Members polishpaul Posted December 24, 2010 Members Posted December 24, 2010 There's endless stuff about scales, speed and blah-di-blah-di-dah, but nothing I can find about touch......ie how the player approaches the strings in what is obviously always a totally individual way. Whether it's with a pick or with the fingers, touch is probably the most important aspect of guitar playing. It's probably something that's exceedingly difficult to put into words, and nigh on impossible to teach. But having said that, I would be extremely interested in finding out how competent players got to the point where they now are. At the moment I'm going right back to the beginning, and doing a lot of exploration of what music can be produced with the minimum of notes/chords/theory etc, and just concentrating on different ways of string contact. Hope that makes sense. Slightly esoteric, perhaps, but maybe something useful will come of the thread.
Members 1001gear Posted December 24, 2010 Members Posted December 24, 2010 Very good place to know; the beginning.
Members jonfinn Posted December 24, 2010 Members Posted December 24, 2010 Touch. A VERY overlooked topic. A long time ago, one of my guitar teachers encouraged me to go back through my favorite recordings of guitar players. He told me to listen for these things: -are the bends in tune?-is the vibrato even in both width and speed?-how does he/she RELEASE the note? It changed how I practice.
Members Eddie Posted December 24, 2010 Members Posted December 24, 2010 You may want to read this:http://www.tuckandpatti.com/pick-finger_tech.html Also, IIRC, for some string instruments in Japan they had descriptions of over 40 ways to pick, including using the flesh, nails, various angles, etc.
Members GreenAsJade Posted December 25, 2010 Members Posted December 25, 2010 To be fair - there is a fairly regular stream of discussion about bends and vibrato, which are a big piece of "touch". Maybe another less-amenable-to-analysis part of "touch" is "pick attack"... GaJ
Members WesM.Vaughan Posted December 27, 2010 Members Posted December 27, 2010 Check out jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery. He used his thumb to strike the strings instead of a plectrum. Nothing else compares to that sound. Not even finger picking because the thumb is bigger andutilizes down strokes thus producing a fatter sound. Albert King and Jeff Beck are other famous guitarist noted for their use of the thumb. Playing with the thumb really opened my eyes to getting a feel for jazz. I would use a pick and play jazz standards with correct rhythm and notation, however it didn't sound jazzy until I started using the thumb approach. I no longer use the the thumb however due to the limitation of speed.
Members Stan31 Posted December 27, 2010 Members Posted December 27, 2010 Check out "Guitar Principles" - link in the siggy. It's ALL ABOUT THAT - the basics of correct practice and develping correct sensatins when touching the string, fretting teh string, playing the string, releasing the string... And also about how to practice any exercise or musical piece in a way that brings guaranted results. And as a student of the method myself I can tell you - it certainly CAN be taught.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.