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so is this to play or lose a finger on?
www.scoredog.tv
Let's try to have a look at christophe Lartilleux on the web.
Several videos regarding how to play Django with 2 fingers.
He was the 'left hand' of Django in the movie 'Django'.
Cheers
My lessons with Stephane Wrembel have always included playing a Django solo with two fingers and getting that down before including more fingers. I'd suggest reaching out to him for lessons, he's an incredible teacher and fantastic person.
Hi !
"Antonis Arfanis" on Youtube made an incredible work, transcribing and playing many Django tunes with 2 fingers. Not just solos, but also accompaniement. Check his videos if you're interested :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq1dC_Sf0Os
I used to play with my band occasionally at the Toronto Press Club back in the 80’s.
There was one legendary reporter there, name now unrememberable, who decided to learn to play the piano at age 50.
”What kind of music do you want to play?” asked his teacher.
”The Warsaw Concerto. I just want to learn to play the Warsaw Concerto.”
So the teacher worked with the guy for about five solid years—- just playing the Warsaw Concerto and nothing else.
And so it happened that one day at the club’s happy hour, he was able to dazzle all his colleagues with his rendition of the song, which soon became legendary at the Press Club.
And the guy never learned to play a single other song. He only ever wanted to play the Warsaw Concerto. Literally.
****
Moral of the story: sometimes a crackpot goal can actually be met, if you are crazy enough to follow through.
So I wish this two finger guy all the luck in the world.
I hope that if he goes to Soundslice maybe he can find one single tabbed-out Django solo which he can work on for the rest of his life to play with two fingers.
Even if it’s the only song he ever learns.
Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."
Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
Will,
Your story reminds me of Gilbert Kaplan, a businessman who made a lot of money. He fell in love with Mahler and decided to learn how to conduct the orchestra after he'd made his fortune. I believe it was the only piece he ever conducted. He didn't want to be a conductor professionally, he just liked the one symphony.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_Kaplan
That also reminds me of this story by Tony Mottola. Johnny Carson asked him for guitar lessons, having never played the instrument. They worked together for six months, and Johnny Carson finally learned a single tune. After he performed it once, he never touched the guitar again, ready to move onto the next challenge.
Adrian
Years ago, I decided to start playing whatever I already knew (blues and rock licks/solos) with two fingers. Several reasons but the one I remember most was that I wanted to break out of the common blues box patterns and quit relying on habitual repetitive licks for the content of my solos. Playing with two fingers made me approach my old patterns/licks differently. Soon, new patterns and licks developed from that. I got so comfortable using two fingers that eventually my patterns and licks got little repetitive. To break out of that repetitive pattern, I am actually learning individual Django licks and riffs so I can consciously integrate them into my soloing.
I use my 3rd and 4th fingers only for chords the way I believe Django or any of his rhythm players would have used them. I have used the two-finger technique for so long now that it feels incredibly awkward to try to play solos normally (using all fingers). But, the two fingers that I do use for soloing, it's like they have superpowers!!!
I do not plan to go back to using all fingers for soloing unless I suddenly feel the urge to learn Yngwie solos or some Segovia classical guitar arrangements. But right now I really enjoy playing the two-finger technique and I plan to take it as far as I can.
I only use 3 fingers, so I’m probably the guy on the right looking at you.
I've experimented with 2-fingers before, it does have some advantages in terms of speed but it's hard to keep up. Many Sitar players only use two fingers so there may be something to learn from them.
To add to the stories above, I read an interview with someone once - I can't remember who now - who said that when he first got a guitar he was really into Hendrix and so he spent months and months copying Hendrix solos until he really had everything down and could play it all really well. Then he showed what he could do to a friend who could play the guitar. The friend picked the guitar up to try it, realised it was badly out of tune so he tuned it - the guy had spent all that time learning Hendrix solos, but he had never learnt how to tune a guitar. Once tuned, he couldn't play the Hendrix stuff anymore and he couldn't replicate whatever weird tuning he'd started out with! He did go on to play the guitar properly, but he never went back to Hendrix. The moral of the story is - learn the basics first!