The Steel Guitar Forum

I have ask several pickers over the years . what way was fastest 1 Cross Over.. or 2. Thumb and two fingers. has anyone check to see if there is a difference is cross over the best.. just wondering Jack

JMO: I think the crossover method of picking is better from this standpoint: Since most of the runs start on the bass strings and ascend, necessitating the hand move upward, crossover automatically puts your right hand in the proper position to move across the strings. Most of the extremely fast professionals do use this method.

I wondered when I said crossover that it might mean type of shobud guitar well you all know now I meant style of pickin. I have been at this steel pickin for over 25 yrs. and there was a time I thought (Thumb and two fingers was the fastest. but about 12 yrs ago I was made to beleave Thumb and one finger Index or middle was the fastest then just the other day a old pickin friend was over and he uses thumb and two fingers and I can tell you he can fly. so now I am not for sure ,that was the reason for the post. I/m looking forward to more post on the topic Jack

Fastest for WHAT?
Both the cross over (many folks call this crosspicking) style and the Thumb/Index/Middle or Thumb/Index/Middle/Ring styles are best for certain applications.

Crosspicking emulates the up and down strokes of a flatpick and it's great for playing a blue streak of eighth notes. It's very guitarlike. Some use thumb and index and others thumb and middle. In general, for things that go DA-da DA-da DA-da DA-da (eighths or sixteenths) it works great. Another application is if you need to play two or more notes sequentially on the SAME STRING.

If you need to play triplets like DA-da-da DA-da-da DA-da-da, you'll have a hard time getting that with crosspicking. Your fingers will get tied up. The natural way to play triplets is (duh!) with THREE FINGERS (thumb and two fingers). Banjo style rolls are done with three fingers, since that's how it's done on a five string uh . . . uh . . . b@nj*.

THERE ARE NO HARD AND FAST RULES. Use whatever technique works best for the task.

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<small>Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Emmons D-10 9x9, 1971 Dobro

I'm still trying to figure out how Lloyd Green was able to play those breaks on "Rollin In MY Sweet Baby's Arms". Its almost humanly impossible.

Larry,or anyone,
what is your (fingering),strings,pedals or levers for the b@njer rolls,as far as speed ? as in a 1-4-5-1
Thanks, kf

On a standard guitar I hold a strait pick between my thumb and first finger, and a plastic finger pick on my thrid. Works well to get some dobro sounds. But I don't think I could do much on the pedal steel with one finger pick.

Bob.

Kenny,
There are a BUNCH of picking patterns that emulate b@nj* rolls. Some are simple forward or backward rolls. Forward would be TIM TIM TIM and backward would be MIT MIT MIT. They can be used with the 3rd, 4th, 5th strings or any chord position -- pedals (AB or AF or ???) or no pedals. You can add the 2nd and 1st strings as desired for non-chord tones OR you can use the lever popularized by Paul Franklin, raising the 1st and 2nd strings to be the same notes as the 3rd and 4th. This makes for some interesting unison stuff.

But, HANDS DOWN, the coolest roll I ever heard came from Buddy Emmons (big surprise, eh?)
Try this one <font face="monospace" size="3"><pre>
-- --
| 1--------------------------- |
| 2--3----3--------3---------- |
| 3-------------3B-------3B--- .|
| 4----3-----3--------3------- .|
| 5--------------------------- |
| M T M T I M T I |
-- --</pre></font>

Play it slowly and gradually increase speed. The lick repeats over and over and covers one measure of eighth notes. It is VERY tricky because the pattern is kinda inside out. The last 5 notes are sort of a forward roll, but getting the 2nd and 4th string notes to mesh with that roll is great fun.

As shown, it's in C -- the pedals down position on the third fret. Drop back two frets and lower your second string (no other pedals) for the IV chord and same back on the 3rd for the V chord.

This is a very useful lick or idea that can be applied in many different ways. (oh yeah, and it will sound AWFUL if you blow it -- rain on a tin roof )


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<small>Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Emmons D-10 9x9, 1971 Dobro<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Larry Bell on 22 April 2002 at 10:47 AM.]</p></FONT>

Buddy has some nice banjo type licks posted on his site.See (Banjo Chops) and the ending for (Linus & Lucy Medley).These are very usable and shouldn't be to hard to play for the more advanced student.Heck if you're not advanced play em slow.