Oscar Aleman technique

King_Cardboard · August 2021

Oscar Aleman gets some occasional love round these parts, but not many people talk about his technique. I’m not talking about the solos just in terms of notation which Greg Ruby did an excellent job transcribing in his book, but his unusual thumb pick technique. He does some amazing Ragtimey arrangements of stuff like Nobody’s Sweetheart and then can flawlessly transition to fast and technical single swing soloing.

so as I do a little bit of ragtime blues and a lot of swing flat picking, I decided to try it out and I’m not sure how he was able to do it so well particularly with upstrokes, do you think it could of been a beveled thumb pick? Has anyone ever tried a thumb pick for single note lines?

Buco · August 2021

You can find a bunch of videos of Richard Smith playing with Joscho and using a thumb pick to solo.

scot · August 2021

In my experience as a longtime fingerpicker, if you use a heavy National-type thumb pick it's pretty hard to do even short single lines. But with a lightweight Ernie Ball banjo thumb pick it's not so bad. Today I alternate thumb and index finger (without picks) for single lines like Riley Puckett or Gary Davis. That's traditional ragtime blues style though I think both of those guys used picks. Of course, Oscar Aleman was a special case - I think he used hybrid picking, flatpicking and alternate fingers as needed. He was a great ragtime picker along with everything else he could do.

Then there was also Thumbs Carlisle...