Flatpicking journey - update and thoughts

[phydaux]

Originally Posted by studio1nz

I arranged to purchase a download copy to save on shipping to NZ. Took it to my local copy shop for printing and binding. went to pick it up and the bill was over $400!

That's why I use sheet protectors and three ring D-binders

[Deliberate1]

Originally Posted by phydaux

Please don't let MY bad playing discourage you. I consider the series quite good.

Fear not. Actually, I am really looking forward to this change in direction. I am just two and a half years or so into my guitar journey. For the past seven months or so I have been taking weekly fingerstyle lessons. I confess that every time my teacher introduces a new song (working on Ditty Wah Ditty now), I think there is just no way I am ever going to get it. Ever. And then, after a couple hours each day, it just seems to click.
That gives me a bit of confidence that if the challenge of flat picking seems insurmountable, that feeling will pass as it starts to come together. Hope it does the same for you. It is worth the effort.
David

[tdlwhite]

Originally Posted by Brent Hutto

...In other words, just turn on a metronome and do a basic down up down up pattern for as long as it takes until you stumble on a technique that gets the even sound you want.

... David Grier does not pick like Tony Rice and Tony Rice does not pick like Carl Miner. Each of them found their own magic sauce with just the right mix of pick-hand ingredients.

Agree with the idea of experimenting and playing around to find something that works. It's hard not to jump between different player's styles, never really finding one that works to settle on -- one thing that's true for those amazing players: they worked their way into their great techniques over thousands of hours. I could spend a hundred hours copying Molly Tuttle's right hand and then give up, not knowing that if I'd put in a thousand more it woulda 'clicked' for me!

Originally Posted by phydaux

...Book one is all about how to lay down a solid rhythm line before you ever start thinking about playing melody. And playing melody is critical before you try soloing or improvising.
...This step by step, crawl before you walk, walk before you run, process just makes sense in my head.
...This is how you progress from an advanced beginner to a proficient intermediate...

Thanks for the ideas from the book. I haven't even really started 'worrying' about improvising yet, but I agree that will come easier after the other stuff. Although I haven't been doing any actual improvising, I have thought a little about it, and when I get round to it I'll try using chord shapes.

Originally Posted by Deliberate1

...And then, after a couple hours each day, it just seems to click...
David

This is so true for me in lots of things (not just guitar). That crazy gap between impossible and doable that happens after repetition.

After another week of more like an hour a day on this piece, I've added a few more bpm, and even managed to play it *very badly* at full speed. A looong way off recording at that speed though!

[Brent Hutto]

Originally Posted by tdlwhite

I could spend a hundred hours copying Molly Tuttle's right hand and then give up, not knowing that if I'd put in a thousand more it woulda 'clicked' for me!

I don't know a lot about Molly's playing but have watched a couple of those interview/lesson videos with her. The thing I admire about her right-hand approach (and in a very crude way the thing I seek in my own playing) is she just playing D-U-D-U-D-U whenever possible and when it comes to what string she plays next, she doesn't try to make it always work out crossing down on a down or up on an up.

Or maybe I misunderstood what she was demonstrating. But my ideal would be to just pick a simple sequence like D-U-D-U and then practice until I can make it work no matter what strings I need to skip or cross. I'll never get there but maybe one day I can get in that ballpark.

P.S. I sure hope I'm not mis-attributing to Molly Tuttle something I saw on another player's videos. If so, I apologize. So many videos, so few brain cells...

[chrisalecia]

[QUOTE=phydaux;6959074]Regarding Flatpicking Essentials book series by Dan Miller, editor of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

I have also started in book #1 recently (Which is weird that there are several of us presently going through it). I'm coming back after years of not playing. Wish I hadn't stopped but oh well, here we are.

I am:

1. Going through the FGE book #1
2. Reviewing old notes from when I took lessons (scales mainly)
3. fun stuff like rhythm tunes, etc.

[phydaux]

I've mentioned Mary Spender before. Not in this thread, but in others. For those of you who don't know, she's a young singer/songwriter/guitarist from England. And like many others working & waiting to make their dreams come true, she started a YouTube channel any prayed to God that she got enough viewers so that it got monetized.

Now I've been dumped on before, not here but other places on the internet, for calling her YouTube channel "low content." And while I stand by my assessment, she did drop one piece of experience that has stuck with me.

One time when asked by someone else how she developed her own unique sound as a guitar player, she said "It came about by my trying to emulate other guitar players and failing."

And that just really clicked in my head. I'll never flatpick just like, say, Steve Kaufman. But as I emulate Steve Kaufman and other flatpickers, develop my Carter Picking, bass runs, hammer-ons, flick-offs, and crosspicking, then I can, probably, eventually, sound like ME.

[phydaux]

"I have also started in book #1 (of Flatpicking Essentials) recently (Which is weird that there are several of us presently going through it).[/QUOTE]


I don't find it weird at all. It's a true hidden gem. What I find weird is that more people don't know about it.

[chrisalecia]

Originally Posted by phydaux

I don't find it weird at all. It's a true hidden gem. What I find weird is that more people don't know about it.

definitely

[Sage Runner]

Nice picking there. That’s a great picking routine to practice.

[sprucetophere]

I thought I'd check in and see if you're willing to share yet another video? I have found this thread interesting and helpful.

Thanks

[tdlwhite]

Originally Posted by Sage Runner

Nice picking there. That’s a great picking routine to practice.

Thanks! (albeit over a year late in coming!)

Originally Posted by sprucetophere

I thought I'd check in and see if you're willing to share yet another video? I have found this thread interesting and helpful.

Thanks

Good idea. Since posting that first video, I've learned/recorded a bunch of other tunes, and while I have been practising the tune in this thread, I've not got round to recording it. I'm going away for work for the next couple weeks, but I'm taking a travel guitar with me, so I might see if I can record something (from a hotel room in Oregon)!

Tom

[JMW01]

Originally Posted by phydaux

Regarding Flatpicking Essentials book series by Dan Miller, editor of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

The thing that I like most so far is Dan Miller's philosophy and approach. He starts out in book one approaching this all as an acoustic rhythm guitar player. Book one is all about how to lay down a solid rhythm line before you ever start thinking about playing melody. And playing melody is critical before you try soloing or improvising.

As far as playing melody goes, he has a straightforward, step by step process for playing any song:

• 1) Select a Vocal Song
• 2) Learn the Chord Progression by Ear
• 3) Learn the Basic Melody by Ear
• 4) Find the Carter Style Arrangement
• 5) Learn How to Simplify the Melody
• 6) Embellish the Carter Style Arrangement using techniques such as hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, alternate chord strums, tremolo, double stops, crosspicking, neighboring notes, scale runs, drones, and fill licks.

From there the next six books cover soloing & improvising for various genera.

This step by step, crawl before you walk, walk before you run, process just makes sense in my head. And I think it astonishing that I haven't seen this laid out anywhere else.

It's like the great, missing "This is how you progress from an advanced beginner to a proficient intermediate" lesson plan that everyone has been looking for and that I, at least, have never found anywhere else.

I also discovered this “lesson plan” while working through the books and like you, I was surprised that I had not seen it documented anywhere else. I suggest reading the first few books before starting the series just to understand the big picture and learning progression. It was a game changer for me. I like to know the “why” behind what I am doing and Dan Miller’s books explain it very clearly.

[sprucetophere]

This all seems logical and clear to me with the exception of "find the Carter style arrangement". I'm wondering if you could elaborate a bit please?

Thanks