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Oct 13, 2024 - 5:23:30 PM
73 posts since 12/25/2019

I've been working on 2-finger, I normally down pick. Thumb lead fixes the drop thumb below the string you hit on the down pick issue and works fine for 1st string drones.

Double C/D is a sus2 tuning and the 1st string drone often doesn't sound right. index lead takes you back to being able to play like down picking there the 5th string drone is king. It seems quite doable.

Is index lead with non-open tunings something many people do? I don't read about it for that purpose.

Oct 13, 2024 - 10:37:14 PM

28274 posts since 6/25/2005

Early Doc Watson such as Froggie Went a Courtin’ and Shady Grove on Vanguard. Those are played in NC-style two-finger with index lead though they sound like very clean clawhammer. Later recordings of those tunes are probably clawhammer.

Oct 14, 2024 - 2:16:12 AM
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janolov

Sweden

43023 posts since 3/7/2006

Unfortunately, 2-finger index lead seems to be a rather rare method today (any tuning), but it was more common earlier about 90 - 100 years ago. Today it is clawhammer that is dominating in Old-Time music. Among today's two-finger pickers I would mention Will Keys, Chip Arnold, Curt Bouterse. Among oldies I can mention Uncle Dave Macon (who played 18 different styles and often mixed styles in the recordings), Bascom Lamar Lunsford, George Gibson, Clifton Hicks.

I use to mix index lead and thumb lead: index lead on high notes, and thumb lead on lower notes. I agree that double C tuning is bad for both index lead and thumb lead, unless you fret the first string. If you want to use the first string as a drone, the open C tuning (gCGCE) is to prefer if you don't want to fret the first string and play chord notes.

Another thing to consider: index lead is very like clawhammer. You play the same notes and make the same brushes, the difference is that you pick up in 2-finger and pick down in clawhammer.

Oct 14, 2024 - 7:29:17 AM

9905 posts since 8/30/2004
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In total agreement Jan...Jack

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