Welcome to one of the most active flamenco sites on the Internet. Guests can read most posts but if you want to participate click here to register.
This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.
We receive 12,200 visitors a month from 200 countries and 1.7 million page impressions a year. To advertise on this site please contact us.
|
|
|
Playing Flamenco With Finger Picks Part II - The Mizrab
|
You are logged in as Guest
|
|
Users viewing this topic: none
|
|
Login  | |
|
   
rojarosguitar
Posts: 243
Joined: Dec. 8 2010
|
 Playing Flamenco With Finger Picks P...
|
|
|
In the thread Playing Flamenco With Finger Pics I tried to hear whether anybody has some idea about finger picks as an alternative to nails.
I just started to experiment with two things: 1. Butterflyes and 2. Mizrabs.
1. Butterflyes (google Butterfly guitar picks) work quite nicely for classical guitar; rasgueado doesn't work because they are only suitable for up strokes. I modified them in a way that also supports rasgueado, but the sound suffers.
2. Mizrabs: the Indian plectrum for playing Sitar. Naturally suitable for rasgueados because sitar is played in alternating up- and down strokes.
Disadvantages:
i) not easy to get hold of really fitting ones.
ii) When too big, they move too much and yield to the side when doing rasgueado. When too small, they plainly hurt, because the wire is very hard and unyielding.
iii) They require some adaptation in technique (well, I don't have much of a specific flamenco technique anyway, and rasgueados seem to come easier with them than with my ****ty nails). Especially on the bass strings if the strokes goes a bit along the strings there are these scratching noises of the wire against the winding.
iiii) The sound of the treble strings is a bit to pointed and has not enough higher harmonics, but one can achieve quite a volume with them.
So how did I solve problem i) : bought some from an Indian Instrument Shop and learnt from looking and experimenting with soft copper wire at them how to make them.
Problem ii) make them well fitting.
iii) Still experimenting and checking whether it's worth the work.
iiii) made them from thinner wire than the actual Indian ones, which after all have a different purpose. Sounds better and is much easier to make. Still in the process of experimenting.
Conclusion: I can play much much better with the mizrabs than without nails, so that's quite a good news. Also classical guitar works to a degree (for me) better than without nails. Whether I'll settle on them or leap to CA in the end - I'll se and keep you posted.
If I'll make it to record something of my stupid playing I'll post it too, if only for demonstration reasons...
Images are resized automatically to a maximum width of 800px
 Attachment (2)
_____________________________
Music is a big continent with different lascapes and corners. Some of them I do visit frequently, some from time to time and some I know from hearsay only ...
A good musical instrument is one that inspires one to express as free as possible
|
|
|
|
REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Mar. 24 2014 17:26:27
 |
|
z6
Posts: 225
Joined: Mar. 1 2011
|
|
RE: Playing Flamenco With Finger Pic... (in reply to rojarosguitar)
|
|
|
Roja, you imply that you are 'exploring' a solution to your nail problem.
But over in 'Fingerbobs I' you said that you had 'heard' that CA glue was damaging to nails. So, you have not explored the solution that a lot of guys here suggested.
Seriously, there are reasons beyond our seeming rejection of this exciting new nail technology (or at least the application of Sitar technology) that you describe. Would it seem arrogant if I say that we only have to look at these things and contemplate wearing them to know it is a quite massive dead end?
As for playing without nails, if you do it properly, for a long time, you develop calouses and the results are entirely unlike the results obtained when one first attempts to play without nails. I 'explored' playing without nails for a long time and it is a good solution... but nails simply it make it a lot easier.
In your original thread you'll find there are reasons cited beyond our Philistinism for using glue. That is what I meant by this type of thread always having a lot of 'noise'. The CA solution is as good as it gets, for a number of reasons.
What do you do about golpes? Does your guitar have a reinforced metal plate, or some other protection?
Of course you must do whatever suits you but this Freddie Kruger solution is surely the very last thing one would try, when all else has failed.
You also cite your perceived 'disadvantages' of thise wire things but what are the advantages? How would one play picado? wouldn't they move about on one's finger? How do you get them to stay stiff on the finger so that you can do all the things required in flamenco guitar?
I'm off now to bang some rocks against my cave wall, file my nails and apply glue. Really, I think this is much more important than trying to justify a wild idea. Without dealing with nails in an appropriate way there will not be much flamenco guitar playing going on; it is crucial to the techniques.
But if you can make those things work then good for you.
|
|
|
|
REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Mar. 25 2014 5:52:53
|
|
rojarosguitar
Posts: 243
Joined: Dec. 8 2010
|
|
RE: Playing Flamenco With Finger Pic... (in reply to Mark2)
|
|
|
To clarify: I'd love to play with nails. But at the moment I have no nails to play with, they are filed as short as possible and I'm treating them wih Onymyrrhe and some other stuff to make them grow stronger.
So no CA of this world would make them better for playing right now because they are just too short. In this situation I'm quite glad that these mizrabs kind of work (certainly better than my nailless fingers).
As I wrote I use three (i, m and a) and I made them myself suiting my fingers with thinner wire, so that they are also much more comfortable than your standard mizrab from the sitar shop around the corner.
They are very light and actually almost possible to forget, though - as I said - I greatly prefer the tone of proper nails. And, I don't need an iron golpeador, no, I'm sure somebody with firm nails can damage his at least as easy as I can with the mizrabs.
As soon as my nails are long enough, I will try to harden them somehow (still pondering how, plenty of advice here).
No need to fear that I'm about to revolutionize Flamenco or convert it to a one finger tremolo music.
Anyway thanks for sharing your ideas with me.
_____________________________
Music is a big continent with different lascapes and corners. Some of them I do visit frequently, some from time to time and some I know from hearsay only ...
A good musical instrument is one that inspires one to express as free as possible
|
|
|
|
REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Mar. 25 2014 21:33:15
|
|
 New Messages |
 No New Messages |
 Hot Topic w/ New Messages |
 Hot Topic w/o New Messages |
 Locked w/ New Messages |
 Locked w/o New Messages |
|
Post New Thread
Reply to Message
Post New Poll
Submit Vote
Delete My Own Post
Delete My Own Thread
Rate Posts
|
|
|
Forum Software powered by ASP Playground Advanced Edition 2.0.5
Copyright © 2000 - 2003 ASPPlayground.NET |
0.078125 secs.
|
Printable Version
