltz, NY
Bob Agnew
This lets me I anchor my right pinky on the neck pickup and play with only
downstrokes of the thumb, except on struck octaves. On those, I can up-down
my thumb very rapidly. I learned this from watching and talking to the
master himself. Lately I've been experimenting with freeing the right anchor
also. It will take time.
Gil Plantinga <gilp...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:gilplant-ya0240800...@news.earthlink.net...
Bob Valentine
DANNY T. S MITH <moo...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>
> I just can't seem to match his right hand
>picking technique or tempo's. Any ideas on developing fluent, musical
>speed, or right hand technique?? I've tried everything I can think of.
are beyond at your level of experience.
>Maybe we just have a natural internal speed limit.....
My ability to THINK at speed is my limiter currently. I can hum and/or
play the melodies I want at lesser tempos. I can play 'licks' at higher
tempos. It is getting the 'THINKING' faster that is important.
> Can it be that we
>just need to learn to hear faster rhythmically... learning odd groupings
>tuplet figures... like a drummer, before we can play fast lines???
For me, this stuff is very important. One thing I've been doing recently
is playing along with the ride cymbal on recordings. [I do this
is while driving with a guitar laying in my lap, palm muting the high E
string and playing the ride cymbal part along with casettes].
For one thing, it has been a good listenning excercise. It let me really
focus in on how the ride cymbal and bass player are playing off each other
and the soloist while providing the backbone of the jazz sound.
From a technique point of view, you play a lot with dynamics in the right
hand, looseness, freedom from pick-orientation and specific beats. (I've
been playing with Jack DeJohnette's ride in Keith Jarrett Standards
settings. He doesn't just do chung-chungka-chung-chungka, but will
turn it back and forth at will
chung-chungka-chung-chungka /
chungka-chung-chung-chungka /
CHUNGka-chung-chung etc
Also, wedging in all those little triplet patterns...
I don't know, can't say its had immediate effects. I also work from drum,
books sometimes... play along with African music...
A thing I've been practicing in my jazz soloing is to always
start lines on an offbeat eighth-note, and as much as possible start
the line from this point with an arpegio (either ascending or descending)
The sound is hip, and since it doen't flow so naturally from my
hand or head, I know I'm working in a neglected area.
>THIS HAS GOTTEN SO LONG...
ditto.
>I would REALLY appreciate any help idea's or input on this subject..
Others have mentioned using other techniques than just trying to pick. I
would say that it should match up with the sound you want, if you want
a Pat Martino sound, then you're going to have to figure out how to get
a strong pick going through bridge-cable strings to work for you.
I added some techniques to my playing this past year, for the most part
to get speed in a specific sound I was interested in. They included
more aggressive hammer on/off (which I had sort of abandoned from my rock
days), and sweep techniques for arpegios and some scalar stuff.
[I was hoping to get the kind of speed in either Coltrane 'Sheets of
Sound' days or the kind of speed that pianists seem to get effortlessly.
No, I didn't get either, but I got some things I didn't have before].
[I also rejected some other techniques; tapping is at best a special effect
for me, and usin the right hand fingers for speed doesn't work as well as
developing the picking].
Willie K. Yee, MD
Hall Concert was also masterful. Blows me away every time I hear it.
Bob Valentine wrote:
> From a technique point of view, you play a lot with dynamics in the right
> hand, looseness, freedom from pick-orientation and specific beats. (I've
> been playing with Jack DeJohnette's ride in Keith Jarrett Standards
> settings. He doesn't just do chung-chungka-chung-chungka, but will
> turn it back and forth at will
>
> chung-chungka-chung-chungka /
> chungka-chung-chung-chungka /
> CHUNGka-chung-chung etc
>
> Also, wedging in all those little triplet patterns...
>
--
Willie Kai Yee, M.D.
Developer of Problem Knowledge Couplers for Psychiatry
wy...@mhv.net
http://www1.mhv.net/~wyee/index.html
21 Tricor Ave.
New Paltz, NY 12561
(914) 255-0660
"We are the Universe trying to understand itself."
-- Minbari saying --
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Subject: Re: Really portable amps
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Any idea how much they weigh? Lightness is important.
