Thin plastic picks do work

Bohemian

"players of Bireli's calibre can use anything" and they choose not to use Wegens

more proof that Wegens or other thick picks are neithjer necessary or universally used.. there was the Gypsy "sound" before and after the advent of this new age de rigeur fat pick fetish...

drolling

""players of Bireli's calibre can use anything" and they choose not to use Wegens"

unh, that was exactly my point, Bohemian. I am not now, nor will I ever be as immensely talented, nor insanely gifted as players of Bireli's ilk, but using a Wegen gets ME closer to HIS sound. It may be a 'fad', but it's workin' for me.

I'm reminded of my very first guitar with horrid action & wonky tuners. It sounded just dreadful in my hands, but my teacher made it sound like a dream.

Was it here that I read the anecdote about Chet Atkins being told that his guitar "sounded great"?
As the story goes, he put it down and replied "How's it sound now?"

Bohemian

And my opinion echoes that of others
The "right" equipment is not essential to a desired result far each and every player...the "right" equipment is that which works

whatever works... fat or thin
Sel Mac or Arch top

djangology

"players of Bireli's calibre can use anything" and they choose not to use Wegens

thats because they need to keep us guessing or we will catch up... LOL

a

a couple of months ago, i put my wegen down in favor of the bireli pick (purple dunlop 1.5). after a while, i got used to the punchy, bright sound.

that said..
i recently played for my grandmother, who had previously heard me play with the wegen. she asked me: "what happened to that musical sound that you used to have?" dregni quotes django as describing his desired tone as being like a piano. when compared to the sound produced by my grandmother's upright piano, my thin pick gave me far a brighter tone with less low end.

a couple of hours ago, i picked up my guitar and a moustache pick and got the piano sound. i haven't had the chance to sit in a small room with an unplugged gypsy jazz guitarist; i've had to learn the sound from records. i have a hunch that a lot of modern gypsy guitarists (including the top guys) don't play as loud as django did because audio technology has made it easier to get that bright sound heard on django recordings with a thin pick at a minimal volume. there's no longer a need to "overdrive" the guitar to get a bright sound. when i saw bireli play at birdland recently, i listened to him dabbling around on the guitar before they brought his sound up through the PA. it was surprisingly low in volume. also, when i watch stephane wrembel play live (plugged-in), it doesn't look like he's attacking the guitar with wide rest strokes.

needless to say, the discrepancy amongst tones- old recording vs. new recording, plugged-in vs. unplugged makes learning this style confusing.

can you really get the authentic django sound from a thin pick, or is what i'm hearing from modern records a result of improved recording quality?

thanks.

p.s. anyone know what kind of picks the ferres (both generations) use/d ?

Josh Hegg

I had the great honer of spending an after noon with the Ferre brothers. They both use thick picks like Wegan... When they use a pick. Allot of the time they finger pick as you can see from the picture. Boulou didn't use a pick the day I was with him but showed me the pick he likes. It is like a Mustache or Wegan.

Cheers,
Josh

Bob Holo

Very cool, Josh. That's a fun way to spend an afternoon for sure. I don't know if I ever told you this story, but my first year at Djangofest I chopped a little rhythm behind Elois Ferre. I had no idea who he was, but I was lamely chopping out something and he just sat down and joined in and he was (of course) fantastic. Later I pointed him out to Jon and said something like: "That guy over there is really good." He looked at me blankly for about 5 seconds until he realized I was serious and then he smiled and said something like: "that's the guy whose name is printed on the ticket you're holding." and started chuckling... Jon's a good guy... he could have teased me bigtime about that but he didn't.

Josh Hegg

Is was an amazing afternoon. We talked through an interpreter about music and their history all day. Boulou is a very great person all music aside. He is a thinker and wise. My impression of him just hearing their music and seeing him on stage was totally changed after spending the day with him and Elios. Boulou explained his thought process when he plays and just blow my mind. After his explination I went back and listened Rainbow of Life and it made so much sence after the conversations we had. And to bring it full citecle he didn't use a pick all the time and said he like the use his fingers because he can "weive the notes together"

Josh