The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26

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    Quote Originally Posted by znerken
    I played guitar as a kid. Basic stuff. Then quit, and after 10 years I began again. Been playing a lot for two years now I guess. Jazz the last three-four months. I am 28 years old. I hate myself for quitting guitar as a kid. I practice a minimum of 3 hours every day, many days becomes 5-7 hours.
    What would you describe as the main hitches you encounter with picking?

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #27

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    Quote Originally Posted by christianm77
    What would you describe as the main hitches you encounter with picking?
    It’s getting better, but

    1. Sometimes the pick feels strange to hold. It’s like it’s not natural. This can be especially felt when moving onto new pieces in the Modern Method book.
    2. Hitting the string(s) I want to hit. Not missing.
    3. Sometimes my fingers hit strings
    4. Too much of the pick hit strings sometimes



    As I said, I feel all of this gets better as I play more and more. Especially after I started the Modern Method. Even though there has been days where I have felt picking is hopeless, cause of that book. I guess after 10k hours it becomes a natural part of my body.
    Last edited by znerken; 10-08-2018 at 01:06 PM.

  4. #28

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    Quote Originally Posted by znerken
    It’s getting better, but

    1. Sometimes the pick feels strange to hold. It’s like it’s not natural. This can be especially felt when moving onto new pieces in the Modern Method book.
    2. Hitting the string(s) I want to hit. Not missing.
    3. Sometimes my fingers hit strings
    4. Too much of the pick hit strings sometimes



    As I said, I feel all of this gets better as I play more and more. Especially after I started the Modern Method. Even though there has been days where I have felt picking is hopeless, cause of that book. I guess after 10k hours it becomes a natural part of my body.
    It should take less time than that IMO

    I'm an advocate of rest stroke picking - it's very good for certain things including string skipping because it gives precise positional information and feedback. The bedrock of this approach is the apoyando down stroke with the pick - bring it into contact with the adjacent string.

    Alternate picking - I've always found strict alternate picking with a floating wrist very difficult. I don't know if that is what is suggested in the Leavitt book?

    Alternate pickers always seem to moan about string skips. But there are guys in Nashville who can do it really really well. I think it is a harder technique?

  5. #29

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    Quote Originally Posted by christianm77
    I think this thread is getting derailed. Perhaps we should take this elsewhere? It could be as technical and specific as you like. Happy to go there baby.

    I tried to preempt that in my post, but clearly it wasn’t enough.

    Anyway this I think is talking at cross purposes. No guitarist uses exclusively downstrokes, that’s not what I said, and most players alternate at least sometimes. If you are looking to have that argument, you will have to look elsewhere lol.

    Players that almost ALWAYS alternate for line playing - rarer. And .... limiting ... you have to be prepared to create art within that limitation (Martino)

    Btw even wes used upstrokes (!)

    But that is somewhere beside the point. Is it important for a beginner to learn alternate picking? Maybe. But I think floating hand alternate picking trad style is the hardest picking strategy. I can’t do it, I don’t use it. So I can’t, in all good faith, teach it.

    OTOH there are loads of fantastic jazz players who don’t do it either. So I’m ok with that.
    And even those who think they are alternate pickers, sometimes actually sweep!


  6. #30

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    Yeah it's easy to see how it happens. It's just lazy alternate picking lol.

    Happened with me. I remember the first time I practiced with a metronome, I was seeing how fast I could play a 3nps scale. I found I could play 16ths up to 200 bpm! Wow, I thought, I must some natural alt picking genius.

    Of course, I was economy picking it without realising.

  7. #31

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    Like Christian, I've spent very little time on picking exercises, preferring to use bop heads as etudes. However, it doesn't hurt to give them an airing occasionally as a warm-up before a gig or practise session. Here are a few that I've found useful in various ways:

    Adam Rafferty - “How to Develop Virtuoso Single Line Technique for Jazz Guitar” (based on “The Virtuoso Pianist" of C. F. Hanon)

    An excellent 3nps adaptation of the first Hanon exercises:

    Guitar Books - Adam Rafferty


    Miles Okazaki - “Fundamentals of Guitar”

    Contains a chapter on 'symmetrical picking' with exercises borrowed from drum patterns, e.g. flams, paradiddles:

    Book | MILES OKAZAKI

    Alan Hanlon - “Kreutzer Violin Studies”

    A popular workout used by Vic Juris and many others that has been out-of-print for years but made available by one of his students:

    http://www.bachmansmusic.com/wp-cont...zer-Etudes.pdf



    Last edited by PMB; 10-08-2018 at 06:35 PM.

  8. #32

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    Interesting! I thought I had a vague memory of that.

  9. #33

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    Lots of interesting ideas here. Thanks, Paul.


    Quote Originally Posted by pkirk
    Get this book:

    Stick Control: For the Snare Drummer: George Lawrence Stone: 0038081356433: Amazon.com: Books

    This video shows, around 6:00, how to use it for picking practice




    That's a lifetime worth of picking exercises.

  10. #34

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    It sounds like this is what you’re looking for:

    Complete Book of Guitar Technique Book - Mel Bay Publications, Inc. : Mel Bay

  11. #35

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    Quote Originally Posted by ronjazz
    ... By the way, you will live your entire life unhappy with your picking, as we all do.
    Certainly true for me!

  12. #36

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    Quote Originally Posted by christianm77
    Learn 50 bebop heads
    I've learned 50 Metallica heads instead. Sure is good for picking.

  13. #37

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    James Hetfield agrees with me about downstrokes

  14. #38

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    Quote Originally Posted by christianm77
    James Hetfield agrees with me about downstrokes
    He certainly does! So there, check and mate alt pickers!

  15. #39

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    Quote Originally Posted by znerken
    This guy, in this video, seems to use two different picking techniques, and changes between them easily. Any insight in what he’s doing? Is it like a shy version of the Benson technique?

    kazuki isogai ???? on Instagram: “#189 Monday vibe . . . @pickupjazz @pickup____ @solo_section @soundofguitars @guitarsdaily @guitarstagram @guitarsarebetter…”
    I’m bumping this a little, since I feel it got a little lost.

  16. #40

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    I am looking at Mel Bay's Modern Guitar Method 2 and a lot of the pieces are notated to use all down strokes. For some of the exercises he suggests to perform them with all down strokes and then alternating.

    For triplets, he sometimes suggests to use all down strokes and other times to use "down up down" so that every triplet is started with a down stroke, except sometimes when changing strings he notates to use "down down up", for instance when playing f g a in the open position.

    What I get out of all of this is that Mel Bay is teaching a picking style that emphasizes down strokes. He almost always uses down strokes when switching strings so alternating is mostly limited to playing notes on the same string.

  17. #41

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    Corey Christiansen wrote these Killer "fill in the blank here" books ($5) when he was with Mel Bay, then they were combined into a larger book. There was one called Killer Technique that had good warmup drills for the right hand.

    But volume 1 really helps all by itself, too.

    Happy hunting.