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Topic: My first serious attempt at pick blocking |
Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Posted 23 Sep 2006 9:04 pm |
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Here's my first attempt to pick block cleanly. Most of this lick is pick blocked but a few notes are palm dampered. It took me two weeks of solid tedious practice to get this far. The steel is my MSA Legend into an RV-5 set on plate reverb with all controls straight up and into a Steel King amp mic'ed with a Shure SM-57. Original file was recorded on a Yamaha AW1600 at 16 bits and converted to Windows Media Player at 192 kbps.
Pick Block
Greg[This message was edited by Greg Cutshaw on 23 September 2006 at 10:05 PM.] |
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Andy Sandoval
From:
Bakersfield, California, USA
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Posted 23 Sep 2006 9:53 pm
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| Greg, that sounded great! How long have you been playin? |
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Ernie Pollock
From:
Mt Savage, Md USA
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Posted 24 Sep 2006 3:39 am
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Greg: that sounded real good, keep it up you'll be right up there with the best of those pick blockers. I doubt I will live long enough to get that style, took me a couple of years woodshedding just to palm block!!
Ernie Pollock  http://www.hereintown.net/~shobud75/stock.htm
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Matthew Prouty
From:
Warsaw, Poland
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Posted 24 Sep 2006 5:12 am
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Greg,
Sounds really good! My teacher would not teach me anything else until I was able to play the C scale open position pick blocking every note. When I started practicing it I thought I was going to go nuts, but after a week I was flying thru the scale and got to the point where I did not even have to think about it. It got me to that point where I could think about licks and positions instead of the next string. I think in two week time I must have played the scale 1000 times.
How long have you been playing?
M. |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Posted 24 Sep 2006 8:11 am
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Andy and Matthew, I have been playing for about 30 years on and off. A few years ago I picked it up again after quitting for 12 years. Just a hobby now and as I get time I record tunes for family and friends.
Ernie, thanks for the comments. I still like the sound of palm blocking but after recording myself and listening to the playback, I realize that pick blocking has the potential for a smoother sound on some passages. And for me it has opened up a lot of new speed licks that I could never play before. The above lick can be played effortlessly at the above speed and with a little effort you can fly through it much faster. Guess I'm just excited that I finally got it down. Every year I made a token attempt at this lick from tab and just ended up quitting and going back to the same old style in frustration.
The big breakthrough for me was staying with one lick for 3 15 minute sessions a day for weeks unitl I didn't have to think about it. Finally I started to see that the harder I struck the strings with all the picks, the more likely it was that the unpicked strings were killed completely. Hope this posting will inspire others to make the leap.
Greg
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Twayn Williams
From:
Portland, OR
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Posted 24 Sep 2006 12:16 pm
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Forgive my ignorance, but I assume that "pick-blocking" is where you stop the string from ringing by touching the string with a pick, yes? And that palm-blocking is where you stop the string(s) ringing by dropping the edge of the right hand onto the strings.
I play steel with a classical guitar right-hand technique, so I think I already do a version of pick-blocking, but that palm-blocking thing seems like it's from another planet to me!
Anyway, Greg, congats on your break-through! If I might make a recommendation: slow the tempo down. It's actually more important to play in time than it is to play clean. |
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