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Don't pick, use legato patterns, it's much faster:
Use this video, try to avoid adding any musical content to your playing, also buy a "Fuzz box" that has the obligatory unmusical, harsh sounding diode clipping we all love to hate.
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05-16-2014 01:16 PM
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Jack,
Originally Posted by jzucker
What would you teach if you had to teach someone all the jazz theory they need to know in one day?
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BTW, I agree with you, Jack. I learned a lot of what I know of jazz theory at Berklee in the late 70's. The rest I was able to figure out on my own. My issue is how to apply it in a musical way, so it does not sound like I'm just running scales, arps, etc. Originally Posted by GAN
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This is interesting. I think the teaching thing is odd. I do think a great teacher who tracks your progress and is attentive is enormously important for learning the guitar. You can't learn how to hold a pick or pick up practice strategies from someone who just plays a chorus on a tune and let's you sort it out. You can also really benefit from a person with a different perspective. It can go a long way toward breaking you out of a slump. There is such thing as a person who can't articulate their perspective and they might not really be that big of a help if you're in that situation.
That said I think we're confusing the guitar and musicianship skills with the music itself. The music is rote. You learn by transcribing and gleaning from guys who are better than you. A teacher can't teach you to play Parker licks any better than a Parker recording can.
The whole putting "teacher" in quotes and implying that students who need help should be satisfied with a teacher who doesn't address their needs is about as off-base as implying that a student should expect to be taught how to play jazz. There's a place for teachers and when you're in that place having a teacher that is good at teaching and invested in your progress will probably do you some good. There's a also a place for just listening and transcribing and shedding and learning on your own two feet. There's always a place for hanging out and being in the presence of great musicians and learning whatever you can because whatever they have to offer is worth picking up. It's all relevant.
Also... relax, practice slow, work on some nice slurring technique. I'm not a very fast player at the moment though so take that with a grain of salt.
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How much do you charge after the first day, when the student already knows everything he needs to know and is not dependent on you to learn? Originally Posted by jzucker
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For the OP ... if you want to study with someone maybe hit up the closest city to you that has a scene... see who plays there. Go see a gig. 1) seeing guys play is always good 2) if you like their playing then that might be a guy to study with 3) He/she will probably appreciate the fact that you travelled to see his/her gig and might be up for giving you a lesson. <- maybe someone has something to add on finding a decent teacher that might be able to help with a chops problem?
I definitely get the frustration... I lived in a tiny town but I had great teachers that didn't play jazz but gave me all the applicable tools they could. Got a little more serious and started traveling a bit for lessons other cities and states etc. I feel like instead of nailing you for your lack of commitment I could just offer a suggestion or two for how to find the right guy. Hope that helps.
** also ... important point ... universities give you lessons every week but that is by no means necessary. If you have to travel four or five hours for a really good lesson then just set up two or three in the same trip if you can ... see a gig or two while you're there... recording everything (that the teachers or performers will consent to of course). By the time you wring everything out of that little trip six months or a year or more will have gone by and you may have saved up enough cash for round two. Make it work for yourself. Don't let anyone else dictate what your level of commitment is or should be or tell you what you need to do to be serious. Make it work. For. Yourself.
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Hey omfg...
So some simples pointer that will improve your technique...
Rt hand,
Pick is to stiff. this may sound... the direction and angles of the pick should match the attack.
If your making a down stroke...the pick needs to lean into the stroke, same with upstroke.
Your almost attacking the strings from above... with all the wrong angles.
Way to much arm movement...the wrist and arm need to be separate..., as Rich was talking about... muffling your playing with the outside of your palm will help your rt hand get use to being separate from your arm.
Left hand
Your thumb moves all over, be able to keep it below the fretboard line.
Try and decrease the angle of your hand to the neck, your way to close to 90 degrees... get closer to 70 degrees.
Try and keep a fingers space between your hand and the edge of the neck.
This is not the only way to develop more relaxed and effortless technique, but it works. These positions are not going to be the only way you play... they become your reference, your default starting positions
I would also suggest a different collection of material to develop your skills.
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Good bit of pithy advice - only perfect practice makes perfect.
Also pay attention to biomechanics - how you make a pick stroke etc.
Subdivision is important - when I practice double time accurately slowly, my chops come together on the gig much more reliably :-) Ultimately fast picking is a rhythmic figure, accurately and relaxedly executed. Nothing more.
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OK... so the left hand'
You need a starting basic default hand position.
Relaxed
Space between the neck lower edge and palm/finger base of hand.
Your thumb should be between the middle of the bottom of neck and... the upper side. Generally below the fretboard edge.
The angle of the thumb should be between 0 degrees, (pointing towards guitar head) and really never get to 90 degrees.
You want to have pressure between your thumb pad, (on bottom of neck) and the pad of your finger tips.
The angle of your fingers to the fretboard should be between 45 and 70 degrees. Top 4 strings closer to 45 degrees, lower strings maybe 70 degrees.
This is very important... this creates a more natural stretch...your fingers don't need to open as much, they go back and forth. Much less damage to your hand.
Finger stretches should not be position changes. You should get better fingerings together. Position changes hit walls... very quickly.
So in your vid. your hand rolls around the neck and fretboard... you can see with how your thumb rolls up around edge of neck.
You want to float across the fretboard... not roll around. Try and keep one elevation and fingers in closer to fretboard.
