#1
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Less is more
I have recently been concentrating on fingerpicking. My timing and precision are improving and becoming more second nature, and I am now particularly focusing on tone and dynamics. With that focus, I am finding myself more and more often returning toward the way I play electric guitar, which is triad focused, seeking particular tones and position, and having little concern about not covering a whole "standard" guitar chord. I have labored under the impression that you needed to play all the strings you could on the acoustic to project the sound, and this is a consideration when strumming, in my opinion. But when fingerpicking I am finding the guitar loses nothing from playing 3 or 4 tone chords, particularly my OM style guitars. I am learning much in light of this realization. Don't you just love the endlessness of learning about the guitar? How else can you have such a fulfilling, satisfying journey to a place you will never reach?
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#2
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You got it! I agree as I have walked the same road. I have also learned to play the song. There is no reason to be finger picking away just because you can. It gets too busy and sucks the life out of the music. Clairity with purpose.
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Waterloo WL-S, K & K mini Waterloo WL-S Deluxe, K & K mini Iris OG, 12 fret, slot head, K & K mini Follow The Yellow Brick Road Last edited by Mr. Jelly; 03-08-2024 at 07:45 AM. |
#3
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IMO one rarely ever needs all 6 strings at once when playing any style. Economy of notes and movement sometimes adds a lot to a song. The endlessness of learning is a great way to put it. Some instruments it takes a lot of hours of practice just to learn to make a decent sound. But with guitar one can learn enough to strum a recognizable song in a day to a week, yet keep on learning for the rest of your life. |
#4
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Regarding not playing all the notes: I am a very minimalist player - both finger picking and with a flatpick. I don't "strum". My flatpick song backing is more akin to Carter style or Woody Guthrie. I Travis pick when fingerpicking and so I can often get away with playing one or two finger chords where the full chord may use all 4 fingers. This is because I miss out strings. There's no point in fretting a string you are not going to use!!! The players I like to listen to tend to be minimalist in their accompaniment. This I think is a great example of very simple minimalist Travis picking paired with a very minimalist stage (one mic' for two singers and a Dean Markley Woody mag p/u in the guitar sound hole). It's just perfect!!!
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I'm learning to flatpick and fingerpick guitar to accompany songs. I've played and studied traditional noter/drone mountain dulcimer for many years. And I used to play dobro in a bluegrass band. |
#5
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I turned to fingerstyle on acoustics some fifteen years ago and absolutely agree !
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Needed some nylons, a wide range of acoustics and some weirdos to be happy... |
#6
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I did not understand what he meant until I did. And that came once I comprehended that a "vanilla" open chord is comprised of a triad. And that sounded open strings are octaves. You can change the "color" of the chord, and the music, by extension, by selecting which of the strings you decide to engage and when. That realization advanced my music and playing. David
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I took up the guitar at 62 as penance for a youth well-spent. |
#7
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Some of the best picking patterns use only 4 strings.
for 4/4 time I use root bass/3/1&2 together/3 for 3/4 time I play root bass/3/2/1/2/3 I also use Travis picking pattern which I use a triple alternating bass note, put don't always play the 1st string based on the chord, but play 5 strings.
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_____________________ Martin HD28 w/Dazzo 60s Martin OM28 w/Dazzos 60s Taylor 562CE Taylor 214CE DLX Amalio Burguet Vanessa Fender Player Stratocaster HSS Plus Timberline T60HGpc Kolaloha KTM-000 with MiSi SunnAudio MS-2 Digital Piano Yamaha P515 Grand Piano Yamaha C3 DPA 4488 |
#8
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This is great stuff to listen to. It sucks to play from my point of view. Boring, boring, boring. It's accompaniment. 2nd fiddle. Also ran. 2nd class. Take out the guitar and replace it with a kazoo, no one notices because the vocalists are the focus. Nothing wrong with that. You won't get much better past this if this is all you try to do, but it is good.
. . . . . Guitar playing. Melody, expressive. No vocals. I'm not saying everyone has to learn classical guitar, but maybe learn things that put the guitar up front. Mark Hanson has a few books on this subject. Just my two cents. Maybe something like this...
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Barry My SoundCloud page Avalon L-320C, Guild D-120, Martin D-16GT, McIlroy A20, Pellerin SJ CW Cordobas - C5, Fusion 12 Orchestra, C12, Stage Traditional Alvarez AP66SB, Seagull Folk Aria {Johann Logy}: Last edited by TBman; 03-05-2024 at 11:28 AM. |
#9
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On the other foot: In the local library is a highly accomplished fingerstyle guitarist playing through his catalogue of instrumental pieces, involving 150 chords up and down the fretboard, to a studious audience of three. On the same evening, down the road in the local bar, there's a country singer banging out three chord songs to a rowdy sing-along audience of 150. I sort of know which gig I'd be at (and it wouldn't be the one in the library!!!!!). I play guitar because I can't play kazoo and sing at the same time!
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I'm learning to flatpick and fingerpick guitar to accompany songs. I've played and studied traditional noter/drone mountain dulcimer for many years. And I used to play dobro in a bluegrass band. |
#10
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There's a whole world of instrumental guitar (classical and non classical) that is epic and shouldn't be cast aside though.
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Barry My SoundCloud page Avalon L-320C, Guild D-120, Martin D-16GT, McIlroy A20, Pellerin SJ CW Cordobas - C5, Fusion 12 Orchestra, C12, Stage Traditional Alvarez AP66SB, Seagull Folk Aria {Johann Logy}: |
#11
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You are right Barry. But I obviously won't let such a truth get in the way of a good yarn.
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I'm learning to flatpick and fingerpick guitar to accompany songs. I've played and studied traditional noter/drone mountain dulcimer for many years. And I used to play dobro in a bluegrass band. |
#12
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Actually, it's not. Part of strumming dynamics is knowing when to strum lows, highs, middles, lows and middles, highs and middles, or all of them. When you want some strokes louder, just play them louder. Quote:
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For me, it's not a journey at all. Not ever. It's something I like doing. |
#13
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Also, you don't have to always have the root at the bottom of every chord.
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stai scherzando? |
#14
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Hey, that was a jazz player doing the 150 chords, not a classical player
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Barry My SoundCloud page Avalon L-320C, Guild D-120, Martin D-16GT, McIlroy A20, Pellerin SJ CW Cordobas - C5, Fusion 12 Orchestra, C12, Stage Traditional Alvarez AP66SB, Seagull Folk Aria {Johann Logy}: |