Picking with Wrist or relaxed Hand

Dino Wurtinger

Hi,

English is not my mother tongue, but i try my best to explain my problem. Usually i play Electric Jazz Guitar, but i am very interested in the way of gypsy picking.
If i make Reststroke Picking, i don't like to make a wrist with the right hand. I hold my hand loosely and sometimes my fingers touch the body of the guitar or pick guard with the fingertips to have more control about my picking. Is it really important to make a Wrist? i am not feeling very comfortable with it.

My next question is about the rules of picking. I know that every string change is a downstroke. But - is the first note every time a downstroke? The question sounds weird, but i found out, that i have problem to start a line with an upstroke, because i have to get the pick under the string without make an downstroke first. I hope you understand what i mean :-/. The only solution i see, is to make only an upstroke if the pick is already resting on a string, after you have made an downstroke ??

Last Question ! Do Gypsys use other Patterns to avoid one note on one string? Because i think one note per String Patterns are killing you if you want to play decending arpeggio. ??

I hope somebody can helpe me . Thank you a lot

Greets,

Dino

Hemert

Answers to all those common questions in this video:

Dino Wurtinger

Yeah thank you. This guy do it like me. With the different that i have an Archtop Guitar with no Pickguard, so i have to put my fingers much deeper to touch the top of the guitar. But i think i go to a luthier to make me a pick guard. Thank you very much

Bob Holo

Hi Dino,

Do you mean "Make a fist?" I don't think it's necessary to make a fist. Jimmy Rosenberg doesn't make a fist, and his fingers touch the top lightly. I think it's like what you're describing.

Beginning with a downstroke isn't necessary. A downstroke gives a different tone, and it is possible to get more strength in a downstroke, but it isn't necessary to begin every phrase with a downstroke. In fact, I think some things would be difficult or impossible to do if you begin them with a downstroke. There is a common "Django-esque" pattern of playing ascending triplets that begins with an upstroke and sweeps downward over three strings, moves up the fretboard and repeats.

I'm not sure how to help with the pick getting stuck when beginning on an upstroke, as it still happens to me occasionally. I think it has to do with accuracy of pick placement, but I'm not sure. It still happens to me when I move between strings quickly, or when I move larger distances (from the B to the A string for example)

Welcome to the forum!

Here's a vid showing Jimmy's technique

Dino Wurtinger

Yes i mean fist. Thank you that help me a lot. the thing to start a phrase with an upstroke is not a really problem, but if you have a very "syncopate" phrase, it feels sometimes a bit unrelaxed, because if i play on one string, i want to keep the rule of alternate picking. (Downpick for Downbeat, Upstroke for Offbeat) But it works .. ;-).

NylonDave

Bob Holo wrote: »

Hi Dino,



I'm not sure how to help with the pick getting stuck when beginning on an upstroke, as it still happens to me occasionally. I think it has to do with accuracy of pick placement, but I'm not sure. It still happens to me when I move between strings quickly, or when I move larger distances (from the B to the A string for example)

Here is a way to think of an upstroke.

Imagine you and your friends are out playing one hot summers day in a giant garden, an eden if you will. You have built up a serious thirst but don't want to miss out on any of the fun. So you crouch down next to a stream and with one hairy forearm rapidly fan a few scoops of delicious fresh water in the general direction of your mouth.

Or alternatively imagine digging in soft earth to find a delicious tuber.

The human body works well moving in arcs and spirals and well lots of different ways. Where it falls down badly is when we try and make it or any part thereof move in straight lines. If this seems bizarre it really isn't and only a few moments looking at the natural world and trees in particular will show you why straight lines are a relatively new and decidedly odd phenomena that our bodies find it hard to deal with.

Clumsiness is most often the result of trying to move in unnatural ways.

If it seems to you I have chosen those examples arbitrarily or flippantly please let me assure you that that is not the case.

D.

Jazzaferri

Not that I play like Jimmy Roseberg as I am a rhythm guy mostly.....but I play open hand and it doesn't seem to slow me down at all tho I have to say a cuople of tunes at 300 ish and I need a few slow ones to recover.

NylonDave

And so does the audience. I like being excited at a concert, not exhausted.