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Which one are you working on? (if you don't mind me asking)
I also heard somewhere that GB has no callouses on his fingers. Go figure.
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01-28-2012 11:06 PM
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"clockwise" (alt. take) from the "its uptown" album. fast blues. not as fast as the original take. but he plays more shit. ill post it up when its done in about a week...GB is the baddest. he plays all these consistently ghosted left hand notes at over 250.
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Cool. I also much prefer the alt take.
Originally Posted by mattymel
I have the music for the solo in the faster take but I don't really like that solo as much. The alt take is much more....er....coherent.....and I prefer the guitar sound over the other more distorted one.
Good luck with it.
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"clockwise" alt. take solo is up under "players". check it...
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+ 1 on that!!! Originally Posted by mattymel
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I'm glad I was able to help. The video looks good. My only suggestion would be to make sure you're playing rest strokes. Allow your down strokes to rest on the next string. Of course as you get faster this becomes less obvious but when you practice slowly you should make sure your pick does this. Congrats. Originally Posted by fep
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Don't assume that everyone's reason for investigating the Benson picking thing arises out of wanting to emulate GB - tone or otherwise. Originally Posted by mattymel
I've been at this thing for over 40 years and only a few years ago decided to give it a try. The impetus for me was the promise of a certain difference in tone, which I'm now able to get from angling the pick back that way, with the right pick for me.
It wasn't GB that sold me - it was Adam Rogers, in both his straight ahead context and his more fusion thing with Chris Potter....not just the sound but the way his right hand seemed so right holding the pick that way...
It was a little scary for me at first, considering all the time and energy I'd put into developing my right hand in a more conventional manner but I'm happy to report that I'm still able to pick in the conventional way - without really practicing it.
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Scott, can one assume that Rodney's grip on the pick is feather light? I.e., he's not holding on to it for dear life? Originally Posted by ScotGormley
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After playing with what I believe is the proper "Benson" technique I have a few observations.
My favorite video is the setemupjoe's video on this thread. And I think the most important thing he says is, "The hand position is the main thing". Also, focus on how his wrist moves for the single note playing.
Joe really has his palm facing upward. I can't get as upward as him but that palm facing upward idea puts me in the correct position. If I get the palm facing upward everything else seems to fall in place.
I found that I need to have the guitar in a really high position for this technique. (this probably eliminates most of the non jazz guitarists
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On my solid body guitars, the volume knob can get in the way and to avoid that I need to stay near the front pickup with my picking.
I like to also hybid pick and play with my fingers. This requires me to shift in and out of this technique and is something that has to be practiced. I see this as the main disadvantage of this technique.
It is much easier for me to play with rest strokes and easier to use economy picking when using the Benson technique.
It is easier to accent the upstrokes with this technique for playing with a swing feel.
My main issue with my picking has always been that I haven't been able to develop as much speed as I want. I had basically hit a wall and consequently no longer saw the benefit of even working on speed. So I haven't really practiced picking technique much for the last couple of years.
After just a couple of days with this technique I checked my scale playing speed. I started to break up playing 16th notes at 120bpm and then backed the metronome off a couple of times and found my comfort upper tempo at 110bpm. That is already slightly better than what I could do with my old technique and that's just a couple of days of using the correct Benson technique. I'll be mostly practicing slowly for a while but I now aspire to get my 'comfort' 16th notes to 130bpm. I'm excited to see if that is possible for me and I'm now motivated to practice picking technique again.Last edited by fep; 02-28-2012 at 04:09 PM.
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Originally Posted by setemupjoe
Hey SetemupJoe, I read your comments back to Fep on PLAYING REST STROKES. Can you elaborate on this a bit so I am clear on what you mean by this?
Thanks
Mack
Last edited by MackIII; 02-28-2012 at 07:30 PM. Reason: wrong signature
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Hi Mack, Originally Posted by MackIII
Your question raises an important point with this technique. As Fep pointed out in his last video, the usual wrist action most guitarists use is a side to side motion that swings the pick in a pendulum like motion in and out of the plane of the strings. Think of it like a bird swooping down to pluck a fish out of a river and then flying up again. That's kind of what your pick does. Swooping up and down in an arc, in and out of the plane of the strings.
