Blue Smoke performed by Randy Buckner

[RandyBuckner]

Here's a video of me performing "Blue Smoke" at the 2011 International Thumbpicking Weekend in Muhlenberg. I was playing my Ison Solomatic 4000 through Eddie Pennington's Music Man with a 15" speaker.

Hope you like it, and thanks for listening.

Randy

[RandeDager]

Hey Randy! Sometimes I wonder if concentrating on the thumb and index finger is necessary to play Merle's style? It has always seemed inefficient to me but people like you make it look much easier than it seems like it would for me. How would that song have been to play for you using more picking fingers like Chet probably would have done? I'm not saying that no other fingers were ever used, but the way I saw you brace 3 fingers against the guitar while you picked let me know that the focus was on the thumb and index finger. Nicely done!

[RandyBuckner]

Rande -

Using the thumb and two or more fingers like Chet and Jerry is definitely more efficient than Merle's technique. The reason I use thumb and finger like Merle is to approximate his phrasing and technique, and therefore sound like him. For whatever reason, when I play that way, I get more of Merle's drive, also. When playing forward rolls like Merle, you have to use thumb and one finger, or it will sound like Chet. I noticed that when I played the rolls on this song. So, from now on, I'll play the rolls like Merle at that section.

Whenever I use more than one finger, the song starts sounding like Chet, at least when I play it. Eddie Pennington, however, uses his thumb and two fingers to play like Merle and Mose. On the other hand, when I play a Chet or Jerry arrangement, I use thumb and two or more fingers, like they did, in order to approximate their sound. For example, when I play The Claw, I use the thumb and three fingers to get Jerry's clawing technique.

It boils down to the fact I'm trying to get as an authentic Travis sound as possible, so I imitate his technique in order to accomplish the task.

Hope you've been doing well, and get to pick that guitar -

Randy

[RandeDager]

Hi Randy,

Thanks for the clarification. Attempting to duplicate the SOUND of an artist by using his or her specific technique makes perfect sense. Efficiency isn't even a concern in that case.

Yes, I do get to pick quite often. I seem to be going many different directions with solo performances as well as accompanying vocalists and a mixture of both during various programs. Yet it still isn't enough for me......lol.
Working around a work schedule is frustrating when music is my first love. Thankfully, I love my job when I can't
play music.