Gypsy Rhythm & faster tempos

BluesBop Harry · February 2008

Actually, according to Dennis Chang's "the art of accompaniment", rotating picks are a fairly common problem among even the best, so it's not necessarily your fault... Dennis said some solve the problem by scratching the picks surface with a knife and the sandpaper trick comes from one of the french forums. I believe it's best to try one of these solutions instead of gripping the pick tighter.
Hope it works out.

Ryan Flaherty · February 2008

It's hard... but just takes practice... everyday as much as possible... then it's not so hard... unless you take long breaks between practicing or gigging...

Key is to play everyday with a metrenome, keep it simple and increase your speed gradually after you have mastered slower tempos... also switch back and forth. When your arm freezes up, take a 30 second break... decrease the tempo and start again...

Kind of like wieght training... you want your muscles to memorize the movement... so start slow and build that muscle memory.

Anyone can play fast accurately if they practice all the time... and with a metrenome. It's no secret.

Sometimes, in the past and still, I have to really psyche myself up when I feel the pain coming on in my right hand... but breathing, relaxing and posture are the other big ones not to forget here!

I know this post may be late... but I just registerd here with my new address.

Funkify,
Ryan[/quote]

langleydjango · February 2008

Bones wrote:

Harry,

I've been using one of the Wegens with the little grooves so I don't know what my problem is. It must be something wrong with my technique. I guess I'll just keep at it and hopefully something will work out.

Thanks

Gorilla Snot will also solve the problem. It works great. Available at most good music stores. I think its basically pine resin. You can stop playing, windmill your arm around like Pete Townsend and your pick will still never move.

Don't handle toilet paper for a while after using it though.

I am serious.

troy