Guitar right hand technique

Subject: RE: Guitar right hand technique
From: The Sandman
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 03:13 AM

one thing I have learned from playing tenor banjo with a flat pick, is that when playing in six eight time playing six lots of quavers, is that using down up down, down up down, it enables me to emphasise the first in each group of three more successfully
the advantage of finger picking is that it is easier when playing melodies,to pick two notes simultaneously when they are far apart.eg octaves

Subject: RE: Guitar right hand technique
From: GUEST,Jerry
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 05:45 AM

Not quite sure why you’ve latched onto this rather old thread, but I agree that straight alternate up and down picking (on tenor banjo or mandolin) for double jigs never quite works right (for stressing note four), although fiddle bowing does seem to rely on an up bow at that point, unless incorporating slurs on the weaker notes.

Reading through all the above thread, which I’d not seen before, was interesting though and surely still relevant. I started out on fingerstyle guitar way back and never really learnt basic strumming, or rather very quickly moved on to doing something more interesting with the right hand. Whilst there are some very accomplished flat pickers out there doing great stuff, it dismays me that so many of today’s younger players never do anything with the right hand other than (frankly) tedious strumming. As someone pointed out above, many of the revered mainstream guitarists (Knopfler, Clapton, Page, etc) were not just strummers, but also are deft fingerpickers and/or hybrid pickers. I guess many think that once they’ve mastered the left hand work, they’ve arrived as a guitarist.

Subject: RE: Guitar right hand technique
From: David C. Carter
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 04:59 AM

Jack Elliot's "Talking Woody Guthrie",Doc Watson,then later"Allice's Resteraunt" helped me a lot.

Later on I found myself flat picking the bass strings and using the 2nd and 3rd fingers to play the G B E strings.Don't really know how that came about.Still do it.

Subject: RE: Guitar right hand technique
From: The Sandman
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 03:04 PM

I latched on to this old thread because it is intereting, ok

Subject: RE: Guitar right hand technique
From: GUEST,Jerry
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 04:30 PM

I agree; it makes interesting reading. I wonder if we are seeing a dumbing down of instrumental prowess generally, with too easy access to on-line tuition hosted by players of meagre musicality themselves. Of course, there are some good players sharing their knowledge on the Internet, but there also seems be loads of self styled teachers demonstrating rather crude/inept versions of popular songs. I guess it all started earlier on when proper sheet music got overtaken by basic chord songbooks, but I daresay it’s a good thing that music making has now become far more accessible.

Subject: RE: Guitar right hand technique
From: Fred
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 08:02 PM

Jerry said "I daresay its a good thing that music making has now become far more accessible".

Mmm...it CAN be. It depends. Take online tuition (YouTube say. Some questionable 'lessons’ there). it's important to learn what's right, so that you don't practise mistakes. But how is a beginner to know what's right? :)

Fred

Subject: RE: Guitar right hand technique
From: The Sandman
Date: 24 Mar 25 - 02:49 AM

listening is important, in the sixties we had music tab which is useful to a point but   i learned more by listening to mississippi John Hurt,than the tab the tab taught me where to put my fingers, but not the expression etc

Subject: RE: Guitar right hand technique
From: GUEST,Jerry
Date: 24 Mar 25 - 04:53 AM

Yes, tablature was certainly helpful but has quite rightly been criticised for not including indications of timing, phrasing, etc. unless produced in tandem with actual notation. Plus, unless you persevered to decipher music notation, you never really learnt what notes you were actually playing, and progress to playing by ear. Chord sonbooks are even worse of course, as there is no indication of rhythm, timing, or even chord fingering/inversions.

I think the best way to learn was a combination of things, including yes watching other performers, like by getting a front row seat in the clubs, and even talking to them afterwards, as many accomplished players were quite happy to demonstrate things like guitar and banjo right hand technique. I know that happens at Festival workshops these days, but yes a lot of the YouTube tutors are simply teaching the wrong stuff in the wrong way - should anyone really be relying on advice from a tutor who says “not sure what it’s called, but you then hit this one, the fattest string, a couple of times…”? I couldn’t bear to watch the rest of that one….

Subject: RE: Guitar right hand technique
From: Fred
Date: 24 Mar 25 - 05:31 AM

The Sandman,

Yes,a lot of us "kids" back then would get hold of a record or whatever and listen, trying to figure out how.

Where I lived there WAS no tuition and no money to get you to where it was. Like most of my mates back then, I'm self taught.

It's another way of going at it :)

Fred

Subject: RE: Guitar right hand technique
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Mar 25 - 03:21 PM

Yes i was self taught on concertina and guitar and drums, for the same reasons, however learning guitar and drums helped me with concertina
playing snare drum teaches you good coordination, which is useful for english concertina, learning how to melody pick on guitar and use syncopation partly helped with concertina song accompaniment

Subject: RE: Guitar right hand technique
From: GUEST,The Sandman
Date: 25 Mar 25 - 03:44 AM

Using mandolin picking exercises will improve your right hand plectrum technique. here is one. playing in jig time, take six quavers, and on the first pair of quavers play two semiquavers down up, then play up down two quavers, then three quavers down up down, so du u d dud

Subject: RE: Guitar right hand technique
From: GUEST,The Sandman
Date: 25 Mar 25 - 03:54 AM

sorry correction du du dud two semis two quavers three quavers

Subject: RE: Guitar right hand technique
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 26 Mar 25 - 09:35 AM

Online tuition (passive): ".... and the bland leadeth the bland, and they both shall fall into the kitsch."

Subject: RE: Guitar right hand technique
From: gillymor
Date: 26 Mar 25 - 04:14 PM

There are some online tutors I can highly recommend - Tao of Twang, Stich Method, Daniel Serriff and a bunch more. After I retired 10 years ago I took up electric guitar again and my playing and improvising has improved leaps and bounds with help from these sources.
For right hand technique on acoustic I picked up Mark Knopfler's Done With Bonaparte off a YT tutorial with views of both hands that's given me a solid percussive move in my fingerstyle approach.

Subject: RE: Guitar right hand technique
From: GUEST,The Sandman
Date: 26 Mar 25 - 06:29 PM

Gillymor, i agree, there was a wonderful clip of George Shuffler being interveiwed, and if i remeber correctly, he talked about why he developed his style of picking
George Shuffler was the country and bluegrass guitar player who is credited for a three figure cross-picking playing style (down two strings, up one) that he created out of necessity

Subject: RE: Guitar right hand technique
From: GUEST,The Sandman
Date: 26 Mar 25 - 06:33 PM

link to an interview of georeg shuffler talking about his picking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjjBbVMnT-A