Pick Attack

BluesBop Harry

Yeah! that's it. Thanks Jon

Elliot

Jon wrote:

Something I've found helpful is learning to be able to quickly completely relax my hand in between difficult phrases (in the space of half a second or so) so that even if it does start to get tight - which if something is hard for you to play, it inevitably will, by definition - you can recover in the space of a quarter note rest for the next barrage. It builds stamina, and eventually leads to a faster, looser technique.
Jon

Good advice. They make you do that on harp and classical guitar (and piano), too.

Phil

klaatu wrote:

Holy crap! What a great video!

Denis, what's the name of that tune?

And who's the rhythm player on the left?

It's a great DVD from Lollo Meier with a lot more great tunes featuring Lollo jamming with Stochelo and Fapy. Check it out:
http://www.lechemindedjango.com/?wpsc-p ... django-dvd

Buco

Ahab wrote:

Hey there,

I've been going to a few jams recently and I've found them to be very informative experiences. One aspect of technique has stood out in particular, and that is the degree to which you attack the strings.

I have a slight problem in that my guitar, although it has a fine tone, suffers from a lack of volume and bass register, plus is doesn't have a great deal of natural attack. Therefore in jam situations it gets drowned out particularly when there are more than two other guitarists there.

I believe you're in a perfect situation to develop proper picking technique.
Why do I say that?
I don't think it's being mentioned enough that this particular technique came out of necessity to be heard in a gig situation without means of amplification.
Few books I read about Django talk of them playing in dance halls sitting on the balcony above the crowd doing their best to be heard.
Even when Django entered his solo jazz career he faced same issues, though he may have played to a more attentive crowd it was still acoustic enviroment.

Here is an interesting story:
when I was a kid we used to have a lot of sing-a-long parties. Most of the times it was one guitar at a party and we'd change hands but sometimes there would be two or three.
So we had a similar problem, if you wanted to be louder in a three guitar setting then a guy next to you you'd have to really dig in.
Then I noticed a friend of mine started to play with his wrist angled attacking strings from above, sort of.
Nobody knew of Django or GJ or rest stroke or any of the techniques, but he came to it naturally.
I noticed what he was doing made his notes stand out and gave him this peculiar sound quality too. I liked it, started imitating and what do you know?
I could hear myself better too and after a while doing it like this I could notice this particular sound quality too.
Bummer part is that we got older, guitar parties weren't as fun any more and until recently I was a heavily distorted electric guitar player and never cultivated picking technique that my friend came up with naturally (he became a bass player too) but I always remembered this way of picking.

Whether this helps or not I don't know but I never shared this story and since I started dwelling into this style I think of it often and wanted to share it sometimes.

So you do need to think about proper positioning of your hand and such but it also helps to think about the background of it too, I think...

Buco