With this technique, on a down pick your pick is dragged over the string and comes to rest on the next string below it. The next string is used to stop the downward movement of your pick. That way your pick stays within the plane of the strings. I try to also do this with an up pick but as you're pushing up and away from your palm this motion isn't as strong and you don't "rest" on the next string.
I hope that helps.
Mark
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I wanted to revisited this just to document my progress. Here are the videos I have in this thread.
Post #1 - Nov. 2011 - Holding the pick sort of like Benson, but definitely not the Benson Technique
And today - A few months after starting to use the Benson technique. I did a video on another topic and I wasn't thinking of picking technique at all. This is a bit of a milestone in that the technique is now becoming natural to me and I don't have to think about it (at least not too much). And I like the way it looks. Maybe a problem? My arm is not as low as others. But, the arm and wrist and hand action looks good to me. And it is all very relaxed.
Last edited by fep; 05-26-2012 at 12:30 PM.
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Fep,
Thanks for the insight and it makes sense. I have been trying to use the Benson picking, because (when I don't drift back) my notes sound strongs and more defined. I will focus on the "hinge" when I practice today.
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Fep, that looks great. The more time you put into this you should find over time you'll be able to do things you couldn't do before. Good luck.
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Thanks Mark, Originally Posted by setemupjoe
You definitely get credit as it was watching your video that helped me finally figure this out.
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I've just started dabbling with this technique and the main things I'm struggling with are firstly handling the open strings - I'm getting a large amount of extraneous noise from the open strings that I would have previously muted when using a more conventional approach. I'm also getting a scratchy attack on the lower 2 strings, I seem to be dragging my pick along the strings creating a sort of rake noise.
Does anyone have any advice how to remedy these issues?
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Hi Gabe,
This technique can definitely be a bit tricky to get a handle on at the beginning mainly because it feels so different from the standard right hand technique.
Concerning the extraneous string noise. Slow everything down and find out why the other strings are making noises. Are you accidentally striking them or are they ringing in sympathy with the natural vibration of the guitar? I find I use my left hand to sometimes drape a finger across strings to silence them rather then the usual right hand damping.
Regarding the low A and E strings. This happens when you allow your thumb to push your pick forward along the string instead of down across the string. Again slow it down and concentrate on dragging the pick over the string, and not along it. It's a different motion. Most of my guitars have flat wound strings so this isn't a problem for me but my acoustic guitar has round wounds so I understand how this can happen.
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Hi Gabe,
There's a few things I noticed and maybe others can add some insight as well.
First, yes, your thumb is flapping at the knuckle too much. Try and keep it rigid. As you bend that knuckle the angle of the pick changes which is not what you want.
Second, you still need to work on your hand position. If you haven't seen my video (posted earlier in this thread) check it out. I think it lays out the hand position quite clearly. When you look down at your right hand, it should be cupped and placed against the pickguard. You should be able to see your palm facing up at you. In this position you are better able to drag the pick down across the strings. This could be the reason why you were getting that raking noise.
Keep working on it. It will improve. It took me a long time to get it to feel as comfortable as it is now.
I hope this helps,
Mark
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Thanks Mark, I'll work on those things you suggested. I'll go back through this thread and try to work on this technique.
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Hey guys - I finally got my webcam to cooperate with some software and actually be in sync, so I'm pretty excited....
This is just some mindless noodling, but I thought I'd show a little of how I pick - sorta Benson-ish I guess....I'll make another one with better light, as you can't really see what's going on as well as you could....
EDIT: I set this video to "private" - does it show up for you guys or should I set it to "unlisted"?
Last edited by Spirit59; 06-11-2012 at 04:34 PM. Reason: spelling
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Does anyone find that the Benson picking technique aggravates their carpal tunnel? I've seen discussions about picking on bass, and they seem to say that a side-to-side movement is less damaging to the wrist.
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Hi Gabe, I used to get a pronounced raking sound on the bass strings too, it's because using this technique angles the pick sideways on the bass strings. Top tip, try using a Jazz III sharp pointed pick as you need the sharp point to work with definition on the bass strings. They are a horrible sounding pick to use conventionally (in my opinion) but when you are using the side as it this technique in sounds very sounded almost like a very thick 'Jazztone' pick.
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I tried to listen. It said the video is private... Originally Posted by Spirit59
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OK - now it's set to "unlisted".
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