Quote:
Originally Posted by Silly Moustache
I see Carter style as the basis for bluegrass/country rhythm / flatpicking style.
so, I think that Maybelles "sound" has evolved into flat picking.
Thoughts?
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Yes I agree, absolutely. It is difficult to exaggerate Maybelle's influence on American guitar playing, Country, Bluegrass, Folk genres are enormously indebted to her style. Starting out years ago, she was the inspiration for my feeble attempts, mostly her left hand technique. We didn't have a clue at the time that she used finger picks, we attempted her style using a flat pick. A whole generation of Nashville pickers were similarly inspired, Chet Atkins, who she hired and brought to Nashville, and Doc Watson being but the two most prominent. They did not usually play her 2 finger style but adapted the style to a flat pick. Early Bluegrass guitarists, Lester Flatt, Carter Stanley and others, did use 2 finger picks, but later pickers moved to the more adaptable flat pick, with Doc and Clarence White showing the way.
She was so good, that a musician of Earl Scruggs's caliber admitted to not getting a certain lick she used in
You Are My Flower. They were making a recording, and Maybelle brought in her L-5 for Earl to try. He said he picked everywhere on the neck, but still it alluded him. Anyone listening to Earl pick that song would be hard pressed to find fault, but the fact that he did says everything about Maybelle's ability.
One just cannot go wrong trying to learn a bit of her technique.