After 28 years of using a plectrum, I decided to have a stab at the intro to Dire Straits' "Romeo and Juliet". By God I think I know which would be easier to pull off.
Interestingly, I found a video of the man himself whilst searching for a tutorial - almost catatonic in his speech delivery but when he picks up a guitar? Blimey.
And pick up a guitar he did (lovely Martin parlour, pre-CBS Strat, '58 Les Paul Standard, that resonator off the cover of Brothers in Arms).
The most enlightening bit of the interview was him talking about fingerpicking, funnily enough. He said at first it's a bit like waterskiing - "I'm up! I'm up! I'm u... ah. Never mind."
Anyway, persevere I shall - getting there. It's got to be the hardest thing I've learned since I first picked up a guitar in the late '80s, it feels like someone took the fingers off my right hand and replaced them with 14 big toes.
If anyone's got any magic tips, share 'em here. I'm not daft though, I know there's no other way really than repetition - same way I got fluent with the old Dunlop Tortex.
Comments
Other than that it’s mostly perseverance.
You can take comfort in that I’ve been laying it for years and still struggle with the steady strum from the low D up through the barred “D” shape.
Romeo is in open but you can play a close version in normal
Even the best covers on youtube cannot get close to his feel and timing. There is just some magic in his playing.
I'm at the perseverance stage now. If you mean you struggle with the 6-string arpeggio, string 6, 5, and 4 with the thumb and then finger 1, 2 and 3 (all in a lovely sextuplet feel) then yeah. Me too. I've just about got it but then cannot for the life of me hit strings 5 and 1 open immediately afterwards. It's like trying to play a harp whilst wearing mittens.
My god though it's a lovely sound. Aside from an indulgent noodle on the old man's D-35 three times a year, I've neglected the acoustic and any sort of picking for a decade or more. It's a whole new world, but I am actually enjoying it.
It's been a while since I've wanted to pick the guitar up every time I walk past it, so all good
It it does sound lovely when you get it right tho
When I can play a section without thinking about it, only then do I think about speeding up.
The golden rule for learning new technique is hands separate practise.
When practisiing new technique with both hands your brain is calculating:
1. Left hand
2. Right hand
3. Coordination of the two hands
And according to some scientific study that I have no reference for no 3. Is much more intensive and difficult for the brain to learn.
So do the picking hand separately until it is good before trying to coordinate with the other.
This is how pianists in the conservatoires learn, hence the obvious gulf in technical fluency between them and the typical pianist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG__SwkV3wg
One of the reasons for using R&J as a starting point is specifically because the left hand is (comparatively) simple when compared with what the right is doing. As it's the polar opposite of my normal legato-heavy plectrum technique, it does force me to focus on the picking hand.
Then I started to take this whole fingerpicking thing seriously.
Ah. There we go. Now I remember.
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
I can never seem to hold a plectrum firmly enough I always end up dropping it. I sometimes think I should have learned guitar left handed because I do a lot of things left handed except writing. It's a bit late now I've been playing nearly 40 years, it would be like learning all over again and buying more guitars of course.
Conversely I’d be happy if it was possible to graft a 1mm Delrin pick onto the thumb of my right hand, that way it wouldn’t end up in the washing machine with all the others
Not holding it too firmly is the key I find, in fact I always have nerves for the first couple of tunes at a gig and hold onto it for dear life. Once I settle down I get back to holding it lightly as normal. I’ve never once dropped one (cursed it now of course!).
Horses and courses though. I’ve always admired players like you who don’t have the plastic crutch. Fingers make such a nice sound on the strings.
I’ve seem Jim Mullen play a couple of times, ripping the most complicated, blistering licks with his thumb. If you’ve never seen him, check him out. If I could play a thousandth of that I’d die a happy man.