Conference napalm::guitar

    
    From reading your note I'm not sure how advanced you are at playing.
    Regardless, here's the best way I know how to increase flat picking
    speed. I've played folk and blue grass for a number of years and
    this is what worked for me. 
    
    One of the best ways to gain speed in any kind of guitar playing
    is to practice with a metronome. Practice picking your country 
    G, E, D, A, and C scales at a low speed. Use alternate (up-down)
    picking. As you get more comfortable with picking, increase the
    rhythm speed of the metronome. Many players would rather have a
    bone marrow transplant than use a metronome. However, if you practice
    with one for 45 minutes to an hour a day, your speed will increase. 
    
    Some other helpful hints:
    
          *  Don't use the pointed edge of your pick. Use one of the
             rounded corners of the pick. Hold the pick close so that not very
             much of it is exposed from under your thumb and forefinger.
             Use a medium or heavy pick. Light picks just don't cut
             it (no pun intended).
    
          *  Try to play every day. A little every day is better than
             a lot one or two nights a week. 
    
          *  Use medium or light strings. I find that I can move best
             over light strings but I prefer the sound of mediums. 
    
          *  Make sure that when you're trying to pick fast, your wrist
             is the only thing moving. Your forearm should be still.
             Your forearm should only move when your strumming. 
    
    Well that's it. Try these suggestions and see what happens. Buy a
    cheap battery powered metronome and practice with it. If you do
    it faithfully, you will get results. 
    
                                       
    Good luck and happy strumming,
    
    Rob

 
    ...may not work for another.
    
    
    I have to quibble a bit.  It's a very small minority of bluegrass
    pickers who use the round corner of the pick.  Doc, Dan and Tony
    don't, though Tony uses a homemade pick that's not as pointed as
    most.  You'll generally get a crisper attack and more volume from
    the point.  Having said that, I'll now agree that the round corner
    might help with the speed.
    
    If you use the corner, then light guage strings might suit you,
    but mainstream bluegrass pickers mostly use mediums.  They give
    better volume and tend to help with pick control - especially if
    you play away from the bridge.
    
    The wrist_vs_arm debate has been raging for years.  It really depends
    on the individual.  My wrist control is much better than my arm
    control, so I tend to use mainly wrist for faster stuff.  Doc Watson
    says he uses more arm than wrist.  Feel it out.
    
    I second the nomination for the metronome.  It's been proven to
    work, if you practice properly.  
    
    Bob

    Thanks Rob, and Bob,
    			last night I tried the round corner of the pick,
    and it did improve my speed. I've been playing guitar for about
    twenty years, but most of it was finger picking on a classical
    guitar. The first 4 years when I started to play guitar it was in
    a rock band, with an electric guitar. After I stopped playing in
    a band I needed to find a way of playing guitar by myself, and
    get used to not having a base guitar and drums accompaniment,
    finger picking was the way to go for me. Now I'm learning bluegrass
    and I have to learn flat picking taking the rock picking experience
    I had some sixteen years ago. The picking that these guys in the
    bluegrass field do just blows me away. 
                            Another thing you guys might help me with
    is learning songs ? Right now I'm learning from tapes, trying to
    pick up the songs by listening and trying to play along. I'm doing
    OK, but the picking is so fast that I lose notes and I'm not able
    to complete certain pieces. When I was learning to play a five
    string banjo years ago, a book on bluegrass banjo explained how
    it was impossible to write bluegrass banjo music in the conventional
    form. Is this true also of bluegrass guitar ? I don't think it is,
    but I can imagine that it would be difficult to read. 
                                                         
    thanks
    Jim
    

    If you want to go from tapes, you might consider purchasing one
    of those cassette players which will do 1/2 speed.  In last months
    Guitar Player, I remember seeing at least two different ones.  They
    aren't exactly cheap.  I don't remember the price, since I wasn't
    really interested, but I think it was around $100-$200.  One has
    the play/rewind switches hooked up to some little bars which you
    can operate with your feet.  Just a thought, might help.
    
    Greg
    

    
    Jim,
       
    As far as learning the stuff: Blue grass guitar runs are mostly
    variations on country scales. Most bluegrass pickers play the 
    standard coutry scales with various chromatic notes thrown in, 
    especially on fast runs. Chromatic notes are notes in between the
    standard scale notes (If you've played for 20 years you probably know
    what chromatics are but for the sake of completeness...). Chromatics
    give scales a "funner," "funkier" sound. 
    
    Also, there are a lot of books out there on blue grass guitar. Most
    books have the music notation as well as tabulation. Most are easy
    to read and will help you learn songs (like "Old Joe Clark" and
    "Under the Double Eagle"). I have a few and can bring them in if
    you're interested. 
    
