Stephen Wallpe

Stephen Wallpe
Stephen Wallpe commented on: Fundamentals The Pick on the String Oct 18, 2018

 

Hey Chris!

I am new to the site and glad to be here!  Thus far, I have worked through the first 5 lessons in the “Fundamentals” section and I have not yet seen these 2 topics discussed anywhere so here are my 2 questions:

1.) You mention that when playing, especially rhythm guitar, we want the downbeat/bass note to be just as loud or even louder than the second and third beats. This poses a challenge given that the bass note is a single note and it is a lower pitch versus beats 2 and 3 which are multiple notes and higher in pitch. Also, it's easier to get more volume on beats 2 and 3 because you can follow through in your strum but you realy can't follow through on the bass note in the same way without sounding additional strings. These factors seem to make beats 2 and 3 stand out, naturally. With that being said, are you playing your bass notes/down beats with rest strokes or free strokes? It’s difficult to tell from the videos.

2.) There has been a lot of discussion as to how the right hand holds the pick and how the pick strikes the string on a downstroke but there has been little to no discussion in regards to the upstroke. Could you please address that a little? On the upstroke, does the pick essentially pass over the string in the same way but in the opposite direction? Is there any “toggling” of the thumb, wrist, or forearm to change the orientation of the pick relative to the string on an upstroke vs. a downstroke? Any discussion of this topic will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

- Stephen    

Chris Eldridge
Chris Eldridge Nov 20, 2018

Hi Stephen, and sorry for the slow response time! I‘m writing from JFK airport where I just touched back down in the States after a few weeks overseas. To answer your questions:

1) It depends on the context, but yes, it is important to be able to play your bass notes as loud or louder than the strums. That said, a loud strum is always going to be louder than a single bass note. But you can control the dynamics of your strums to make them a bit quieter, and you can play rest strokes on your bass notes to make them louder. The main context in which you would want your bass notes to be consistently louder than your strums is when you are playing rhythm guitar for old-time music. It’s counter intuitive to do, but the guitar’s rhythmic emphasis is on beats 1 and 3 in old-time so the bass notes are supreme. Bluegrass is a lot more flexible. But old-time provides the foundation for bluegrass, so I think it’s important to be able to do both. 

2) It’s hard to write about those kinds of kinesthetic details, but I will say that, for me, the angle of the pick relative to the string will not change on an upstroke vs a downstroke. So no toggling. To me, rotating the flat pick would introduce a large variable in the pick stroke that would make things harder to control. I will make a close-up video when I get home and post it here to show you how I do it. (FWIW, Tony Rice does employ some pick toggling, but it’s very unorthodox. He will actually flip the pick and play with the back edge when he is playing downward rest strokes!)

Chris Eldridge
Chris Eldridge Nov 21, 2018

 
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