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Author
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Topic: Big chords: three fingers vs. thumb raking
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Cliff Kane
Member From: Long Beach, CA
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posted 24 June 2006 12:10 PM
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Howdy folks,
I'm just starting to check out the C6 neck, and most of the chords are four-plus tone chords. For the E9 neck I've always played with the thumb plus two fingers. Now that I'm learning the grips for C6, it's obvious that I will either have to develop the ability to rake or strum more than one string with my thumb or with a finger, or start using three or more fingers for the grips. I'm interested in what the best way to develop my grips and approach is. I know that some people play with three fingers and thumb, and some people somehow manage to play four-or-more note chords with two fingers and a thumb. Is this just a matter of personal preference, or does one approach have merit over the other?Thank you for your help,
Cliff
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Billy Carr
Member From: Seminary, Mississippi USA
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posted 24 June 2006 12:52 PM
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I use a thumbpick and two metal picks. I do a lot of rakes on the C6th neck usually forward rakes with the thumb. It can be two strings or it may be seven or eight strings. Depends on the phrasing I'm looking for. I also use what I call a reverse rake with the thumb on the E9th neck. Usually strings 6 thru 9 are normally used on this one. The D note is what I usually try to get on a reverse rake, which in turn turns into a 7th chord. This is a quick rake that is sort of slipped in I guess you could say. |
John McGann
Member From: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
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posted 24 June 2006 01:06 PM
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There are lots of voicings that "require" the extra pick, and you can argue w/ Joe Wright or Reece who use thumb plus 3 fingers-but I wouldn't  Many players will say "the bass player will play the root, you only need 3 notes". If it works for them I ain't arguing with them either I'm a sucker for some of those dom7 chords with 3 and 7 (or vice versa) in the bass and the juicy stuff (9, b9, #9, #5, b5, 13 in some combo) on top. I need that "extra" pick to get the sounds I want in terms of chords. There are lots of good voicings that are unavailable without that extra pick. Hard to get strings 9,7,4 and 2 (say, p5 and p6 and 4th raise to get F# C Bb F for a D7 #5 #9 at the 12th fret) with a sweep, even if the bassist plays the root.
Dr. Hugh Jeffreys uses all 5 fingers and no finger picks. Paul and Buddy and John H. and many others use thumb and two fingers. They all play the tar out of the C6th (or any) tuning.
Take your pick... ------------------
http://www.johnmcgann.com
Info for musicians, transcribers, technique tips and fun stuff. Joaquin Murphey transcription book, Rhythm Tuneup DVD and more...
[This message was edited by John McGann on 24 June 2006 at 01:23 PM.] |
ed packard
Member From: Show Low AZ
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posted 24 June 2006 01:28 PM
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Three and the thumb for me. Lots of overlooked chord inversions on E9 that become available with the added pick also.The penalty is that certain types of finger and knuckle harmonics need to be transferred to the little finger. |
Don McClellan
Member From: Kihei, Maui, Hawaii
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posted 24 June 2006 07:49 PM
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All good replys. I also use two finger picks but I compensate by sometimes using my bare ring-finger tip to get a fourth chord note. I'm sure other two-finger-pickers do the same. More often then not I play three of the notes at once then quickly pick the additional note or notes afterward. This can sound real good too. Also I use the tips of my ring and baby-finger to block when I'm single note soloing. So, there are different ways to handle it. But I must say I sometimes wish I had started out with four or five picks. Raking is a necessaty with only two finger picks but that's alright.[This message was edited by Don McClellan on 24 June 2006 at 07:51 PM.] |
John Daugherty
Member From: Rolla, Missouri, USA
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posted 25 June 2006 03:26 AM
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I use 2 finger picks. When playing 4 strings in C6 tuning, I hit the 2 lower (adjacent) strings with my thumb.
On those days when I'm all thumbs, anything can happen. ------------------
www.home.earthlink.net/~johnd37
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David L. Donald
Member From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand
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posted 25 June 2006 10:25 AM
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I go to the DR HUGH school.
Big voicings and big fingertip blocking. |
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