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Forum Member's Style


Buc McMaster

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Just for kicks I thought it might be interesting to take the pulse of the forum from the member's own perspective. If you have a particular style and how competent you feel within that style. You can choose more than one if more than one applies. Totally anonymous so as not to hang anyone out. Call it curiosity on my part............

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Interesting Yeah, the 3 probably comes close, though a 2.75 would feel more honest. Just curious - why would a flatpicker (I am) never fingerpick (I do)???

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I'm an elextrik guitar player that happens to use the acoustic for a song or set now and again. I'd say 99% of the people in the world have not heard me ever fingerpick, and I've never been recorded fingerpicking, but I do often sit down at home with whatever guitar is near and no pick. So I answered flat picker never fingerpick, even though Mrs would say what?

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I am a highly skilled guitar player, but a crappy acoustic arpeggiater of James Taylors' post '78 catalog, so of course I answered 5. Your guitar skills don't care which one you are using.

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The singin is what matters, it's the best part.

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rct

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Full time 100% fingerpicker here!

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Now without doing the full thesis, I have some points to bring up.....

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When I moved to 100% fingers about 150 years ago it seems, I had a wide nut Dobro so it went in to standard tuning, not its natural state, so I could get a handle on the blues fingerpicking lessons I had. (books in those days). Now in these very books, there are long helpful discussions on which guitar is best for fingerpicking blues and generally it came down to a wider nut and wider bridge spacing like 1 3/4" and 2 3/8". Fine, the Dobro is about 1.8 or such, but any wood guitar in this town at the time had a dread shape and 1 11/16"nut OR NARROWER!

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Now at an old age, I have picked up the 93 Lowden S35, a guitar designed for fingerpicking from the ground up. Not many other makers claim that. And it is truly superb, but over the years I have acquired a fair collection of wood boxes, and some are the evil 1 11/16"nut! How does this come about? No idea - more to do with the neck than the nut.

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So, over the years to help try out a new/used guitar for fingerpicking my blues, I have developed the "Cocaine Test".

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Ha Ha, now I have your attention, but it is not imbibing anything - I play through my version of Gary Davis' "Cocaine"!

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To get the tune smooth, certain fingers just need to be able to play more than on a skinny neck cramping them, especially the C note on the 2nd string.

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Here is a taste of what I play (this is the full blood fingerpicking Lowden S35):

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https://soundcloud.com/bk7-3/cocaine777c

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BluesKing777.

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I am a two probably . Cat Stevens is a great influence ... His songs aren't that hard to play.I sing but only or mostly to myself.

I will never play blackbird as well as PMc but he has influenced me (being a lefty and all) I do my own brand of "picking" .

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Jimi Hendrix is another guy who influences me.

And I will always be in awe of the old Dylan footage where he sang,played guitar and harmonica ...That guy was (he says he is not that guy anymore) amazing .

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I guess if I had to pick a school I would say I am of the Johnny Cash school.He had a lot of great guitars but probably just played basic chords on them.

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I can play some odd parts and styles but I think that is probably just a result of being left handed.I would never say I can play in a band but I could probably earn a few bucks on a street.

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JC

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Even though I probably didn't deserve it, I gave myself a 2....About the only place I play out is in my local church, and maybe a rest home or two on occasion. Both places are full of forgiving people and never would tell you how truly terrible you are. I do sing along with my playing, neither are very good but between the two I manage to pull it of from time to time, hence the 2. I never seem to sound as good playing out as I do alone in my living room. I blame it on the building acoustics [biggrin]. I would never make it in a band. Though I would probably be able to pick up some good money on the street...If I promised to stop [flapper]

At this point in my life (61yo) I don't see myself gaining any notoriety as a musician, I do however, please no.1 and that's going to have to be good enough.

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Full time 100% fingerpicker here!

ย 

ย 

Now without doing the full thesis, I have some points to bring up.....

ย 

ย 

When I moved to 100% fingers about 150 years ago it seems, I had a wide nut Dobro so it went in to standard tuning, not its natural state, so I could get a handle on the blues fingerpicking lessons I had. (books in those days). Now in these very books, there are long helpful discussions on which guitar is best for fingerpicking blues and generally it came down to a wider nut and wider bridge spacing like 1 3/4" and 2 3/8". Fine, the Dobro is about 1.8 or such, but any wood guitar in this town at the time had a dread shape and 1 11/16"nut OR NARROWER!

ย 

Now at an old age, I have picked up the 93 Lowden S35, a guitar designed for fingerpicking from the ground up. Not many other makers claim that. And it is truly superb, but over the years I have acquired a fair collection of wood boxes, and some are the evil 1 11/16"nut! How does this come about? No idea - more to do with the neck than the nut.

ย 

So, over the years to help try out a new/used guitar for fingerpicking my blues, I have developed the "Cocaine Test".

ย 

ย 

Ha Ha, now I have your attention, but it is not imbibing anything - I play through my version of Gary Davis' "Cocaine"!

ย 

To get the tune smooth, certain fingers just need to be able to play more than on a skinny neck cramping them, especially the C note on the 2nd string.

ย 

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Here is a taste of what I play (this is the full blood fingerpicking Lowden S35):

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https://soundcloud.com/bk7-3/cocaine777c

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BluesKing777.

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So you gave yourself a 5 then did ya ?

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Take this as it's meant buc , with the greatest of respect , what's the point in this exercise ?

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Just a wonderin

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So you gave yourself a 5 then did ya ?

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Nope, gave myself a tentative 4 for 52 years of hard work! The Man himself (Gary Davis) said: "You think you got it perfect, you made your first mistake!"

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BluesKing777.

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It is rather hard to rate skill. I would many times value someone who sense, feels music, and who passes his emotion to the audience rather than someone executing fast scales.

This is prolly even more true for old/aged players here, who unfortunately will rate themselves poorly on this poll regardless of the quality of their records.

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It is rather hard to rate skill. I would many times value someone who sense, feels music, and who passes his emotion to the audience rather than someone executing fast scales.

This is prolly even more true for old/aged players here, who unfortunately will rate themselves poorly on this poll regardless of the quality of their records.

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Well said sir

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Except for use of the word 'prolly' ๐Ÿ˜„

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It is rather hard to rate skill. I would many times value someone who sense, feels music, and who passes his emotion to the audience rather than someone executing fast scales.

This is prolly even more true for old/aged players here, who unfortunately will rate themselves poorly on this poll regardless of the quality of their records.

As a member of the old & aged spectrum, I thank you for your kind words! No sarcasm implied or intended, either๐Ÿ˜‡ Some days, when I feel kind of dull, maybe I need to think of it as 'patina'. Or not๐Ÿ˜„

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