> Hello again, I thought of one more portable amplifier that might be worth
> your while to investigate. Roland makes a keyboard/bass amp that is much
> larger than the small amplifiers that you suggested. It is powered by a
> battery. I believe it is rated at about 100 watts.
>
> cheers,
>
> marc
> >
>
> -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
> http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
--
Willie Kai Yee, M.D.
Developer of Problem Knowledge Couplers for Psychiatry
wy...@mhv.net
http://www1.mhv.net/~wyee/index.html
21 Tricor Ave.
New Paltz, NY 12561
(914) 255-0660
"We are the Universe trying to understand itself."
-- Minbari saying --
DANNY T. SMITH
the plectrum. The picking movement/energy can come from the entire
riight arm, the wrist, the thumb and finger holding the pick, or any
combination of the above. The right hand can be anchored to the bridge,
the little finger (and other fingers) can be anchored to the pick guard,
and probally other points of the guitar ie.. pickups etc... The right
hand can also float just above the stings while the pick makes the only
string contact. I know a couple of very fast bass players who use a
combination of the thumb and fingers (either p and i, or p and m or p i
and m, along with the up and down thumb thing).
I know to be a good player probally involves using a little of all
these techniques, but I wish there was some method to this maddness like
there is for every aspect of playing piano and other "legit"
instruments... I guess only time will make that so. Does anyone know of
any foreign or US publications on the subject of using a plectrum and
development of speed??
By the way I to am working on NOT anchoring my hand on the guitar and
using mostly wrist movement (just as some of the other players have
indicated in their post to this thread). I'm also expermenting with p i,
p m, p i m, and down and up strokes with the thumb which sounds TERRIBLE
right now. Hpopefully it will get better.. Any other ideas on picking
technique?? I'm gonna try sequencing tuplet figures (groups of 5, 7, 9,
13, 15.. slowly within one beat, using some type of drum patch, and try
to build melodies out of these. Do any of you know of any books on
playing tabla or other Eastern Indian percussion instruments??
Thanks for any help
Danny
Gil Plantinga
>It's interesting that their seems to be no standard technique for using
>the plectrum. The picking movement/energy can come from the entire
>riight arm, the wrist, the thumb and finger holding the pick, or any
>combination of the above. The right hand can be anchored to the bridge,
>the little finger (and other fingers) can be anchored to the pick guard,
>and probally other points of the guitar ie.. pickups etc... The right
>hand can also float just above the stings while the pick makes the only
>string contact.
Consensus seems to be growing that the floating technique is superior to
the anchored. However, regarding the balance of action between finger,
wrist, elbow, etc., I find that each technique produces a different sound.
Work for more paints on the pallette, techniques should be selected for
aesthetic reasons
>I know a couple of very fast bass players who use a
>combination of the thumb and fingers (either p and i, or p and m or p i
>and m, along with the up and down thumb thing).
Yes, but with bass there are vastly different ergonomics.
> I know to be a good player probally involves using a little of all
>these techniques, but I wish there was some method to this maddness like
>there is for every aspect of playing piano and other "legit"
>instruments...
Ah, the historical perspective.
>I guess only time will make that so. Does anyone know of
>any foreign or US publications on the subject of using a plectrum and
>development of speed??
How about THIS one!
> By the way I to am working on NOT anchoring my hand on the guitar and
>using mostly wrist movement (just as some of the other players have
>indicated in their post to this thread). I'm also expermenting with p i,
>p m, p i m, and down and up strokes with the thumb which sounds TERRIBLE
>right now.
To my knowlege, Wes is probably the only cat that ever really "got" the
upstroke thumb on single strings (as opposed to octave playing which I find
much easier).
It helps to try to develope a big knobby callous on the thumb.
--------
I'm starting to think of the pick like a bow. Orchestral string players
have to coordinate their bowing, and often that bowing varies greatly
between orchestras playing from the same score. So I look to the music
itself, whether it's written out or I'm improvising, to decide which pick
direction (alternate or cross), where the motion is comming from (wrist,
elbow), and also importantly how far from the bridge I'm picking. I also
use my thumb, thumb and fingers (pick usually in my mouth!), pick and
fingers in whatever comibination the music seems to call for. String
players go through all of these things arco and pizzicatto. Now where's my
Yo Yo Ma record?
