Picking

Devon8822 · September 2008

Before I get the book and get into details can someone tell me how to do so I can get the basics down, and decide if I want to learn this style. How gypsy jazz players pick, using their rest stroke technique?

BluesBop Harry · September 2008

Almost all the gypsies use the rest stroke technique when playing acoustic, in fact I'm having a hard time thinking of any that don't.
Bireli, Stochelo, Jimmy, Angelo, Tchavolo and of course Django himself all use gypsy picking.
Non gypsies like Joscho Stephan, Howard Alden and John Jorgenson use other techniques and do fine though the phrasing and tone are a little different.

You should really get the book before you start working on the picking technique or you're bound to go down a wrong road and make it harder to learn the right way. Buy the book and follow the instructions as close as you can, it takes a while.
In the meantime you can dig around the archives of the forum for some info.

If you really like this music IMHO there's no choice but to learn how to gypsy pick, if you're not that serious you can use other techniques but there are many things that will never sound "right" and/or be plain impossible to play.

The choice is yours... are you serious about gypsy jazz or not so much?

pinkgary · September 2008

What he said.

Devon8822 · October 2008

Well Can you at least give me a paragraph or two explaining how to gypsy pick?

Bones · October 2008

There's quite a bit to it so you really should get the book so you don't start any bad habits (I'm still trying to break mine) but a couple of tips are:

Keep your wrist bent at a comfortable angle (maybe like 30 degrees).
Keep your wrist loose.
Use a rotating motion (don't move your whole forearm up and down just rotate your wrist).
Alternate up and down picking on the same string.
Every time you change strings use a down stroke.
Pick into the strings on a down stroke so that the pick comes to rest on the next string (I think that's what they mean by 'rest' stroke).

Devon8822 · October 2008

Well

in what cases do you alternate pick and in what cases do you economy pick, and in what cases do you downstroke only... I realize its a mix of those, but how?

BluesBop Harry · October 2008

Bones gave you the clues.
Get the book, it's all explained in clear detail.
https://shoppingcart.djangobooks.com/it ... cking.html
For $35 It's really a bargain considering what it can do for your playing, it changed my life, really.

Michael Bauer · October 2008

Devon--

I don't presume to have the knowledge or skill of Bones or my pal Harry, but I agree with them that you need the book first. Second, if you are anywhere close to a teacher of this music, go take a few lessons, because right hand technique is the key to the whole thing, and a few degrees of angle difference in the right hand's approach to the strings can make an enormous difference in volume and tone. Bad habits are hard to break, so don't learn any. Michael Horowitz gave me some sage advice when I started: try not to play any other music or picking style for about six months if you can, because it will make forming gypsy picking habits much easier. I thought, "Okay, I can give up this other music for awhile." Funny thing is I never went back.

Michael

dennis · October 2008

here's another advice i can give...

BUY THE BOOK

hahaha

but seriously, try using just downstrokes in the beginning and make sure to hammer the strings with the wrist... watch tchavolo videos on youtube to get an idea.. and practice in front of mirror

marciero · October 2008

Speaking of videos, the one of the Rosenbergs that Harry (I think) pointed to on the other thread is great quality audio and video, compared to most of the you tube stuff. You can clearly see Stochelo's use of the rest stroke technique, can tell down strokes from up, etc, even without slowing it down. It's all there!

Mike