Hey folks,

Not sure who here has read this. It's a very interesting write-up about various picking techniques that the author has tried throughout his career, based on observations of others, in particular George Benson. Other than Pebber, I've not seen anything else that goes into so much detail about the actual mechanics of picking. Well worth a read:

tuckandpatti.com/ pick-finger_tech.html #1.2.11

Remove the spaces from the link and add 'www' to the front.

Cliff,
That wasn't the easiest of reads but I found that to be excellent! Very methodical, which suited my personality quite well. Thanks for the link. I might try out the Benson style as well here and there as I've never tried that technique before.

After reading I explored his website and watched a few of his "masterclass" videos on youTube from back in 1984. Some very impressive teaching and playing. In particular, he demonstrated many of the "tricks" that some of today's famous players are using. I'm going to have to dig for more.

Cliff that read is serios;ly bad@$$!!!! I love it! CAnt put down the sarod but cant kep them other three fingers from doing stuff either! Now I wanna get a bitchin picado with the other 3 non scalpal pick fingas and get some alien like Mcglaughlin sarod and Paco de lucia picado hyrid...ha We can engineer the $1,000,000...right hand...we have the technology (-=::

I remember reading this years ago. I didn't get anything from it.

This guy mentions 20 nps, is there video evidence of this sounds awesome?

No clue Delta, but youtube is turning up thousands of hits. I know this isn't the picking style that is advocated here, however consistent with the theory of at least attempting to learn all techniques I might check it out for a bit. Maybe I won't. I initially thought the downside would be stiff forearm movement, but the guy in this video says otherwise. There are probably better videos showing speed, but this guy isn't slow...



edit: By the way, the guy that wrote the picking article plays fingerstyle. I've REALLY been enjoying his videos. He has developed an insane one-man-band technique.

Shawn Lane held the pick this way, Buckethead does from time to time, I've seen McLaughlin do it from time to time. It's not a big deal. People have been tilting the pick backwards for 40 years. If it feels comfortable to you then use it.

That's good to know. Yeah, I didn't think the technique was new, secret or hidden or anything. It's just something I haven't tried out yet or seen used all that much. I'm still relatively uneducated though and haven't seen/heard enough of the greats to understand all the options.

Scalpel - predominantly seems to use the finger muscles
Sarod - predominantly seems to use the forearm muscles
Wrist - uses the more unnatural side-to-side motion of the wrist
Whatever this technique is called - uses the more natural hinging motion of the wrist

I spent about 30 minutes with it and I was able to pick pretty fast on a single string. Not as fast as the other techniques but hey, it was 30 minutes. But whatever, I know with practice they can all be developed to a high level. Right now I'm coming along with the first three (plus fingerstyle) so I suppose learning another might not be worth it. Especially since I still sound crappy/boring improvising over simple vamps.

Thanks for posting the vid: that's a very cool demo of the technique. Let's call it "George Benson" or GB for the sake of discussion.

I think you've hit the nail on the head: the important aspect of the technique is the motion that's used to pick, rather than the angle of the pick itself. The angle is similar to a scalpel angle, and gives a similar tone, but I find the idea interesting that using these wrist muscles might be faster and encourage more endurance than standard wrist picking. And maybe than scalpel too? In this respect it seems to share a benefit with sarod.

Couple of other people who use something similar: Santana and Neil Schon.

Actually, now I think about it some more, I think Pebber refers to this picking stance in one of his vids.

Hey, do you think Tuck is related to Ursula Andress?

And... and... wait, is Ursula related to Ursin?

sister, mother, or grandma...maybe?

I was always more of an Eva Green man myself. Was introduced to her in a French niteclub one time but it was before Casino Royale. She was doing modeling for the house of Dior. Cool chick.

Yes, she is beautiful. If I had to choose, probably my favourite Bond girl. (Though Jane Seymour was pretty hot in her day.)

20 nps well it may be a stretch.
A remarkable player know doubt. A one man machine. and if you look closley his fingers appear so indepentent from each other on the right hand that 20 nps can be broken down into what three fingers and thumb are doing in the same bar.
Like he says keep it simple.
Here is a you tube hot licks video.

youtube.com/watch?v=cewOhfOzlMc

Certainly no offense was intended. I think Ursin is awesome.

Hey Ursin - I'm really sorry if I upset you.

It's cool Cliff. Since me and Pebber have kind of unusual names you never know when somebody is just trying to be a jerk. But, being a Bond fan, I got the joke. It's all good man.