Smooth vs. harsh gypsy picking

littlemark · January 2

It looks like all the same day to me.

opus20000 · January 2

This album with Moreno and Debarre is a perfect example of this stark difference in picking:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q737uZZWgDU&list=PLnvo7_KXu1e0d0CZoVU2egWkhRWHpjYz3

Jangle_Jamie · January 2

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/119389#Comment_119389

In this recording, Angelo's guitar sounds the harsher of the two in my opinion - a bit thin and a very low action. Django's Tiger further on is a good example to listen to where they swing leads.

Buco · January 2

I wonder about this too sometimes. They're really very distinct voices if put in these broad categories however they're described. Is it a personal choice, or an environment, reflection of personality, something else...?

scot · January 3

15 or 20 years ago I wrote an essay on this subject for Michael Dregni's book on the history of gypsy jazz, though I approached it more from a regional perspective. That's still a reasonable way to look at tone and playing style. The rhythm style played in the Forbach region is much more percussive and staccato, whereas the Dutch players have a more fluid and tonal rhythm. These rhythm styles match up well with the soloing style and tone from those regions and probably developed simultaneously. And none of it is carved in stone - Forbach guitarist Mandino Reinhardt has a beautiful, glossy tone.

In the world of N American fiddling (a place I inhabited for a long time), there are many different styles of playing, from the smooth, long bow Texas/NW style to Cajun style to Appalachian style. In W Virginia, you could sometimes hear a difference from one valley to the next... These styles developed in the era of isolation before WW2 and followed the playing of the best player in the local area. Radio, recordings, easier travel, outside interest, the portable cassette player and finally the internet kind of diluted this regionality over time - not necessarily a bad thing, just part of the regular "folk process". Many Gypsies remained isolated from larger musical trends far longer than might be expected. Maybe their regional ethnic groups didn't have a lot of contact. Maybe the same non-musical factors that worked on many other types of music had an impact of how gypsy guitar playing developed in different regions. Who can say? But it gave us many different and enjoyable ways of playing and listening to music.

Music is a mysterious and wondrous thing!

Mondoslug · January 3

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/119382#Comment_119382

Right...it's a really great idea for that vid, if it was all the same session or edited, either way...pretty great.

DoubleWhisky · January 3

Moreno Winterstein used to play with Tchan Tchou Vidal and i think i can hear the influence. I also think the tonal differences are a result of many factors with the most prominent possibly in what angle and amount of force the strings get hit. Also picking position, pick thickness, material, overall hand technique, looseness of the wrist, where in the arm or hand the force gets created, how much gravity gets incorporated, the amount of range in which the hand gets "lashed" onto the strings, string height, ampunt of down strokes, etc etc. In "Les Fils du Vent" Moreno shows his pick, which is very thick.