Members All The Same Posted June 22, 2015 Members Share Posted June 22, 2015 Personally, I am mostly a fingerstyle player. After a couple years of taking classical lessons, I rarely use a pick now. I am trying to get used to playing a more Travis style with a thumbpick (ala Tommy Emmanuel) but it's not coming too easy lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted June 22, 2015 Members Share Posted June 22, 2015 Is "bad" a playing style? Seriously, I'm a basic strummer. Nothing fancy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Idunno Posted June 22, 2015 Members Share Posted June 22, 2015 I had tried to style the strings for a couple years but all I ever end up doing is picking them. Then just before I gave up I looked up the definition and it says fingerpicking. No wonder... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members All The Same Posted June 22, 2015 Author Members Share Posted June 22, 2015 lol, I'm sure you are not bad - nothing wrong with strumming. :-) It'a all relative anyway imo. Just when I think I'm sounding good, I'll listen to Tommy or Preston reed, and realize how far away I am from those guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted June 23, 2015 Members Share Posted June 23, 2015 I've fooled around with a variety of playing styles - some strumming, some folkie pattern picking, a few bluegrass fiddle tunes. But my real love, and the style I try to play, is based first on the old delta blues and more recently on finger style stuff that comes from the blues. I love the music of Robert Johnson, John Hurt, Gary Davis, Huddie Leadbetter, all the great bottleneck players, and the white boys who tried to play like them. In my early days I listened to Ry Cooder and John Fayhe and tried to emulate them. Then I heard Leo Kottke and my whole world went to hell. Before I forget my manners, welcome to HCAG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members All The Same Posted June 23, 2015 Author Members Share Posted June 23, 2015 I've fooled around with a variety of playing styles - some strumming, some folkie pattern picking, a few bluegrass fiddle tunes. But my real love, and the style I try to play, is based first on the old delta blues and more recently on finger style stuff that comes from the blues. I love the music of Robert Johnson, John Hurt, Gary Davis, Huddie Leadbetter, all the great bottleneck players, and the white boys who tried to play like them. In my early days I listened to Ry Cooder and John Fayhe and tried to emulate them. Then I heard Leo Kottke and my whole world went to hell. Before I forget my manners, welcome to HCAG Thank you it's good to be here. I probably should introduce myself - been playing for a couple decades now, started on acoustic, abandoned it for flashy electrics (gasp!) and have rediscovered it in the last 5 years or so. Love Ry Cooder, and the great slide players you mentioned. I discovered the originals through the back door, as it were. I first heard slide listening to Duane Allman and Johnny Winter, and then backtracked through their influences to discover Elmore James and Robert Johnson. I have attempted... to play slide guitar, with not much success. I have however recently purchased a (round neck) resonator, and I am having better luck with that, but still a long way to go. I am currently gassing for a nice square neck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members t_e_l_e Posted June 23, 2015 Members Share Posted June 23, 2015 in my first 10 years or so i just played acoustic, strumming only, and strumming hard with breaking strings, so i used no picks which made breaking strings worse. then i joined a band played electric only for almost 10 years, complete different and different playing and the past 2 years i play more acoustic again at home and i found out i do not strum that hard anymore and i try more finger pickin and variations in strumming... i also love robert johnson but i can't get used to open tunings, yeah maybe its just laziness, but in standard tuning i know "all tha chords" and know which notes to play and with every different open tuning i need to learn the fretboard completely new and i think to myself it is not worth the effort for just a song or two.... yep i'm lazy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted June 23, 2015 Members Share Posted June 23, 2015 Variable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted June 23, 2015 Members Share Posted June 23, 2015 I'm sort of a jack of all trades but master of none. I get the most enjoyment out of singing while playing using whatever style seems appropriate for the mood of the song, but often both the playing and the singing suffer for it. Every now and then though something clicks and I get the goosebumps. I don't know if that a positive reflection of my performance (since I'm often alone) but it feels good, and that's good enough for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Etienne Rambert Posted June 23, 2015 Members Share Posted June 23, 2015 I'm better at comping than any other technique. Usually I have a pick - not always. I play up and down the neck, usually partials inversions and unvoiced chords. Sort of like a Jazz player but not as good. A good player once told me I had a natural style to play behind the beat. I used to listen to a lot of Clarence White-era Byrds' records. His great leads were often behind the beat too. Sometimes I do folkie finger-style. Sometimes I strum. For strumming and finger-style, I like open chords. For comping - I stay on barre chords. And they are almost all partials - less neck space to traverse. I play no leads. I know nothing about lead guitar. I like to comp off the lead player. But I did memorize a lead once - Scottie Moore's (or Hank Garland's?) lead on Elvis' 'A Fool Such as I '. That's the only lead I ever wanted to learn. And I learned it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted June 23, 2015 Members Share Posted June 23, 2015 . I have however recently purchased a (round neck) resonator, and I am having better luck with that, but still a long way to go. I am currently gassing for a nice square neck. You can, of course, put a nut extender on a roundie and play it lap style - my 1932 Dobro is currently set up that way. The only thing the square neck does for you is keep it from sliding off your lap. Most square necks are spiders - if your roundie is a biscuit it won't have that sweet singing sound that we associate with a spider bridge but you can certainly play lap style. Right now I have three resos - my '32 Dobro spider bridge, a 1980 Duolian metal bodied biscuit and a home made koa bodied tricone. I've also got a koa bodied weissenborn style guitar - it has to be played lap style. Obviously slide is an important part of the way I play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members All The Same Posted June 23, 2015 Author Members Share Posted June 23, 2015 You can, of course, put a nut extender on a roundie and play it lap style - my 1932 Dobro is currently set up that way. The only thing the square neck does for you is keep it from sliding off your lap. Most square necks are spiders - if your roundie is a biscuit it won't have that sweet singing sound that we associate with a spider bridge but you can certainly play lap style. Right now I have three resos - my '32 Dobro spider bridge, a 1980 Duolian metal bodied biscuit and a home made koa bodied tricone. I've also got a koa bodied weissenborn style guitar - it has to be played lap style. Obviously slide is an important part of the way I play. ah, ok thanks. yes, it is a biscuit style and I do currently play it on my lap. You are correct, it has a very authentic "swampy' sound, but not a smooth lullaby sound lol. Its pretty cheap actually, but I wanted to give it a whirl before I invest in a high quality reso. