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Hi! Till now I thought that Picado is Apoyando and Apoyando is Picado and I couldn't figure out why I have such slow i-m! And right now, I need some exercises (and maybe some posts) to get me in the right way! Thanks!
Vicente has hands from Mars! Not only are his fingers very long but they have loose ligaments so the knuckles and finger joints can bend backwards more than most people. He can also bend his thumb backwards. This in no way means his picado is bad but it means his hand position is a little unusual.
If you are like me you can bend your thumb back about 90 degrees and have no backwards movement in the thumb joint. My Alzapua is therefore played with a straight thumb. Some people can bend the thumb back to the wrist. Its not about stretching or exercise...its just genetics. People are born with ligaments slightly different lengths.
I think what Matic means is copying Vicentes playing or exercises is ok but dont copy his hand position unless your hands are naturally like that. Its best to look at pacos hand and try to copy that instead.
But Pimientito is right. Vicente's picado is great, no question about that, it's just his RH is a bit 'special', as Pim explained.
I think one should take 'copying other's players hands', be it Paco or Vicente or anyone else, with reservation. Our hands ARE different and everyone should find what works best for him. There are certain points though where there are no differences between players. Picado is played apoyando, it's alternate picking etc. So the safest way for a beginner IMO is to watch players like Paco and actually try to get as closer to what they are doing and maybe later on find a better way of execution that suits you best.
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vengo de los san migueles si no me caso este año que yo me caso el año que viene
Vicente gets it done, and then some with his picado, BUT its not technically good the way he does it.
His pinky finger sticks out, which is a sign of tension. Anular and pinky should be relaxed or should follow the middle finger while doing picado.
For a great example of a technically correct picado, look at Grisha's picado.
You will see his anular follow his middle finger, and the pinky is moving a little bit along with anular, but is very relaxed, NOT sticking straight out.
When practicing picado, practice as staccato as possible. The fingers return to the string immediately after playing each note. The notes should sound extremely short. Dont "hit" the string. Practice a quick plant, and "Control" the string. I believe in Scott Tenants philosophy = Place, pressure, release. TK