Should you learn to play with 2 fingers like Django..?

Dario Napoli · September 23

If you're trying to learn to play guitar in the style of Django Reinhardt, you may have wondered if it's necessary to learn to play with 2 fingers like the Master did on single note soloing. In this video I tackle the subject and hopefully you will gain some clarity and some practical answers that will help guide you through the process

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbHxPbz-lWM

jazzz · September 24

Exactly, If Django had the use of all five fingers, he would have surely used them.

Furthermore, if you want to be like Django, you should be a musician that is original and that inspires fellow musicians, not being a copycat.

Buco · September 24

I saw this one come out and wondered "what's he going to say that covered 20 minutes on the subject", haha.

I didn't watch it yet (I will) but of course there's absolutely no reason to play with two fingers.

I did some exploration with it because I was and still am fascinated with the technique he developed and was curious about it. I wanted to try to figure out how he navigated the fretboard.

My exploration led me think that the thinking about him playing mostly horizontally or favoring moving horizontally across the fretboard is mostly incorrect. If you use double stops, meaning using the same finger to cover two notes on the two adjacent strings (playing one at a time), you don't have to resort to long horizontal stretches. Which he may have well used, but I doubt that he was forced to play that way.

flaco · September 24

I took a few lessons from Stephane Wrembel, and his method has you learn the solo with 2 fingers so you can get some insight into how Django visualized the fretboard, how he associated shapes with chords, etc. He wouldn’t have you try to regularly play that way, but it definitely seems like a valuable exercise.

Dario Napoli · September 24

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/118352#Comment_118352

Agree 100 percent:)

Dario Napoli · September 24

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/118354#Comment_118354

I agree, however I do find that certain passages and phrases are more effective when actually "copying" Django's 2 finger fingerings, so personally I think one should try and keep an open mind and see what feels more comfortable:)

Dario Napoli · September 24

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/118358#Comment_118358

Exactly, I do the same with my students and the same with myself. I find it to be useful to try to imagine as closely as possible how Django was moving, but in the end I filter it and concentrate on what then feels best for me

Buco · September 25

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/118360#Comment_118360

Absolutely, playing the basic minor arp with two fingers, even an average guitarist can move at Bireli speed without much trouble.

MichaelHorowitz · September 25

Another endorsement here for exploring fingerings that primarily use the index and middle fingers. Spending some time playing that way will lead you to fingerings you never would have discovered otherwise, and in many cases are the only way to play certain Django phrases.

lucky · September 25

You only need two fingers to solo - one to fret a note and another to be in position to fret the next note. Adding fingers means more thinking time which slows you down. When I was in India I was very surprised to see Sitar players using just their first two fingers just like Django, but apparently that’s a common technique in classical Sitar playing.

I’ve never gone down the road of only playing with two fingers but when I’ve experimented with it I’ve been surprised at how fast and fluid it is, almost like going up a gear. People always talk about Django’s technique as a limitation he had to overcome - I think it was a great discovery and there’s a lot to be learned from it.