    Buy a few Norman Blake albums ("Blackberry Blossom," "Whiskey Before
    Breakfast") and listen. You should be able to pick up a lot of the
    runs just by listening. 
    
    Don't give up on the metronome. That will give you the technical
    ability in a relativley short time.
    
    Happy picking,
    
    Rob

    One additional note on building up speed -  be patient.  Do most
    of your playing within your current speed limit.  If you do too
    much playing at the ragged edge of your ability, you'll develop
    sloppy picking habits.  Slow and clean beats fast and sloppy.
    
    Here's a regimen I'd recommend.  Choose a set of scale exercises
    and tunes that cover a good range of technique (tough string crossings,
    cross-picking, hammering, etc.), and play them every time you practice.
    Find a tempo (on the metronome), for each piece, that lets you play
    it 'perfectly'  and increase the tempo one metronome count per day.
    If you start to get a little sloppy, just hold off on increasing
    the tempo until it's smooth again.
    
    Homespun Tapes has some bluegrass tapes and videos that would probably
    be helpful, or at least fun to listen to.
    
    Bob

    RE: to all
    Thanks to all. I feel I'm on the road now. I've been using the back
    end of a pick similar to the small gibson's that someone had mentioned,
    its working quit well. I've been wondering, do mandolin players use
    a guitar pick or do they have a smaller pick ? As far as learning
    the stuff, I'm gonna have to get in on some of the jam sessions
    the Fiddler's Choice, has every now and then. Most of the music,
    I've been taping is from 90.5 WICN, Worcester, on saturday mornings.
    If anyone wants bluegrass music, thats where to get it.
                                                  
    Thanks 
    Jim

    re .2 above I must disagree.  Dan Crary is a strong believer
    in using the round edge of a pick.  He explains his reasons
    for this in his book/cassette course ( which, by the way is
    a pretty good intro to flatpicking).
    
    Regards
    Doug Dickerson
    

    re .8
    
    What is the "Fiddler's Choice" ?? 

    re: 8
    Sorry for not providing all the info. The "Fiddler's Choice" is
    a music store up or down in Jaffery N.H. which specializes in
    acoustic instruments. They have hand made fiddles and mandolin's.
    There right in the center of Jaffery, very easy to find.
    
    Jim

	One other point - ensure that you're playing correctly (i.e. with
good TONE and control) before you work on velocity.  The most important
key to bluegrass is that the instrument should be played smoothly, and control
and tone are the real keys to that smooth sound.  
                                                    
"I'd lot rather hear someone play with control and tone, than hear a bunch of
notes go by fast without any musicality" - T. Rice. 

	Listen carefully to Doc, Crary, Rice, Steve Kaufman, especially
Mark O'Connor - they not only get the velocity, but each note is clearly
enunciated - you get the full beauty of the instrument with each passage.
I still marvel at the richness that Rice get's out of his instrument,
regardless of the tempo.
                                     
	Another key to bluegrass (started to say 'the other ' but there
are about a thousand things to learn) is to work out the arrangement to
a fiddle tune, then stick with it.  That's where the velocity comes in,
and you maintain the control and tone that you've developed at the slower
speeds.  Chromatic scales with a metronome are invaluable throughout the
range of the instrument.
                                               
	Pat Flynn often mentions the importance of the "5 T's" of music - 
	Touch, Tone, Timing, Taste, and Tuning.

	Pick up a copy of FRETS and start reading Crary's column regularly.

	Look me up when you're in Colorado Springs.

		Mike.

    A second on the value of Frets magazine for the bluegrass player
    -- in addition to Dan Crary's column, they have had a number of
    "clinic" articles with Tony Rice, Norman Blake, and others over
    the last couple of years.  They have a back issue service or maybe
    you can find someone in your area with copies to lone.  I could
    xerox a couple or three of Crary's column's for you and send by
    US Mail if you haven't a closer or more useful source.
    
    - Evan
    

    RE:13
    Where do you buy this Frets Magazine in Mass ?
    
    Jim

re:    Where do you buy this Frets Magazine in Mass ?
    

	Look in your favorite Music Store.  Most larger bookstore also
   	carry it in their magazine section.  It's a guitar player 
	sister magazine as is Keyboard.  You can also subscribe for a
	year for about $16 or so.

	-gary

    I believe that they carry 'Frets'.  It's a nationwide chain, seen
    in better malls everywhere...
    
    Greg

    re .8    There are so-called mandolin picks which are smaller than
    most guitar picks, but I don't know any mandolin players who use
    them.  I use the same picks on guitar, mandolin or banjo - heavy
    guage guitar picks.  One of the best mandolin players I've ever
    known uses triangular, slightly rounded tortoise shell picks.  They're
    about 1/8 inch thick - no kiddin' - and they don't flex at all.
    
    re .9   Dan usta use the point.  Things keep evolving.
    
    Bob