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Picks, Capo's and Tunings
Just picked up a Peerless Monarch today in sunburst. Great guitar. So now the questions about picks, capos and tunings.
1. I read that you are supposed to use a thick pick for archtops. Is that the norm. 2. Will my capos for my flat top guitars work on this one though the strings will be a bit heavier, 13's. 3. Does anyone use drop D or open tunings on an archtop? As you can tell, I am a newbie to archtops and this is my first. So I will do the trial and error method but thot I would ask these few questions to get started. By the way, Doc Dosco, an accomplished archtop player on YouTube, has been a huge help to me in so many ways. He is a superstar at customer service, follow up, communication, pricing, and a fun guy to work with.
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Martin D-28 '67 Cole Clark Fat Lady 2 Taylor Doyle Dykes Custom Alvarez Fender Strat '69 Gibson 1942 Banner LG-2 Vintage Sunburst Gibson SJ-200 Taylor Myrtlewood 12 string Emerald X20 Godin Montreal w/piezo |
#2
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"Mistaking silence for weakness and contempt for fear is the final, fatal error of a fool" - Sicilian proverb (paraphrased) |
#3
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Great to get this info as I start out on my archtop. I will use a capo but forget the altered tunings for now. I also have a ton of pedals I want to use with my Monarch so it will be interesting to see how it reacts to the pedals.
I personally am very grateful for the input from a seasoned player. Thanks very much.
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Martin D-28 '67 Cole Clark Fat Lady 2 Taylor Doyle Dykes Custom Alvarez Fender Strat '69 Gibson 1942 Banner LG-2 Vintage Sunburst Gibson SJ-200 Taylor Myrtlewood 12 string Emerald X20 Godin Montreal w/piezo |
#4
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Traditional wisdom says really thick picks - 2-3 m/m but this tradition is about plectrum style rhythmic playing where it s necessary to hack out closed chords a'la Freddie Green etc. For a lighter built modern arch-top on which m,ore melodic style are preferred less mass in the pick might be acceptable. generally capos on archtops are anathema ....then came David Rawlings. After writing this I see reference to pedals - if youjust want to distort the sound of an archtop, surely the best place for this enquiry shold be in electric guitars - not archtops?
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Silly Moustache, Just an old Limey acoustic guitarist, Dobrolist, mandolier and singer. I'm here to try to help and advise and I offer one to one lessons/meetings/mentoring via Zoom! |
#5
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Tom |
#6
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It's just a guitar, play it however you want to play it. You can play any kind of music on it, tune it how you like, use whatever strings you want to. I personally use light strings and tune down a tone on my main archtop. .011 - .050, same string gauges I am told Jim Hall used, good enough for me. I recently saw a picture of Taylor Swift playing a very recent Gibson L5 CES...
Brian
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Brian Evans Around 15 archtops, electrics, resonators, a lap steel, a uke, a mandolin, some I made, some I bought, some kinda showed up and wouldn't leave. Tatamagouche Nova Scotia. |
#7
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Of course you can use any kind of pick you like, but I do think a person should at least experiment with a smaller, heavier pick on an acoustic archtop than they might use on a flattop. As I just posted on another thread, I like the Pro-Plec 1.5mm teardrop picks, but there are many to choose from. The thing about the smaller, fatter pick is it will force you to play differently, which is something you'll need to do anyway moving from flattop to archtop.
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