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Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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06-20-2014 07:46 PM
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Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
If your picking works already I don't see why you'd do it, but if you completely fell apart at fast tempos like I used to it might be worth looking in to.
Originally Posted by Patrick2
Is this for me, Patrick? For some reason the "Photo Booth" app that came with my mac films everything in reverse. I don't really understand why. I need to switch to using iMovie, I guess, but the Photo Booth thing was easier for me to figure out (I'm a technology moron).
I'm a righty.
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Thanks ecj, great video lesson and explanation.
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Originally Posted by fep
I still can't play like my heroes - haha - but I am at least at the point where if I want to learn a lick, I can actually get it up to speed. Used to be that I'd transcribe a lick and spend weeks on it, only to eventually give up in frustration. Now it's pretty easy to incorporate new stuff into my bag.
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Originally Posted by ecj
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Tomorrow----he warned---I shall return standing and strapped. We'll see if that helps...
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Originally Posted by ecj
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Hi Mark,
Here's a bunch of photos of my right hand position with my guitar. It's a big 18" body. I'm 6' and it doesn't seem to give me any problems reaching around it. I hope this helps.
Mark Cally
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Pay close attention to the pics, Mark, setemupjoe plays his ass off with this technique.
Just FYI, I've got a lot on my plate tomorrow so probably won't be around to respond to any questions until Sun.
EDIT - Also look at how far to the right his guitar is in the last pic.Last edited by ecj; 06-20-2014 at 11:45 PM.
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Originally Posted by setemupjoe
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Originally Posted by Richb
It's fine with me that you would rather play another way. Best of luck to you.
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Regarding Richb's post. Firstly, to Richb . . I don't think your post was mean spirited at all, as you were concerned it might be.
Also, I do think Richb has a point here. a very large part of what makes GB . . . GB . . . is the tone he get from his picking technique . . . (all things within it encompassed). I remember reading in Just Jazz Guitar, where Ed Benson interviews players then does (or did) what he called a blind fold test. He would play a series of different artists for the pro player he was interviewing and the player would have to name the artist in the recording. One guy (can't remember who he was) listened to a recording and said immediately . . . "That's George Benson! I'd recognize that pick attack anywhere".
There might be those who are seeking that out . . . to sound exactly like GB (not withstanding his great lines) . . . just as some want to "sound" exactly like Wes and attempt to emmulate his thumb technique. But, there are others who use their thumb and do not want to sound like Wes. Also, there are pros who do use GBs technique and have avoided sounding like a clone of him.
So, I think what Richb might be trying to say here is, if you want to use GBs picking technique, be cognizent of not totally becoming a GB clone . . . unless you want to.
I've mentioned before, it's taken me some 35 years of developing my very own picking style and technique. That is now who and what I've become. I don't what to reinvent that, at this point in my life. I'm sure for some they might find what I do to be restrictive or not to their liking. But, it's me . . and I have no intention of trying to totally revamp everything I do from the shoulder down to my thumb and fore finger just to get a little bit faster. Besides . . I use so much of the hammer on, pull off, slurr technique type stuff in my playing, that I currently get all the speed I could ever want. My issue isn't right hand technique. It's knowing where the fingers on my left hand need to go during an improv that I need more focus on. lolol
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I just stumbled on that thread, and since my picking technique hasn't improved much lately, I'm willing to give the Benson technique a go.
I've read most of the posts and would like to check if I got all the key points right :
-relaxed shoulder
-pick motion comes from the wrist
-30-45 degrees pick angle
Is that all ?
I also have a quick question : if I relax my arm completely, it makes my hand go toward the headstock, and I end up having it over the fretboard. So I kind of anchor my forearm to the edge of the guitar's body. Is this how it's supposed to be ?
Thanks for all the info and discussion, this is all very interesting.
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I think I shared this once before but it seems worth posting it again. This is me playing Barney Kessel's version of "On a Slow Boat to China."
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Originally Posted by setemupjoe
One question: is the tip of your pick pointing in the same direction as your index finger or is it at a 45 degree angle (or thereabouts)?
One more question: in this video it seems like the guitar is resting normally on your right thigh but in a previous picture it looked (-to me, anyway) is if it isn't the arch that's on your thigh but the underside of the cutaway. Is it?
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Originally Posted by Professor Jones
I think the best thing to do is get the J C Stylles tutorial. Yeah, it costs a few bucks but I think it's money well spent (-and I don't have much to throw around...)
Short of that, give it a go and then show us what you got and we'll see what we can see. ;o)
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Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
I took a couple of pictures of the pick in my hand which will show it much clearer than me trying to explain.
The guitar is sitting on my knee in the arch though I can see from some of those photos where it's a little unclear.
Mark Cally
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Originally Posted by setemupjoe
O, about the guitar sitting on your knee in the arch---this means the guitar neck is not at the usual angle one has when standing, right? Do you keep that same neck angle when standing (if you ever play standing)?
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I try to keep the guitar in the same position whether standing or sitting. I mostly stand when I play and I have the strap at a length that hangs the guitar across my body at the same height as when I'm sitting.
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Originally Posted by setemupjoe
Most of my adult life I've played with a strap, even when seated, so the guitar was pretty much in the same place whether I sat or stood. However, I think I wore my guitar a bit high and my picking stank in any case. What I have to do now is go the other way: find the position in which I can consistently execute this style of picking and strap myself in accordingly, so that the guitar's always not only in the same place but in the RIGHT place for me.
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To All,
I've been following this thread in increments as it has grown over the past year and a half. Having decided to ask some questions, I went back and re-read the entire thread and watched the videos. Thanks to all of you who posted videos. Your generosity is greatly appreciated. You guys represent the spirit of the forum at its best.
Although I am called upon at times to accompany singers performing standards, I also find myself having to cover blues, country and R&B also. With that in mind, I would like to know:
1. While it appears that the Benson Technique translates best to flat wound strings, do any of you (philco, setemupjoe,ecj, 3625) think that using round wounds is completely out of the question?
2. What gauge strings are you all using and what, in your estimation, is the lightest gauge that one could use successfully?
3. Telecasters were mentioned briefly in regard to the pick-up selector. Have any of you successfully emploted the BT on a Tele or do you feel that an archtop is the best way to go? George seemed to do O.K. with a Les Paul the video that was posted earlier today but the LP has more in common with an archtop fingerboard and string arc-wise than a Tele.
4. Most of you that have purchased J.C. Stylles tutorial have said good things about it. Is the video itself enough or does the coaching package justify the extra cost?
Thanks,
Jerome
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Originally Posted by setemupjoe
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Originally Posted by Patrick2
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setemup's technique looks a lot like Sheryl Bailey's:
I believe you both studied with Rodney Jones, right?
Like Philco, I have a non-bendy thumb. Absolutely zero backbend in it. I just use more of the tip of my thumb against the pick than the pad.
You can see in this earlier vid that I did that I've gone back and forth between the different ways of doing it:
My hand position is more like setemup's there, I think. I'll use that frequently when I want a brighter tone. The Jc Stylles hand position puts the pick more angled towards the strings. I can pretty much the same with either, so I'm not sure it's that important which you choose.
Great discussion. Fun to learn from you heavy players!
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Originally Posted by setemupjoe
Li'l Dawg 6G2 Choco Prince review (this one's...
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