Don't have unorganized lifting of fingers not being used. Again I suggest I better fingering system. I've posted what I use, I'll post again and post a vid of me using the above technique. It will be very clear... at least how I approach.
The right or picking hand will be a next discussion. You can't pick what you can finger. I only have one gig tomorrow and it's late afternoon. I'll make Vid In AM... Sorry I'm just fried...
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Reg,
When changing position, is it better to move around by doing more finger stretching rather than "jumping" into a new position. Does this way of moving around the neck help you see the fretboard as one shape instead of many when improvising. When you say "floating", do you mean crawling around the neck without lifting your fretting hand too much away from the fretboard?
Thanks.
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Changing position for me is when my reference... my natural 1st finger position moves. Not stretches. And I think I understand you with regards to fretboard... yes this approach to playing has always helped me see and hear the fretboard as one large grid... or shape(s). I have a default fingering method... what my fingers do when I play with out thinking. Originally Posted by smokinguit
My fretboard always has a tonal shape, all the notes from that tonal reference all over the fretboard. My use of seven basic shapes with reference to the maj. scale and chords based on scale degrees... is really one large grid... or shape. My fingerings are just a method of performing. Obviously there are a few. They must all work to some degree... personally i believe some work better than others, that being said I use all of them as needed.
The floating point is... not to crawl around the neck. Crawling creates different technique and different pressures from different stretching, just as position changes. And also... yes to lifting your fingers or fretting hand... extra movement creates extra tension... after years that translates into damage or somewhat worn out moving parts. And in the short run... more tension, which make relaxed playing much more difficult to achieve.
I'll get a vid up sometime this AM... I'm on west coast.
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So you only change position with your 1st finger rather than any other regardless of what type of fingering you use i.e cage, 3-note per string, etc. Originally Posted by Reg
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I use my 1st finger as my reference for position... resting 1st finger on 4th fret is 4th position. 1st finger stretching to 4th fret would be 5th position. And no this is my default reference... what all my other fingerings use as a reference. Where I start from.
The fingering and the position are two different concepts. Position is always a reference to a fret on my fretboard. 1st fret up to whatever, depending on guitar. It is not movable. I guess if you use a capo... never mind.
The fingering is movable and has many options. I change position from any finger. Sorry if I was unclear.
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yes. assuming you cover 4 frets the position is where the first finger is. Bill Leavitt defined position as being one fret behind the second finger (assuming that the 2nd and 3rd fingers were stationary for any given position). I repeated Leavitt's definition to a distinguished classical guitar department head once, and she said "what's the difference, that's the same thing".
I told her, not if you assume that the first finger can stretch back one fret in your general approach to scale and melody playing.
so with regards to scale fingerings, the position reference is where the first finger lies assuming CAGED or classical fingerings, or one fret behind the second finger, assuming some stretch fingering approach like 3NPS or Leavitt's.
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Yea... it's just a reference on the fretboard. I was using this fingering organization before I went to Berklee... was cool to see the development of the method of playing from someone else.
I made a quick vid of my left hand positions and tried to fill in the details of what I've used as a reference... for the OP check it out and we can try and work towards a functional left hand position and fingering that will improve your playing.
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I thought the Johnny Smith thing was flashy and vacuous ,really gratuitous .Not really creative music making.
He spoke well of me though
"Lefty..? yeah man, blows the most"
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Here's another take on playing fast: Pebber Brown and his version of Sarod picking.
This ain't jazz----I"m not saying the guy can't play jazz but this ain't jazz---but it is blazingly fast... Note that around the 2:30 mark he plays with his left-hand thumb UNDER the neck; don't see a lot of that....
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Link please
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Oops! Sorry about that.
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I would have preferred to hear Mr. Brown demonstrate this/his technique without the distortion. I remember reading an interview many years ago with a guitarist who was known for his technical prowess who said that he always practiced velocity exercises without distortion or effects. His opinion was that clarity of execution was necessary for good technique and that cleanly executed lines would translate better in an onstage situation when distortion and effects were added to the signal path. The way he put it was that distortion hides a multitude of sins.
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I agree with all this, Monk. So does Troy Stetina, who wrote the shredder's 'bible' on picking, "Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar." In that book, he encourages students to practice with a clean tone. Originally Posted by monk
But in Pebber's case, he really can play very fast and clean. He has hundreds of videos on YouTube.
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Who's smokin what... we're talkin different technique. Generally on different guitars with different setups... playing different approaches using different material. I played the solid body/OD style back in the late 70's and 80's...
You can become good at anything with practice... but developing the technique of PB, ( Whom I also dig), will not get your jazz technique together. Personal Opinion.
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Wow! That dude sure does play a lot of notes. Does he do anything else?
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I agree, Reg. That wasn't jazz. It was about playing fast. Pebber Brown claims that Sarod picking was John McLaughlin's deal and that's what got him into it. (Well, Mclaughlin got it from non-suitarists and applied it to guitar and that's what PB heard and tried to do himself.) It is an interesting technique but not something I'm going to try. I'm working on what I'm working on, which seems to be working, so I'll keep working on it. ;o) Originally Posted by Reg
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Yeah. He can play a lot of stuff. But this was specifically about playing fast. That was what he was asked and why he made that short vid, to demonstrate what's called sarod picking. Before he plays, he says that playing fast is something of a circus trick, merely a means to an end. But clearly, he can play very fast. Originally Posted by Patrick2
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