JRuiz94928
I am a bit similar in background-played about 37 years and have worked through
a lot of different styles. What I play now is...hard to say...my interest is in
composition, and I record on a hard disk recording system. 'Jazz' seems to be
the pocket I land in, altho I think much of what is played today crosses
boundaries and could be just called 'music'......
As for techniques to play faster...about 10 years ago, I used to play with the
pick held slightly pointed towards the strings, with my 2nd 3rd and 4th
fingers out over the strings. This came from developing a style for
accompanying singers on acoustic, and allowed me to finger pick and strum
alternately in a song. For single note picking, I still used that position, and
curled the pick in slightly to grip it better, but kept the fingers out over
the srings to allow me to augment single notes with chords. This worked ok, but
if I tried to play a faster line, it would get sloppy and I'd have to really
work to keep it clean. What I do now is switch-when I need to play faster, I
curl my fingers up in to my palm, and hold the pick more against the side of
the index finger wth my thumb, giving me a firm grip. I use mostly wrist
action, using up and down strokes. This seems to work well for fast lines, and
I move my whole hand to position the other fingers over the strings for chords
or 2-3 note sections.
The other thing that's helped me is the 'sweep picking' technique of playing
notes spread out wider over the neck, and using a combination of down and up
strokes, not always playing in tight little clusters. I haven't mastered this
by any means, but use it for certain parts of pieces where it works. Some
notes are picked and some are hammered to produce a flowing line.
By slightly muting the strings with the palm it gives the sound of the string
being picked, even when you are hammering or slurring. I alternate between a
fairly 'fat' sound, and a little bit of distortion, and a clean 'strat' sound
on the middle pickup-I play a Fernandes Strat , an Ibanez RG560 and a Takamine
electric acoustic round hole with arch top, thru a GK 50 amp. For effects, an
FXR Elite fx processor.
Dont know if any of this helps-I'd be glad to converser further on anything you
find that works-or doesn't...! Sometimes it seems like it takes an inordinate
amount of work to just stay even reasonably proficient on the instrument, but
persistence seems to be the key.
John
Chip Zempel
gilp...@earthlink.net (Gil Plantinga) wrote:
> [big snip]
>To my knowlege, Wes is probably the only cat that ever really "got" the
>upstroke thumb on single strings (as opposed to octave playing which I find
>much easier).
>It helps to try to develope a big knobby callous on the thumb.
>
> [more snipped]
Are you talking about just the thumb going down/up/down/up, playing a
single note line on the (usually) bass strings? I saw a (French Canadian, I
think) guy named Sylvain Luc who was doing a travelling guitar show with
maker Robert Godin (LaSiDo guitars, etc.) at my local guitar shop who did
this (and a whole myriad of other things!) astonishinly fast and well.
He had a big thumbnail like a flamenco player, and he sort of flicked the
thumb up and down mostly from the second joint of the thumb (the one by the
web between the thumb and index finger), with a little bit of flexibility
in the third joint (closest to the tip). Amazingly fast, and clearly
articulated. Took me a while to even figure out what he was doing, and I
was only a few feet away.
I'd say it was the damnedest thing I ever saw, but he did a whole bunch of
_other_ things that might also have been the damnedest thing I ever saw!
Just picked up a guitar and _flew_ with it for 20 or 30 minutes, played all
sorts of stuff in all sorts of styles, improvising the whole way -
standards floating in and out of it - did I just hear April in Paris? -
along with bits of classical melodies, popular tunes, way out stuff. Kind
of reminded me sometimes of John Fahey/Leo Kotke guitar rag stuff,
sometimes Ralph Towner, sometimes Paco de Lucia - the guy was all over the
place! Then he'd put the guitar down, pick up a different one, go off into
a screaming distortion rock guitar kind of thing, and which planet are we
on now? Whew! Completely wore me out, just trying to listen to him!
Anyway, he was doing stuff with his RH thumb that I had never even thought of!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Chip Zempel
cze...@ns.net
-------------------------------------------------------------------
EARTH FIRST! .................. we'll pave the other planets later
Bob Valentine
DANNY T. SMITH <moo...@mindspring.com> wrote:
> By the way I to am working on NOT anchoring my hand on the guitar and
>using mostly wrist movement (just as some of the other players have
>indicated in their post to this thread). I'm also expermenting with p i,
>p m, p i m, and down and up strokes with the thumb which sounds TERRIBLE
>technique??
