quote:

ORIGINAL: Ricardo

1. You have good musicality and have no fears about just going for it. THAt is good, but unfortunately you end up with tons of slop and very little clarity in the fast runs, and even many of the medium speed runs, ligados, etc. Simply put, you need to practice in a way that you make every note count. Probably have to slow things down quite a bit. You need to tighten up the rhythm too, don't loosey goosey your way on top of the rhythm track, really feel the exact placement of each note and space in time.

2. If you are copying PDL and others you can observe your big joint knuckle that attaches fingers to your hand. You have a significant bend there, and thusly fairly straight middle joints. Try to flatten that Big knuckle so that it alighns straight with your hand and wrist and you will be closer to what it feels like to do this thing we are discussing.

Hope that helps.

Ricardo

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ORIGINAL: Ricardo

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5) it is surprising the number of pretty good players who dismiss the MK method, saying that this type of 'clawing' at the strings is wrong. They are wrong.

Or YOU are wrong perhaps?
Once again I think people who believe MJ is pulling at the string are simply confused by the way the fingers look at certain angles. From the side angles, MJ is fixed as the finger is driven through the string. Upon resetting the MJ sometimes straightens or bends depending on which string you are crossing to, assuming the entire hand isn't moving. A reach over and subsequent bending of the MJ might seem like the power of drive comes from that bend, but it doesn't. The string is pushed downward toward top. Perhaps the resistence of stiffening the MJ against the downward push of BJ makes some players believe both joints are working to attack the string, but if you truly relax the BJ and only use MJ to attack then you are only pulling on the string sideways. Very different mechanic.

In the slow black and white vid above of PDL, it is important to notice his entire arm is moving down toward the floor. Because it is an ascending scale, each string cross requires the MJ to reach over (straighten a bit) to reset and plant. The plant occurs thanks to the bending of MJ, but the actual attack of the string, or push through, is done by BJ and MJ and TJ remain fixed. TJ bends only enough to allow for the opposite finger to cross to the next string down after having played the upper string previously.
Ricardo

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hamia, would you upload a little video of you doing some picados?
I would like to see/hear your picado.

quote:

ORIGINAL: mark indigo

quote:

hamia, would you upload a little video of you doing some picados?
I would like to see/hear your picado.

new challenge suggestion: demonstration of picado video with explanation. Winner's explanation will: a) be understandable; b) be anatomically correct and; c) accurately describe and explain what everyone can see happening in the video.

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Here's another go, I increased the volume a bit

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This video probably has nothing to do with this thread but wanted to post here. Hopefully it's ok with Simon. Just learned this new exercise by Rafael Cortes which is the reason for the slight hesitations.

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ORIGINAL: ToddK

think less about anatomy and physics, and spend more
time working on your balance and coordination with
the metronome at a super conservative tempo.
I like to set the metronome at half time. It feels less hurried.
Stay down around 120/60bpm and play staccato, going for as
much dead space between notes as possible. Its a balance with
staccato though, because you can build up alot of tension, so be mindful
of that.

Try a guitar support and practice on the left leg. It gets the right
hand/arm in a position where you can square up with the strings
without straining the shoulder.

Mix up techniques together. Dont just practice picado by itself cause
you'll never play it that way in the real world. It will always be preceded by
rasgeo, arps, etc.. It has to feel connected with the other techniques, or
you will always struggle when you have to do a run within a tune, and not
just isolated in a practice session. I have students that do great in an
isolated run in practice, but when playing a tune, the staccato goes away
and they struggle.

You wanna build power, but you dont want the speed to be dependant
on playing hard. You should be able to play fast, yet softly too.
You should have control over the power. Picado should have some fire
in it. Nothing worse than coming out of a loud rasgeo section and then into
a weak and quiet picado. The picado should be dynamically even with a strong
rasgeo. If you cant do that slowly and cleanly, then... well, you get the idea.
I see alot of weak a$$ picado on youtube.

Speed is useless if you have no power and are not clean.
It totally defeats the purpose.
Better to take the speed down, and work on playing clean
with power. A run played super staccato and clean at 140 will
have a greater impact than a run played sloppily and weak at
160.

As usual Ricardo is posting plenty of great stuff to consider.

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quote:

ORIGINAL: hamia

This thread is making me practice. Here's another go, I increased the volume a bit

https://youtu.be/nV1CQmoI9DQ

quote:

ORIGINAL: Ricardo

2. If you are copying PDL and others you can observe your big joint knuckle that attaches fingers to your hand. You have a significant bend there, and thusly fairly straight middle joints. Try to flatten that Big knuckle so that it alighns straight with your hand and wrist and you will be closer to what it feels like to do this thing we are discussing.

quote:

Maybe if I just focus on control and making sure the rhythm lines up, things will fall into place.