Fast players that use traditional alternate picking with normal grip

[MarkRhodes]

Actually - has anyone mentioned Pat Martino? If not that's a pretty big omission.

Some nice shots of Pat's right hand in action here.

[David B]

I don't recall if Steve Rochinski spent much time on TF's picking method in his book "The Jazz Style of Tal Farlow".
Rochinski seemed to concentrate on TF's left hand stretch fingerings, and even gave some exercises on stretching a fourth between 1 and four, instead of the customary minor 3rd. I don't own the book, so I can't look it up, but it would be helpful if someone who does have it would see if SR mentions Tal's picking method in it.

"Tal primarily uses an alternating down-up stroke on most passages. On some ascending arpeggio lines, he uses a consecutive sweeping down stroke or "raking" technique. On descending arpeggio lines, he uses down-up strokes or "raking" if the shape or feel of the phrase will allow it. Hammer-on and pull-off techniques are used frequently as the tempo increases." (page 15)

[sgcim]

"Tal primarily uses an alternating down-up stroke on most passages. On some ascending arpeggio lines, he uses a consecutive sweeping down stroke or "raking" technique. On descending arpeggio lines, he uses down-up strokes or "raking" if the shape or feel of the phrase will allow it. Hammer-on and pull-off techniques are used frequently as the tempo increases." (page 15)

Yes, I remember reading that now. The things of Tal's I like best are the tunes where he picks most of the notes in his phrases, with the raking technique used for arps, and some slurs that are used to articulate things in a more driving way, rhythmically.

For tunes like Cherokee at 390bpm, he had to use economy picking, but his use of economy picking on 'Fascinating Rhythm' is hardly a good example of Tal's playing.

It could be, as some people have observed, that Tal lost his 'timing' on alt. picking after the 50s, or it could be as the poster postulated, that Tal didn't keep up with his economy picking technique, but it's still sounds to me like he used the alt. picking technique as Rochinski indicated in his book on Tal's style, for his most swinging, DRIVING playing.

IMHO, Cherokee and FR are not examples of that type of playing.

[AlsoRan]

Al DiMeola? John McLaughlin?

God, I wish Troy Grady could "break the code" on Pat Martino, John McClaughlin, and Pat Martino (as ChristianM mentioned). I would watch those videos with particular attention.

[christianm77]

God, I wish Troy Grady could "break the code" on Pat Martino, John McClaughlin, and Pat Martino (as ChristianM mentioned). I would watch those videos with particular attention.

There was a Pat M video in the works. I no longer subscribe though so haven't seen it. I got what I needed.

[AlsoRan]

There was a Pat M video in the works. I no longer subscribe though so haven't seen it. I got what I needed.

I saw that Pat Martino is coming up but I found this - one of my favorite guitarists (as far as technique).

Martin Miller! What a beast.

[AlsoRan]

Al DiMeola

[christianm77]

This might sound like an arsey thing to say, but knowing what Al Di Meola does is useful to me, as it gives me a good idea of what I want to avoid as I really don't want my fast playing to sound like that.

He's obviously a hero to many players though, and that's cool - everyone has there own tastes, and I think a detailed understanding of why something sounds the way it does is massively helpful.

Anyway...