Carter Picking is "upside down?"

[Retired1]

Hmmm - so Robin - I read your post and then watched Maybelle play Wildwood Flower in slow motion - I agree that she played the melody with her thumbpick even on the treble strings, not much different from a flatpicker but she has added the index finger 'scratch'. My initial statement is that she is basically not just playing the melody on the bass strings, which can be seen on the above video of her. I went on to talk about contemporary flatpickers and how they approach their playing which Molly Tuttle describes as 'Carter Style' - not really comparing them to Maybelle. As I watch people like Bryan Sutton and Carl Miner etc I see them using the entire fretboard on a regular basis. I'm having trouble understanding how my statement is misleading.

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by Retired1

. I'm having trouble understanding how my statement is misleading.

Ahh... I don't think that you have been misleading, you are right in what you said. What I was (clumsily) pointing out is that the Carter Scratch and the Carter Style (which I use for pretty much all of my repertoire) are two very different techniques - the first is a fingerpicking technique and the second is a flatpicking technique.

The way that I read the OP, the question was comparing the Carter Scratch to Travis Picking. Both of which are fingerpicking techniques. But the thread - not just your post BTW - had drifted to include flatpicking. And, in my opinion, had become a bit confused.

The difference between the Carter Scratch and Travis Picking is not so much in where the melody may be played but how the melody may be played. The first with the thumb and the second with a finger. Quite naturally, if you play the melody with your thumb you are going to favour the bass strings. Whereas if you play the melody with a finger you are going to favour the melody strings. The "where the melody is played" aspect is secondary to the "how the melody is played aspect".

Leister Flatt (thumb pick and one finger pick) was another player with a slightly different fingerpicking technique. He would do bass runs, licks, fills and turnarounds with his thumb pick whilst upstroking with his single fingerpick on the off-beat. Sort of Carter Scratch but with a reversed "scratch".

Flatpickers try to emulate both the Carter and Flatt styles of fingerpicking but with a flatpick - and so a new technique evolved.

Folks still seem to Travis pick (I do myself) although that too has changed to the point where two fingerpicks, rather than one, is the most common style. However, you rarely see anyone today using either the Cater Scratch or Leister Flatt's blue grass backup style of fingerpicking. The vast majority of players now emulating those styles with a flatpick. Using a flatpick for bluegrass/old time/Americana has become the norm - but it all started with a few influential players fingerpicking using a thumb pick and a single fingerpick.

[davidbeinct]

^^^^
I think Carter picking is much more amenable to doing with a flatpick than Travis picking. Travis picking requires that nice steady alternating bass with the ability to play melody notes both off and on the beat. The scratch part of Carter picking is not usually done at the same time as the bass notes and can therefore be done intermittently with the bass runs with a flatpick.

[Retired1]

Sounds good to me Robin and David