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Idunno Posted June 24, 2015 Members Share Posted June 24, 2015 Desire in one hand and apathy in the other, my playing is a paradox of mechanical motion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mikeo Posted June 24, 2015 Members Share Posted June 24, 2015 I ain't no Tommy Emanuel, but I can fill in the slack, with a little finger picking, or flat picking.I never really got that good with Nashville picks and find them uncomfortable, but have used em. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pk1fan Posted June 24, 2015 Members Share Posted June 24, 2015 Fingerstyle in alternate tunings . Wish I could play like Phil Keaggy and Tony Rice , so I should be practicing now . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members All The Same Posted June 24, 2015 Author Members Share Posted June 24, 2015 Fingerstyle in alternate tunings . Wish I could play like Phil Keaggy and Tony Rice , so I should be practicing now . Nice! I would like to explore more open tunings. I have a great dadgad instructional dvd but alas, like most of the instructional stuff I buy, gets the surface scratched and then I revert back to playing what I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ski219 Posted June 24, 2015 Members Share Posted June 24, 2015 As someone said earlier I am a jack of all styles and master of none. That is something I been saying about my playing for years. I play a lot of lead guitar...to the point that several years a go I decided I had to put a lot of work in to get my rhythm up to snuff. I play electric in a classic rock band and in a modern country band. I dabble in bluegrass. Learn jazz tunes like So What and Take 5. Do some fingerpicking. Play almost no metal or rap. I have a 6 string dreadnaught, a jumbo 12 string and a stainless steel resonator. My natural style seems to be country blues or bluesy country rock. My main influences are Clapton, all the great players in the Allman Brothers throughout the years and Jerry Garcia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pk1fan Posted June 24, 2015 Members Share Posted June 24, 2015 This is great help to me in my alternate tuning forays ... http://sethares.engr.wisc.edu/alternatetunings/alltunings.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bigald18 Posted June 24, 2015 Members Share Posted June 24, 2015 All right guys, I'm 66 yrs old and have been playing on and off since I was 13. There's an old saying: You can have ten years of experience or you can have one year of experience ten times. When I was younger I was capable of playing folk blues, flamenco, and classical with a reasonable degree of skill. My fingerstyle is a modification of Travis picking, flamenco and classical were by the book-whatever the music said to do. Today my playing is best described as "Crippled Picking." My mind and fingers no longer coordinate at all. I have no feeling in my fingers and poor coordination in both hands. I have sold all of my guitars except for two: Yamaha LJ6 and an Ibanez Jazz guitar (electric) both of which I'm trying to sell, too. I will have left the first guitar I ever built which is a D18 copy with the ugliest lacquer finish ever but great sound and action. Built it in 2000 and it sounds really great. When I built it I had no power tools at all. Used a violin purfling cutter for the grooves for any inlays. Chisels and sandpaper to fit the dovetail, Weights with folded paper to act as clamps to hold the back together and to hold bracing in place when glueing. The top and back were cut to match the curve of the guitar with a coping saw. Wish I could tell you that I built it by candlelight, but I did have electricity. LOL It was probably the greatest thrill of my life when I finally strung it up and the sound was right on. It just rang the right way and today sounds even better. I'll never sell it. Solid mahogany back and sides (back then I believe it was real Honduran mahogany) and a solid spruce top. I feel today like I have one year of experience 53 times cause I've even gone deaf in one ear. If you can't hear and you can't feel you have no style. I guess that's where I'm at-Crippled Picking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members panhandler Posted June 24, 2015 Members Share Posted June 24, 2015 I'm a lukewarm hack. Sometimes pretty okay flatpicker, sometimes no. All depends on the amt of pressure on me. If Ive got to perform publicly I am much better, but when that ain't happenin (like these days) I'm a guitar slob who's skills are on the decline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members All The Same Posted June 24, 2015 Author Members Share Posted June 24, 2015 Wow...thank you very much. what a great resource Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Idunno Posted June 25, 2015 Members Share Posted June 25, 2015 "...skills are on the decline." Same here. Must be an HC virus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members All The Same Posted June 25, 2015 Author Members Share Posted June 25, 2015 yikes...sorry to hear. Why no feeling in your fingers? That must be a tough thing to endure. Otoh, at least you have had one guitar that you are in love with. I have "liked" several guitars, but yet to find one that I cant live without. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EdBega Posted June 25, 2015 Members Share Posted June 25, 2015 I strum whatever sounds right ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted June 26, 2015 Members Share Posted June 26, 2015 I play hybrid flatpick + fingers most of the time. About 50/50 acoustic and electric. Lots of genres - folk, rock, blues, reggae, pop, soca, dance, soul, jazz, R&B, fingerstyle, whatever... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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