CAN THE WRIST BE BENT TOO MUCH..?

Dario Napoli

So I've been following the gipsy picking techniques for a while now and it's starting to feel natural but I've been told maybe the wrist is too bent when I play (right hand). I don't feel extra tension or anything but could I be moving less efficiently? Can the wrist be too bent?
Thanks in advance,
Dario

klaatu

darionapoli74 wrote:

So I've been following the gipsy picking techniques for a while now and it's starting to feel natural but I've been told maybe the wrist is too bent when I play (right hand). I don't feel extra tension or anything but could I be moving less efficiently? Can the wrist be too bent?
Thanks in advance,
Dario

I'm no expert by any means, but having worked diligently at this for the past couple of years (after a couple of years of laziness), I would guess that you can't bend your wrist too much as long as there's no discomfort. Take a look at videos of the top players - you'll see all sorts of wrist bends as well as finger positions. Tchavolo almost bends his fingers into a fist, Jimmy Rosenberg splays his fingers about as far as physically possible, and most people are somewhere in between, but all have pretty pronounced wrist bend. The bent wrist helps you to drive the pick more towards the top of the guitar than parallel to it on downstrokes and helps to get more power into the stroke. There are also some things that you just can't do (or do well) with a flat wrist.That's my $.02 (Canadian) worth.

HotTinRoof

I'm just a beginner in this style but I've found that concentrating on the rest stroke has greatly helped me to keep a more bent wrist - A heavy downstroke from the wrist bringing the pick to rest on the string below is actually more difficult with a flat hand.

I'm playing passages very slow and will practice all down strokes through a lick before I add up strokes. Invest the time now, I figure and I'll be good for the future. :?

I recently stumbled onto this performance of Gonzalo Bergara with Andeas Oberg - love Gonzalo's right hand. Look at his picking, so minimalist, so awesome.

http://www.andreasguitaruniverse.com/lesson/1786

klaatu

HotTinRoof wrote:

I recently stumbled onto this performance of Gonzalo Bergara with Andeas Oberg - love Gonzalo's right hand. Look at his picking, so minimalist, so awesome.

Yes, Gonzalo makes it look so effortless. It's well worth watching his videos for his right hand action.

Bones

I agree. Watching Gonzalos right hand technique really helped me. I noticed it right away when I saw him playing rhythm for JJ before I knew who he was and was struck by his right hand loosness and dexterity.

I'm always inspired watching all the greats (Stochelo, Bireli, Gonzalo, Angelo to name a few) especially the right hand.

Also, look at the few videos of Django of course....

Ultraspontane

Yeah Gonzalo almost looks like his wrist is bent 90 degrees sometimes. And he sounds great.

Dario Napoli

Thanks for all the great points and perspective guys, much appreciated!

redblues

As an aside; has anyone else ever noticed that Romane's right hand actually moves in slow motion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gna2xnLu ... re=related

HotTinRoof

redblues wrote:

As an aside; has anyone else ever noticed that Romane's right hand actually moves in slow motion... (snip)

Looks that way! He doesn't appear to use the larger wrist movement I frequently see in this style but you can still hear the heavy handedness and weight behind those downward strokes.

Do you hear the crying of the string redblues?

HotTinRoof

Looking at the man himself here he doesn't have nearly the wrist angle as other who play this style - definitely not flat, but not heavily bent either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iJ7bs4m ... Yfoy7B5XWK

A good angle @3:10

Bones

Good point! It would seem that the amount of angle is not so important. Probably just what is the most comfortable and powerful and doesn't inhibit movement.

Also, note that his hand is definitely free from the top (not resting the wrist on the bridge like a lot of modern jazz and rock players do) and his wrist/fore arm is very relaxed.

It would be interesting to see if his hand position changed a bit when he was doing one of his fast chord tremolos....