Let's talk bar handling
Moderator: Brad Bechtel
-
- Posts: 6877
- Joined: 5 Jan 2005 1:01 am
- Location: Nanuet, NY
- Contact:
Let's talk bar handling
This is for you 2 3/4' bullet nosed bar players out there.
How do you hold your index finger on the bar. Coming from a dobro background, I usually keep my index finger flat on top of the bar, but going through the Jerry Byrd book, he has an arched index finger, creating a pivot point for slants. It takes a little getting used to.
So how do you hold your index finger?
And while we are at it, how about a poll on what bar you do use (for lap steel players only...we know what you dobro guys use).
How do you hold your index finger on the bar. Coming from a dobro background, I usually keep my index finger flat on top of the bar, but going through the Jerry Byrd book, he has an arched index finger, creating a pivot point for slants. It takes a little getting used to.
So how do you hold your index finger?
And while we are at it, how about a poll on what bar you do use (for lap steel players only...we know what you dobro guys use).
- Jerome Hawkes
- Posts: 1385
- Joined: 8 May 2009 7:16 am
- Location: Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA
I hold it exactly as JB says, but the tip of my finger is slightly off center. I got to see Paul Franklin play up close..as in right over his shoulder... Last year and he has the "classic" JB bar hold (high knuckle bend) and uses what appears to me as substantial pressure on the bar.
'65 Sho-Bud D-10 Permanent • '54 Fender Dual-8 • Clinesmith T-8 • '38 Ric Bakelite • '92 Emmons D-10 Legrande II
-
- Posts: 6895
- Joined: 15 Nov 2002 1:01 am
- Location: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
- Contact:
- Jeff Au Hoy
- Posts: 1716
- Joined: 11 Oct 2002 12:01 am
- Location: Honolulu, Hawai'i
- David Matzenik
- Posts: 1685
- Joined: 8 Oct 2004 12:01 am
- Location: Cairns, on the Coral Sea
Yeah, I hold it more or less like Mike too. I've got a feeling its about different hand and finger shapes, but using the tip of your finger to create a pivot seems shaky to me. When I go into a reverse slant the bar pivots under the flat of the finger just ahead of the first knuckle. Much more grip and balance than the tip of the finger.
Don't go in the water after lunch. You'll get a cramp and drown. - Mother.
- Jeff Au Hoy
- Posts: 1716
- Joined: 11 Oct 2002 12:01 am
- Location: Honolulu, Hawai'i
-
- Posts: 6895
- Joined: 15 Nov 2002 1:01 am
- Location: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
- Contact:
JB's method does not work for me at all. I tried several times through the years but I don't like it. I'm content at this point with holding it the way I do.Ron Whitfield wrote:Doing it just as JB did/instructs should pose no stability problems, in fact it helps keep the hand looser (once you get it) and fully allows bar manipulations which can be restricted with other positions, plus makes the vibrato free and easy.
Years ago Leonard T. Zinn demonstrated to me his bar grip with a restaurant butterknife. He said the index finger should act only as a guide. The grip is between your thumb and the bigger joint of your middle finger. If you lift your hand the front of the bar should fall and point down. This grip works for me.
- David Matzenik
- Posts: 1685
- Joined: 8 Oct 2004 12:01 am
- Location: Cairns, on the Coral Sea
Ron Whitfield wrote:Doing it just as JB did/instructs should pose no stability problems, in fact it helps keep the hand looser (once you get it) and fully allows bar manipulations which can be restricted with other positions, plus makes the vibrato free and easy.
For one thing, JB had much meatier fingers than I have. Also, my fingers lie almost straight when relaxed. I have to put tension in my hand to arch the finger. I'm curious though. How exactly does arching the finger help with vibrato?
Last edited by David Matzenik on 19 Jan 2013 9:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Don't go in the water after lunch. You'll get a cramp and drown. - Mother.
-
- Posts: 422
- Joined: 6 Jan 2000 1:01 am
- Location: Oakland, Ca.