Plucking - thought I was doing it right - not so sure anymore

[adamjohnson]

Hi there,

I started playing a month ago. Went for one lesson just to get it going. I've been looking at videos and tips online.

This teacher dude showed me to move and rest the thumb up and down.

 

i.e. Rest my thumb on the pickup to pluck the E-string, and then move it to rest on the E-string to play the A-string.

And then move and rest the thumb on the A-string to play the D-string, and then move and rest on the D-string to play the G-string.

 

Most videos that I see shows a floating thumb or a thumb that stays rested on the pickup while the plucking fingers move up and down all the strings.

 

Now I am not so sure. I feel comfortable with my teacher's style because it seems to keep my hand more "closed" as opposed to locking the thumb on the pickup and stretching the plucking fingers all the way down.

 

Your input and advice would be greatly appreciated as always.

 

Thank you

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[isaac42]

There are different styles. They all seem to work, but some playing styles are better for some styles of music, I think. My advice would be for you to do one of two things. Either find the style that works for you and go with it, or else decide which playing style you want to use, then pursue that style.

 

More lessons wouldn't be a bad idea, either. I never had any, and spent a lot of time figuring things out that a teacher could have shown me quickly, and unlearning things I did wrong and then relearning. A good teacher could have set me straight from the start.

[WRGKMC]

Issac nailed it. You have many different styles to accommodate different playing needs. I've acquired many over the years and may switch during a song depending on what is needed.

 

I'm sure the teacher is simply starting you off with one to get you going. Once you have that one nailed, you can move on to others.

In the beginning, repetition is the building blocks you need. Remember that movie, the Karate Kid where the old guy has the kid doing all these chores for him, the wax on, wax off, the painting and all of that?

 

Learning to play is like that in the beginning. You're given a technique by a teacher to master. Don't question it, just do it the best you can and then double down and do it even better. You will be given the reasoning as to why and given new challenges once your body is trained to handle them. Mind and body go hand in hand, but keeping the two in check is the key to great playing. If you over train the body and fail to feed the mind on where you can go with the physical you starve yourself of new paths to explore and therefore get frustrated. If you feed the mind and fail to work the body, you stumble and can even injure yourself trying to play things the body isn't ready for.

 

Allot of this is similar to sports training. Boot camp is rudimentary and repetitious. As things progress you are given harder and harder tasks to perform. The instructor makes sure you know them so well you can perform them without even thinking about it. Then when you have say 10 basic workouts mastered he'll start stringing them together on a higher level and the lightbulb goes off and you kick yourself in the rear for not realizing what steps and why they were being given to you. Pacing is important. The instructor wants to avoid giving you the impossible which would surely discourage you. Nor does he want to bore you to death so its a delicate balance between the two.

 

I still remember the lessons I took as a kid. I first played violin and had to learn how to read. My ability to learn by simply hearing a melody was advanced far ahead of my reading because I came from a musical family and knew my classics well. It took allot of effort learning how to read what I was hearing. After 3 years of that I switched to guitar. I had a guy show me three cords and I figured out the rest on my own. No internet or books back then either, I simply learned by listening.

 

A little later I took a few weeks worth of lessons for finger picking. I sucked up everything the teacher gave me and was playing some highly advanced rag time stuff by then end. I always kick myself in the ass for not taking jazz lessons however. I could have saved decades worth of struggles learning it on my own. Guitarists today have great advantages with the internet. All kinds of tab sites and video instruction.

 

Don't abandon teaching too quickly however. What you get is personalized there. If the instructor is an experienced pro he's likely worked with hundreds of other musicians and been where you're going. Most will give you the best short cuts and techniques, and steer you around all the dead ends, and I assure you there are more dead ends then there are clear paths. The path to becoming a pro is littered with dead bodies and you need a mentor to steer you where you need to go. Your prime years are limited. Those who want to hit the pro circuits by the time they are of legal age have allot of ground to cover. An instructor can keep you out of the swamp and guide a long way. Just realize that everyone has faults and limits. You will need to decide when the lessons are no longer advancing your skills and seek others to take you to the next plain.

[onelife]

Meet Jaco...

 

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