BEST INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO

bloomschool

Hello everyone. I am learning the rest stroke and wonder if someone could recommend the best instructional video out there that could set me on the right path. I have been working with Michaels "GYPSY Picking", but I need some visual instruction too. Thanks.

Fopa

You could try Paul Mehling's videos

http://www.hcsf.com/store/store.html

BluesBop Harry

Hello,
If you're trying to learn Gypsy Picking I believe the Mehling videos won't help much, because he uses another pick technique.
Denis Chang's has some instructional DVD's in the works that are sure to become essentials for anyone learning to play Jazz Manouche...but it's gonna be a while before they are available.
Here's some clips from his first DVD (a must have), available now, mostly about rhythm but you can find some lead stuff in the Django in june clip:

http://youtube.com/user/cminor7b5

You may find videos and lots of helpful material on this
Great site

Finally watch this one where you can see Bireli's right hand from a good angle a few times during the song, it helped me when I was first starting out, although it also frightened me:
Bireli-Hungaria

Also there are lots of other videos on the Mary Honcoop archive that will let you see the great players and their hands in action. Also good for you would be to get your hands on DVD's like Birelis Jazz a Vienne, Angelo Debarre at DFNW and The Rosenberg trio live at the North sea jazz festival.

Hope you find this helpful,
Good luck!
Enrique

bloomschool

Thanks everyone! Those are great resources! After watching the HUNGARIA video I understand now the position of the right hand and its motion. It appears that the elbow of the right arm is "behind" the upper bout, not on top of it. That seems to positon my arm and wrist in the best position. As far as I can determine.

dennis

hi so far for the picking technique, i really enjoy this video:

dennis

btw, a bit of a nostalgic moment, but this is the video that helped me the most when i was starting out, back then there was no "gypsy picking" or anything like that, i spent hours watching this video and trying to recreate it in front of a mirror!



speaking of instructional videos, i just got back from toronto, we filmed 32 hours worth of video for a series of 4 instructional DVDs ... each of them lasting approximately 3 hours.. with the rhythm DVD that's almost 15 hours..

i tried to make it as complete as I could so i hope people will find it useful.... due to the massive amount of editing required (32 hours!!) it probably won't be released until next year, hopefully before the summer...

a

here's another one:



and most of jimmy rosenberg's footage is good because his movements are very large and obvious.

bloomschool

Hi Dennis and thanks for these great video references. I have started studying them. And I video record myself at the same "angle" as the )Dayd)Valse a Baqmboula Ferret video to see if my technique and and right hand position matches it. Fantastic, thanks. I plan on buying your materials soon. What types of instruction will your new DVD's be?

bloomschool

Hello everyone. And thank you all so very much for your response to my questions. I play professionally as a jazz guitarist, electric guitar. But I am smitten with this Gypsy jazz music! So in my attempt to learn the right hand picking technique I have uploaded a short video of me playing. I used two different hand positions to get your input. The first I curled my fingers up. The second, I just let them hang naturally. Hanging the fingers just seems so much more comfortable to me. I realize that my wrist should be higher maybe? And maybe I am not raising the pick up high enough off the strings before the downstroke. Any critiques will be most appreciated. Thanks again.

dennis

hi bloomschool, i think it looks fine with a few details... you do what a lot of people myself included do in the beginning when they start off with this technique, the wrist starts off in the right position, but as you play the angle flattens, and sometimes you revert back to the original position... obviously, what you want to do is keep the same position all the time, your wrist angle is fairly small , like mine, maybe mine is a bit bigger though... the important thing is not really the angle of the wrist but to have the feeling that you can use the natural weight and flexibility of the wrist....

another thing that is important to this technique, is to use a hammering technique with the right hand, which is interesting because it is the opposite of what is taught in classical guitar (minimum motion)... here in this style you sometimes want to exaggerate the attacks, of course a lot of it depends on the speed oft he passage you're trying to execute but nonetheless...

my favorite example on youtube is mozes rosenberg, here's one i filmed last year at samois:



my new DVDs will be on technique and improvisation in the context of this music, so i run through as much as possible on the django style technique, both right hand and left hand, typical effects (django style slides, django style bends, vibrato, ghost notes, etc...) , and as far as improv goes, i tried to make it an indepth study of the approach to improvisation using django, bireli, stochelo, and others as examples... i talk about soloing over static chords , i show a bunch of licks, show how they work, break them down, create variations, then we look at various chord progressions, minor swing, minor blues, rhythm changes, dominant cycles, etc.... simplifying changes (douce ambiance), and enriching them (minor blues) for soloing purposes... django style substitutions and a whole lot more, it's 12 hours of instruction so I hope people will get as much out of it as possible!

bloomschool

Thanks very much! Yes, I realize now that my wrist flattens out. I am just beginning to get an idea of the correct technique. My latest thoughts after watching the video you posted is that it is like a whipping action of the wrist and arm, is that not correct? The videos of the masters look so relaxed and the wrist and arm appear to be limp. So I tried practicing totally relaxed and trying to "hammer" the strings, but my accuracy was way off. But I understand what you mean. I haven't as of yet felt that "gravity" of my wrist fall on the strings. I suppose then that I would need to raise the pick up higher and just let if fall on the strings?

Thanks so much!