Little things make the difference

[TBman]

I'm trying to finish up my Darcy's Guitar project. I got sidetracked with the honey-do list and a few classical things. I'm back working on it now for a few days and I'm doing on average 2-3 run throughs in slow motion and then 2 or 3 at 85 bpm and then 2 or 3 at 90 bpm.

There is one short run down that starts at the end of measure 36 (1st string down to 4th string) that trips me up from time to time and I really stopped to look at why tonight. Usually with a short thing like this I'll blast through it and get it done after a while, but this one was tripping me up more often than I liked. Here's the section:

2-0-x-x-x-x-x-x
x-x-3-1-0-x-x-x
x-x-x-x-x-2-0-x
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-4

What I found was that sometimes I would play the first two notes with the index, then alternate thumb and index all the way down and other times I would play the first note with the index and then alternate thumb index all the way down. If I did it the first way, the result was not so good consistently at higher speeds, even though at first it felt more natural to do it. Doing it with alternating through the entire run start to finish was what got it done consistently, but now I have to break the habit of once in a while using the index on the first two notes!

I could be a slob and do it all with the index, but I felt that I was pushing my luck at higher speeds and I don't trust my thumb pick not to twist a little if using down/up with it. Just doing downstrokes with the thumb pick felt totally off.

Little stupid things I know, but approaching a quick run with confidence is much better on the blood pressure

[Robin, Wales]

Barry, the aspect that jumped out at me from your post was that you have the depth of experience to notice, analyse and come up with a solution. That in itself shows how accomplished you are becoming as a musician.

As my old college head of department would say, while he was tearing us students apart, "Attention to detail is the hallmark of the professional".

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

Barry, the aspect that jumped out at me from your post was that you have the depth of experience to notice, analyse and come up with a solution. That in itself shows how accomplished you are becoming as a musician.

As my old college head of department would say, while he was tearing us students apart, "Attention to detail is the hallmark of the professional".

Not sure about the musician part Robin, but thanks. Years ago when I was first learning travis picking (and fingerstyle in general) I had one of Mark Hanson's books and in it is this tune called Strawberry Curl. If I didn't follow the right hand instructions to the "T" I would mess up every time. I never forgot that.

When my son was in the police academy one of the favorite weekend "assignments" (when someone screwed up) was to write "Attention to detail" one thousand times. He never forgot that either

[Coler]

Interesting post Barry - I know this part and also struggled with it.

I play it with p & m fingers (would have to sit down with the guitar to set out the exact sequence of what I use where, and move my hand up to play the 4th fret on 4 with my p so I can catch the 3rd fret on 6 with my thumb and re-commence the bass party as rhythmically as possible for me.

I fret 4th on 4 with my little finger left hand - that took a long time to develop but seemed key to keeping it smooth for me.

C

[rick-slo]

Of course more than one way. Personally I'd probably would end up with picking hand fingering:
ring - pulloff - middle - index - middle - index - middle (or pulloff) - thumb

This in part to avoid moving the position of the whole hand and moving move just the fingers.
Mentally the last note being the onset of new chord and alternate thumbing.

[john57classic]

If it matters, I’m pretty sure Pete used fingers (no thumb) and two (maybe three?) pull-offs in that run.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by john57classic

If it matters, I’m pretty sure Pete used fingers (no thumb) and two (maybe three?) pull-offs in that run.

I don't hear pull-offs there, at least in the version I have, so I wasn't doing them, but yes it is notated that way, I just looked. Hmm. I'll see how it sounds. Thanks for pointing that out. That's almost like cheating

[rick-slo]

From the performance above I would say the example you gave lacks important timing info, the notes are off, there is a pull-off. Not to say he can't vary the way he plays it, however...

[TBman]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

From the performance above I would say the example you gave lacks important timing info, the notes are off, there is a pull-off. Not to say he can't vary the way he plays it, however...

I have the notation from one of his books which matches an album he did. I listed it exactly as written. It's all 8th notes. The video you provided I believe is after his huge recovery from a bad stroke.

Here's the version I'm learning from:

[rick-slo]

Then for that performance go with right hand m-i-m-i-m-i-p

[TBman]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Then for that performance go with right hand m-i-m-i-m-i-p

I'll try it. Doing index thumb I have to reach a bit, but I was using thumb index the whole tune so that was my mind set.