seems like most members are thumb lead pickers. any index lead players or players who switch leads?
7 Comments |
 | Marc Nerenberg says:
2/2/2011 6:15:03 PM
I definitely do both, and switch as well. I don't think of them as compartmentalized. I also move in and out of clawhammer into fingerpicking and back...sometimes for only a few notes, or even a single note.
My basic approach is to try to keep my right hand as flexible as possible. ( A good example of that is my rendering of Walk Right In, found on my video page...since it's not essentially fingerpicking, I won't link it to this page.)
It took quite a few years to develop that facility and fluidity, though. When I first started trying to do that, it was mysterious to me why it seemed generally much easier to go from claw to fingerpicking than the other way round, yet sometimes it was just as easy to go from fingerpicking to claw.
I eventually realized that the difficulty was going from thumb lead to clawhammer, and when coming out of clawhammer I inevitably came out in finger lead.
Before I had that insight it hadn't even occurred to me that thumb and finger lead were different things.
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 | chip arnold says:
2/2/2011 6:22:05 PM
that's interesting. i reach above my finger with my thumb to get patterns like t-lead can give. but i've been inspired by my t-lead playing friend to become more fluent in that style and mix them together which i think will give more versatility and possibility. tom sauber is one who does a great job of integrating the two.
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stigandr5 says:
2/3/2011 4:34:33 AM
I second what you're saying, Chip. Thumb-lead sometimes under-utilizes the index finger, I think, so I try to find different ways of using it to influence rhythm and melody.
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 | janolov says:
2/3/2011 8:38:15 AM
I am basically a thumb lead player, but on the high parts I often switch to index lead. I think Pete Steele's version of Coal Creek March is an excellent where you switch the lead, and still getting the rythm.
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| chip arnold says:
2/3/2011 9:52:24 AM
yup, pete steele did switch leads on that tune. i play it (on my BHO music page) with index lead all the way through but cross my thumb up over my finger quite a lot.
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 | red dog says:
3/29/2011 2:30:53 AM
I play index lead, mainly because I picked up two finger picking from your blogs and tabs Chip.
Feels odd to me to use thumb lead. Have been playing around with it for about a year.
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 | Cottonmouth says:
4/24/2011 3:56:14 PM
Like red dog, my two-finger playing is index-lead; probably from guitar long years ago. I enjoy the sound and get good syncopation with it. I also play clawhammer with middle finger.
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