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Clapton before you accosue me - fingers or pick?


Damokles

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Posted

Hi everyone

i just bought my first dreadnought guitar to get into some accoustic playing. I learned classical gas to a certain degree, doesn't sound perfect but it's nice and now im looking for some other songs for my guitar. I like Eric claptons "before you accuse me" but i can't hear if i have to play it with a pick, fingerstyle or a mixture. Fingerstyle seems pretty hard because it's fast but when i play it with a pick it sounds too bright. I'd be glad if someone could answer my question and perhaps tell me some other nice accoustig songs for dreadnoughts.

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Posted

Don't know how he handles that song specifically, but here are some things to consider:

1) He may have played it with a combination of pick and fingers (called hybrid picking). I would guess that's his method. It's probably the most common method of fingerpicking by most electric guitarists.

2) He may have put fingerpicks on his thumb and/or other fingers and played it that way.

3) Whichever method he may have chosen, keep in mind that his sound may not sound as bright as yours because he may have asked his soundman to remove the high-end frequencies, either live or on the recording. He might actually sound as bright as you do in real life, but may have been killing the brightness through technology.

4) Your guitar won't sound quite as bright after the strings aren't new anymore.

5) He might be playing it all fingers, and while you say it seems too fast for you that way, you'd probably have a better chance of keeping up using just your fingers or fingerpicks, rather than hybrid picking. I've been messing with hybrid picking for years, and can still play faster without the pick in my hand, primarily because with the pick between your thumb and first finger, your next finger in line is your second finger, and it's slower at reaching for that next string/note than your first finger would be if it wasn't holding the pick.

I play some of the other songs from the Clapton live acoustic album, such as "Nobody Know You," and "San Francisco Bay Blues. " Those are both really cool tunes. Give them a try.

  • 4 weeks later...
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Posted

I play BYAM fingerstyle. Originally learned it with a pick, but once I got the hang of it, found fingerstyle is more natural. I also have the Unplugged DVD and you can see E.C. plays BYAM fingerstyle.

I basically learned to play acoustic with the Unplugged CD, I also play Signe, San Francisco Bay Blues (awesome with a 12 string) and a couple others. Love that CD.

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