Ok....just starting. Here's what I sound like pre-"Gypsy Picking"

Jimfog

Just got a nice Gitane DG-310 Lulo Reinhardt.....already nicely setup with a Dupont bridge, etc. Here's my 1st shot at playing anything in this style. I have "Gypsy Picking" and will dig in soon, but I figured I'd put this out there as starting point of my progress.....if any happens!

As I mentioned in another thread, I'm a full-time pro player, so I don't know how feasible it will be to totally revamp my RH, but we'll see.

(You don't have to be on Facebook to view, BTW)

https://www.facebook.com/jimfog/videos/10218903609596699/

karmar

Hey Jim - Nice playing! welcome to the brotherhood! I like your vibrato. It will be interesting to see how you progress if you leave more videos as you pick up more and more of the genre. How are you supporting your guitar? Best not to be supporting the guitar with the same hands you are using to play - but you already know that...

Scoredog

Hi Jim,

there is some nice stuff in there...I'd look at playing using rest strokes more. I also suggest being a bit more aware where you are when finishing phrases so you are not grappling with the end of lines (I'm guilty sometimes of that too as are many others).

crookedpinky

Very nice ideas and playing. My only comment would be about how you're holding that pick. It looks like a very loose grip with a lot of the pick being exposed. But maybe as you work through the Gypsy Picking book you'll adjust that. Good luck.

MichaelHorowitz

@Jimfog Nice playing! Of course, you can keep just doing what you're doing if that's the sound you're after. But if you put some time in learning the rest stroke picking technique, learning the characteristic phrases and arpeggios for the style, and maybe take on a few Django solos as well, then you'll really start to get the Gypsy sound!

Learning a new musical style is very analogous to learning a new language. Right now you're speaking with a pronounced accent. To sound like a "native speaker" then you'll have to put some more time in learning the traditional techniques.

Good luck!

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jeffmatz

Hey, sounding pretty good man!

Those Lulo's are nice guitars.. very fast neck.

I wouldn't worry so much about having an "accent." Be you. But learn from the greats too...listen and steal everything you can. Seems to me, most of the great players do NOT only listen to gypsy jazz, or even guitar players. Have big ears.

Regarding gypsy picking-- you have to find what works for you. I, like you, had been playing guitar and American jazz for a long time before getting into this music. I'm not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater...so you'll hear some Charlie Christian in my playing, so Grant Green, some Jim Hall...

But there IS a reason so many players use it. Well, 2 reasons, but they go hand in hand.

The first is the volume/tone in relationship to how these guitars sound/react. Keep recording yourself. Play a ballad, play the melody, unadorned, with your current picking technique. Then try it with all downstrokes. Don't even worry so much about "rest strokes," just play and record a simple ballad melody with all downstrokes and compare the tone. Its eye opening.

The second is, as you get further in, gypsy picking/rest stroke picking is a way to maintain that volume and tone when playing fast without creating too much tension in the picking hand. I am not a strict or even a good "gypsy jazz" picker, but I can tell you that even just through practicing it, my right hand has become faster, more accurate, and most importantly, more relaxed.

Anyway, just my 2 cents. Keep it up!