I comp using pick'n'fingers. This sometimes ends up getting my hand way
off the guitar, curled around so that the pick and fingertips are all the
same distance from the strings. This is a fairly weak way to play pick style,
but I'll play this way sometimes, if I need a line in the middle of comping.
Normal plectrum line playing I'll have my hand more open, with my pinky sort of
rubbing the body or pickguard, picking from the wrist.
Playing (or attempting) very fast lines, I'll lock up the wrist
and play from the elbow.
For the most part, I alternate pick. I'll 'opportunistically' sweep
arpeggios and cross string stuff, but this is still coming together. Very
fast stuff will have a fair amount of pulling-off/hammer-on and sliding
too (by sliding meaning a scalar line might have four notes per string
where one of them is either an index or pinky slide, depending on
ascending or descending).
>Thanks for any help
>Danny
Bob Valentine
Bob Valentine
>Tony Williams' cymbal work, e.g. All Blues from the Miles Davis Carnegie
>Hall Concert was also masterful. Blows me away every time I hear it.
>
Yeah, Tony Williams work with Miles is great. He's a guy who can hang
for hours with the ride cymbal going backwards,
CHUNGka-chung- CHUNGka-chung /
with the CHUNGka made from 16'ths or faster. Pushes the beat like crazy.
One reason I play with the KJ standards stuff is that the tempos
are usually pretty reasonable. Some of Tony Williams playing with
Miles is at speeds (and sophistication) I'll never have.
And theres also Elvin Jones, and Roy Haynes, and Eddie Blackwell, and...
...well, one of the main reasons I'm getting guitar synthesizer stuff
is to play drums on the guitar. Guess I missed a calling...
Bob Valentine
DickSchnei
In article <czempel-ya0240800...@news.ns.net>, cze...@ns.net
(Chip Zempel) writes:
>Are you talking about just the thumb going down/up/down/up, playing a
>single note line on the (usually) bass strings? I saw a (French Canadian, I
>think) guy named Sylvain Luc who was doing a travelling guitar show with
>maker Robert Godin (LaSiDo guitars, etc.) at my local guitar shop who did
>this (and a whole myriad of other things!) astonishinly fast and well.
>
>He had a big thumbnail like a flamenco player, and he sort of flicked the
>thumb up and down mostly from the second joint of the thumb (the one by the
>web between the thumb and index finger), with a little bit of flexibility
>in the third joint (closest to the tip). Amazingly fast, and clearly
>articulated. Took me a while to even figure out what he was doing, and I
>was only a few feet away.
I recently saw a video of Martin Taylor ("The World of Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar"
on Vestapol Video) and saw that he was doing the same thing with his thumb. He
plays rather complex fast bass lines along with the melody and rhythm parts and
as I watched carefully I discovered his up strokes with the thumb. I do a lot
of so-called double-thumbing (an old Blind Blake trick) to get multiple bass
notes from adjacent strings within the same beat, but I never thought about
using *up* strokes on bass lines.
Dick Schneiders
Willie K. Yee, MD
> I also
> use my thumb, thumb and fingers (pick usually in my mouth!),
My favorite is using the pick while holding it in the mouth. Relaxes the
wrist, but my neck (The one under my head, not the one on the guitar)
gets kinda sore.
Doug3A
hard swinging aggressive thing is to not hold the pick too firmly. A very
heavy pick playing heavy strings held loosely seems to damp the string as it
releases it or something; anyway, at speed you get that round, even, fully
articulated sound that I think is the thing you're going for. Good Luck!
Julesmari
Keith Erskine
By far the best approach for developing right hand speed is through
the use of speed burst exercises.
!! USING A METRONOME / DRUM MACHINE !!, play in time sig 4/4 for a
4 measure cycle playing eighth notes at a comfortable tempo.
Now, convert the last pair of eighth notes (beat 4, measure 4) to
4 sixteenth notes. The secret is to be able to play the 1/16 notes
RELAXED and land CLEANLY on the downbeat of (beat 1, measure 1).
