This Bud's For You

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Re: This Bud's For You

Postby keener » Fri Jan 21, 2011 4:43 pm

Thank you, Rande. Maybe we will meet someday. Who knows ... I might get a wild hair and show up at CAAS so I can meet a lot of you guys.

As to right-hand technique, I think I spend too much time obsessing on "the best" way to play instead of just playing. For example, in the starting part of this tune, you can see that I use my index finger to do a kicker on the 4th string. Turns out that you can get practically the same sound without doing that, using only the thumb and the i and m fingers for the whole D intro. I debated on which way to play it, and tried it both ways several times. I finally settled in on using the thumb, and i and m and a fingers, but it really would have been more economical to use just the thumb, i and m fingers.

A long, long time ago, I read where Segovia said to Never Ever Ever use a single finger to get two successive notes on a string. (That is, don't use i i, or m m, or a a, but use i m, or m a, etc.) I've tried to follow that "rule" as much as possible, but I think it's a mistake to get hung up on that kind of stuff the way I have. In watching Phil Hunt's video of Does Anybody Want To Boogie, I noticed that Phil gets the entire "Claw-like" intro using just the i and m fingers. (See his video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pHwMeARXts )

Looks to me like Tommy Jones is doing it that way, too, in his rendition of The Claw: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8okNHFuhNU To go further, it looks to me like Jerry played it using the i, m, and a fingers, although it is really hard to tell from this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29nurtH5r2U Yet, there are tunes where I think I see Jerry getting a similar kind of lick with just the thumb, i, and m fingers (like his bass lick in E in Summertime). Me, I use the i, m, and a to get the lick that Phil and Tommy get with just i and m, and they can both pick circles around me, so I don't see their ignoring Segovia's "rule" as detrimental in any way.

To take it one more step, for whoever is still reading at this point, I'm not sure but what Tommy's and Phil's way might be the better way. I know that on the rare times that I play my Gretsch CG, I find myself avoiding use of the a finger, because using i, m, and a on the thinner neck is too crowded. Hence, I tend to play quiet a bit differently on the Gretsch than on the Godin.

More than you wanted to know, I'm sure, but for those who are interested in technique, I just wanted to make sure you understand you can obsess on it too much. I feel like have obsessed too much on it.

Maybe a true expert, like Dr. Knowles, would disagree with me, but I wanted to distill a key point from what I THINK I've learned over my many years of tinkering with the guitar.

I'd really like to hear other thoughts on this, though. I know I sure don't want to lead anyone astray, as I am no expert by any stretch of the imagination.
keener
 
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