Guitar
An interesting development in my musical journey occurred this week; I did four gigs and a rehearsal this week and never once grabbed a flat pick.
This is a goal I've had since the late nineties when I got hip to the great rhythm guitarists of the '50's Chicago blues scene. Admittedly, many of them employed thumb and fingerpicks (many had made the transition from banging as loud as possible on acoustics in noisy juke-joints and taverns to banging as loud as possible in the same joints with electric guitars and pickup-equipped acoustics through wildly under-powered amps to glorious effect). Players like Jimmy Rogers, Robert Lockwood Jr. and Freddie King all played open handed, and often implied multiple parts in their rhythm playing. I've always found thumb and fingerpicks really uncomfortable, and as a young man I had a limited amount of classical guitar lessons, so riding bareback always seemed more comfortable for me. Unfortunately, this makes me the laughing stock of legit steel guitarists and banjo-players, who can't help but poo-poo my bare-fingered approach.
All the same, for years I whacked away at my guitars with a pretty stiff flat pick, and my busiest playing was enabled by the pick's ease of use, often to the detriment of the music. (Like many players, I got a little drunk on my new-found chops for a while...)
For a long time my compromise was using a hybrid pick-and-fingers technique, and there's nothing wrong that approach - check out Danny Gatton, David Grissom or Albert Lee for a master class in that approach. It offers many options both in terms of timbre and picking techniques. You also have the option of stashing the pick in your palm or between your fingers and going with straight finger-style. Over the past three years I've found that the pick was stashed in my palm more often than not.
Also, over the past few years I've found myself doing an awful lot of solo gigs. At the solo gigs I never pick up a plectrum; usually I'm playing (or more likely, implying) a bass line with my thumb and either chording or soloing with my fingers, or some combination thereof. Very rarely do I actually strum anything. This allows me to play multiple parts, which is convenient, but as time went on I came to appreciate more and more the amount of dynamic control I had over every note.
It's only in recent times that I've managed to develop my bareback right hand to the point where I can play single notes as speedily and accurately as I can with a pick, and a host of new right hand approaches such as thumb-slaps, finger-nail smacks, rasaguedo sweeps and suchlike are evening out the differences in timbre.
More than anything the process has made my playing more considered. Having so much control over the presentation of every note with the combinations of flesh and nail that are available, has me sitting on notes longer, playing more melody that licks. It's also opened up a different sense of how to get around the fret board, playing wider intervals across the neck instead of linear motion, playing chordal solos where I may have blazed single notes in the past, or sometimes blazing those single notes with equal amounts of touch and emotion from both my left and right hands, something I find harder to achieve with a chunk of plastic between me and the note.
And here's another little twist: I'm playing in a rock band for the first time in twenty years, a loud, squawky, greasy little rawk band, and even in that setting I don't miss the pick. My secret weapon? Do yourself a favour and have a look at this:
Dr. Feelgood's guitarist, the great Wilko Johnson's weirdo technique was the one missing piece in the puzzle of my journey to pick-lessness. He was inspired in turn by the brilliant Mick Green of Captain Johnnie Kidd and the Pirates, but learning off records and from gigging around his home town of Canvey Island, Wilko came up with his own utterly unique right hand. I've spent about a year messing about with this technique and while I don't sound quite like Wilko (I doubt anyone ever really will), I've found his four-fingernail down stroke to be a surprisingly accurate way to smoke out single note lines and sharp riffing alike. Check it out.
Like anything in music (or life, I suppose) small adjustments can reap all sorts of unexpected benefits. You can never go wrong taking some time to reevaluate your approaches, not just to technique, but toward the musicality you're seeking to express. Technique is there to serve music, not the other way around.
- Peavey T-60 And T-40 Cases, Part Ii. . . . .
I asked Chip a couple of questions - How did the moulded case design come about, in order to conclude this piece about the cases and just get get an insight into the musical side of him, what his musical experiences were and did they influence...
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- Solo (you Can't Hear It)
One is the loneliest number... I just landed a steady solo gig, the first in about two years since I had a serious falling out with the proprietor of the last joint (where I had cooked for eight years and performed for three-and-half). This...
- Look Ma, No Hands!
Just gotta' photoshop out the guitar... Some years ago, I was in a touring band that ranged all over Canada and the mid-western states for three months at a go, twice a year. We did some long drives...I'm talking eighteen, twenty hours...
- Interview: Kevin Breit.
Kevin Breit is an upsetting guitar player. He upsets traditional notions of what is possible on the guitar. He upsets the received wisdom of how the guitar should be played. And he just plain upsets other guitar players, who after witnessing...
Guitar
Finally Free of the Pick?
 |
| My partner in crime for years...now retired? |
An interesting development in my musical journey occurred this week; I did four gigs and a rehearsal this week and never once grabbed a flat pick.