Next, convert the last 2! pairs of 1/8 notes to 1/16s, for a total
of 8 1/16 notes. Again, stay relaxed and clean. Continue increasing
the length of the speed burst. The longer the burst, the more difficult
it is to stay relaxed and clean.
Experiment with triplets & 1/16 triplets as well.
This technique is described in more detail in Scott Tennant's "Pumping
Nylon".
Good luck,
Keith Erskine
I don't speak for HP, and vice-versa.
Frank Hudson
thicker pick. The pick tip has to "snap back" after hitting the string
and when doing the fast alternate picking thing my limited technique
would falter with something like a "Fender Medium" gauge pick. Visit your
favorite music store and pick up some samples of thick, stiff plectrums.
By the way, am I the only person that hears picks making about as much
contribution to tone as strings, yet (enter broad generalization
mode) everyone talks about strings and no one talks about picks.
--Frank Hudson
remove "x" when replying
Lawren Daltroy
Frank - I'm a freak about picks, always changing them according to guitar,
string guage, and playing situation. Basically, I like to use small heavy or
extra-heavy jazz picks. I like to use the Dunlop jazz H3s for lighter guage
strings or quiet gigs, because they give a warmer tone. I use an extra-heavy
fender jazz pick for heavier strings or four-to-the bar rhythm playing, and
a heavy fender jazz pick for louder gigs, because it gives a sharper sound
that cuts through the mix better. I find if you play with the pick point
angled back so it brushes over the string more gently, you get a pick attack
sound like Grant Green. Anyway, I agree with you that picks are very
important to your sound. By the way, you might want to check out a little
book called "Picks! The Colorful Saga of Vintage Celluloid Guitar
Plectrums", by Will Hoover, Miller Freeman Books, San Francisco, 1995. It
gives an interesting history of how the picks we all know and love or hate
came to be as they are today.
Lawren.
Faizal Ali
approached Jim Hall at a club and asked for a pick as a souvenir. Hall
reached into his pocket, pulled out variety of different picks, and asked
"Which one?" He apparently went on to explain that he used different picks
depending on the musical situation eg. one for rhythm playing, one for
ballads, another for uptempo numbers, etc.
Wesley Dick
<daltr...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>
>
>Frank - I'm a freak about picks, always changing them according to guitar,
>string guage, and playing situation. Basically, I like to use small heavy or
>extra-heavy jazz picks. Anyway, I agree with you that picks are very
>important to your sound.
The best picks I ever had were tortoise shell (before they were
banned) I bought in the Bahamas years ago. Also, for a nice round
warm sound I remember having lost my last pick on a gig years ago and
finishing up with a wooden match stick. Sounded great! Went thru
almost a whole box that night.<G>
Wes
Stan Gosnell
>The best picks I ever had were tortoise shell (before they were
>banned) I bought in the Bahamas years ago. Also, for a nice round
>warm sound I remember having lost my last pick on a gig years ago and
>finishing up with a wooden match stick. Sounded great! Went thru
>almost a whole box that night.<G>
>
>Wes
I have seen my father use a tooth from a plastic comb. Long ago & far
away, combs were made from hard plastic, not nylon or whatever, & the
teeth could be broken out. Sounded pretty much the same as when he
used a real pick.
gerry garavaglia
as accomplished a player as probably all of you (having never played
out, and basically playing for my own enjoyment, after having played
virtually 3/4 of my 50 years) but I have been working with a so called
"stylus pick" and not anchoring my picking hand on the bridge or with my
finger. I let it float above the strings. Now my picking is not very
good but I have noticed an improvement. Has anyone else tried the
"stylus pick"?
Gerry
DANNY T. SMITH
I haven't tried the stylus pick but would like to. Where did you get
yours? How does it help your picking technique?
Thanks
Danny
Griffin Ga.
GGarava352
regular pick cept on the end it is cone shaped ( to a point) it has a ridge on
the cone that will catch on the string if you pick too deeply on a string. the
idea is to keep your pick a consitant depth when you are picking. It is
supposed to be used for doing scale practice and picking exercises ( cant
really chord with it). I believe you by keeping it a consistant depth while
picking you will developing better control and speed.
Good luck
let me know how you like it if you can find one.
Gerry