This is a goal I've had since the late nineties when I got hip to the great rhythm guitarists of the '50's Chicago blues scene. Admittedly, many of them employed thumb and fingerpicks (many had made the transition from banging as loud as possible on acoustics in noisy juke-joints and taverns to banging as loud as possible in the same joints with electric guitars and pickup-equipped acoustics through wildly under-powered amps to glorious effect). Players like Jimmy Rogers, Robert Lockwood Jr. and Freddie King all played open handed, and often implied multiple parts in their rhythm playing. I've always found thumb and fingerpicks really uncomfortable, and as a young man I had a limited amount of classical guitar lessons, so riding bareback always seemed more comfortable for me. Unfortunately, this makes me the laughing stock of legit steel guitarists and banjo-players, who can't help but poo-poo my bare-fingered approach.
All the same, for years I whacked away at my guitars with a pretty stiff flat pick, and my busiest playing was enabled by the pick's ease of use, often to the detriment of the music. (Like many players, I got a little drunk on my new-found chops for a while...)
For a long time my compromise was using a hybrid pick-and-fingers technique, and there's nothing wrong that approach - check out Danny Gatton, David Grissom or Albert Lee for a master class in that approach. It offers many options both in terms of timbre and picking techniques. You also have the option of stashing the pick in your palm or between your fingers and going with straight finger-style. Over the past three years I've found that the pick was stashed in my palm more often than not.
 |
| My preferred pick-stashing technique. It's amazing how effortless it is going back and forth with some practice. I often don't notice that I've made the transition - it's there, and then, oops, it's gone again! |
Also, over the past few years I've found myself doing an awful lot of solo gigs. At the solo gigs I never pick up a plectrum; usually I'm playing (or more likely, implying) a bass line with my thumb and either chording or soloing with my fingers, or some combination thereof. Very rarely do I actually strum anything. This allows me to play multiple parts, which is convenient, but as time went on I came to appreciate more and more the amount of dynamic control I had over every note.
It's only in recent times that I've managed to develop my bareback right hand to the point where I can play single notes as speedily and accurately as I can with a pick, and a host of new right hand approaches such as thumb-slaps, finger-nail smacks, rasaguedo sweeps and suchlike are evening out the differences in timbre.
More than anything the process has made my playing more considered. Having so much control over the presentation of every note with the combinations of flesh and nail that are available, has me sitting on notes longer, playing more melody that licks. It's also opened up a different sense of how to get around the fret board, playing wider intervals across the neck instead of linear motion, playing chordal solos where I may have blazed single notes in the past, or sometimes blazing those single notes with equal amounts of touch and emotion from both my left and right hands, something I find harder to achieve with a chunk of plastic between me and the note.
And here's another little twist: I'm playing in a rock band for the first time in twenty years, a loud, squawky, greasy little rawk band, and even in that setting I don't miss the pick. My secret weapon? Do yourself a favour and have a look at this:
Dr. Feelgood's guitarist, the great Wilko Johnson's weirdo technique was the one missing piece in the puzzle of my journey to pick-lessness. He was inspired in turn by the brilliant Mick Green of Captain Johnnie Kidd and the Pirates, but learning off records and from gigging around his home town of Canvey Island, Wilko came up with his own utterly unique right hand. I've spent about a year messing about with this technique and while I don't sound quite like Wilko (I doubt anyone ever really will), I've found his four-fingernail down stroke to be a surprisingly accurate way to smoke out single note lines and sharp riffing alike. Check it out.
Like anything in music (or life, I suppose) small adjustments can reap all sorts of unexpected benefits. You can never go wrong taking some time to reevaluate your approaches, not just to technique, but toward the musicality you're seeking to express. Technique is there to serve music, not the other way around.
- Peavey T-60 And T-40 Cases, Part Ii. . . . .
I asked Chip a couple of questions - How did the moulded case design come about, in order to conclude this piece about the cases and just get get an insight into the musical side of him, what his musical experiences were and did they influence...
- John Mcgalughlin Amazes Us All With His Thoughts, Words And Monsterous Technique!
I have never been a big fan of John McGlaughlin's playing but I've always thought he had amazing technique. I remember listening to his guitar duets with Carlos Santana on Love, Devotion, and Surrender when I was in college and thinking...
- Solo (you Can't Hear It)
One is the loneliest number... I just landed a steady solo gig, the first in about two years since I had a serious falling out with the proprietor of the last joint (where I had cooked for eight years and performed for three-and-half). This...
- Look Ma, No Hands!
Just gotta' photoshop out the guitar... Some years ago, I was in a touring band that ranged all over Canada and the mid-western states for three months at a go, twice a year. We did some long drives...I'm talking eighteen, twenty hours...
- Interview: Kevin Breit.
Kevin Breit is an upsetting guitar player. He upsets traditional notions of what is possible on the guitar. He upsets the received wisdom of how the guitar should be played. And he just plain upsets other guitar players, who after witnessing...