Im dropping my pick!

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ToddK

Posts: 2961
Joined: Dec. 6 2004

Im dropping my pick!

So ive decided to drop my pick, and start playing conventional style.

Im now working fulltime at a "normal" (non-music) job, and im
also studying to get my certification in legal/medical transcription.
The economic melt down has killed all my music work.
No more students, gigs, or studio work. It's all dried up.

So now, guitar will be just for fun in the little spare time i have now. So i figure it would be fun to go ahead and go conventional.
I'll be starting from scratch. Im not afraid of the down time, since guitar is no longer my central existance.

Just figured some of you would be interested to know that.

If and when i have any time, i'll upload my progress when i can.
Im sure it'll be fun, cause now you guys can totally rip on me, and
tell me all the things im doing wrong, and need to work on.
I should be sucking pretty bad for quite some time. Florian will have
a field day, it'll be great

Wish me luck!
TK

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 14 2008 2:20:55

XXX

Posts: 4400
Joined: Apr. 14 2005

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

oooohh, what a shock! So what are you doing now? What is legal/medical transcription?
I mean, in the end your music wont die. Its quite surprising how many good "amateur" players there are. It just takes dedication i guess.. or should i say sacrifice

?
I didnt quite understand why your are dropping the pick, but i wish you all the best. Actually this is sad man! You were kind of the egozentric hero, who resisted the all-mighty force of the boring convention, invented by uninspirational guitarists who played the guitar since decades like that, and would play it probably forever this way, meanwhile both shaking the head about a hybrid-player and on the other hand envy the technical mastery, that seems neccessary to invent/learn a whole new technique.

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Фламенко

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 14 2008 2:40:25

Ron.M

Posts: 7051
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Scotland

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

Hi Todd,
I would reckon maybe the biggest problem would be re-training your index finger, since it's probably been quite redundant compared to your other fingers.

I like your pick style stuff very much.
Even though it may have made some techniques very awkward, it also opened up a number of possibilities and ideas not readily available to finger style players.

Even before I'd ever heard of you, I mentioned on the FT Forum that I reckoned a lot of Flamenco could be played pick style, since I tend to play a lot of thumb only falsetas and even like thumb stuff on the high strings.
I tend to use arpegio etc just as "fill ins" as you hear in more traditional stuff.

So I was totally blown away when you demonstrated just how far you could go with this!!

Of course, these days, with complex modern stuff the fingers are highly independent often taking the "lead" line, with the thumb just providing bass accomp (as in classical) and arpegios providing strong rhythm etc (Gerardo).

Anyway, IMO, a major part of Flamenco guitar is knowing "what" to do as well as "how" to do.

So you're off to a head start there!

Definitely worth trying for a while anyway.

I've seen Antonio Forcione in concert a few times and he switches between both techniques (even in the same piece!)....transferring the pick to between his lips while he does certain passages finger style!

cheers,

Ron

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 14 2008 3:24:26

Florian

Posts: 9282
Joined: Jul. 14 2003
From: Adelaide/Australia

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

Actualy man i am proud of you...congratulations

and I dont plan on giving u a hard time about it , i respect the courage..noone could ever take anything away from you after this...well done

we all got to do what we got to do sometimes..i had to work a glass factory a year and a half

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 14 2008 3:39:54

Gummy

Posts: 495
Joined: Nov. 27 2005
From: North Carolina, USA

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

Wouldn't a job requiring that kind of certification require regular drug screening? I'm sorry to hear the changes you are having to make. Hopefully they open some doors that will lead to increased satisfaction and happiness.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 14 2008 5:13:20

rombsix

Posts: 7808
Joined: Jan. 11 2006
From: Beirut, Lebanon

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

Hey Todd! I'm sorry to hear that the economic crisis has affected your musical work that severely... I guess it's true that the world is becoming more challenging and difficult to survive in day after day - especially for musicians. I guess you'll have fun trying to re-learn most of your guitar-playing with conventional fingerstyle rather than hybrid technique. It's time to find out just how hard i-m-i-m picado really is!

The question remains: why'd you go for legal / medical transcription?

Good luck amigo!

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 14 2008 7:59:56

ToddK

Posts: 2961
Joined: Dec. 6 2004

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to rombsix)

quote:

The question remains: why'd you go for legal / medical transcription?

Because i can already type 100 words per minute.

All i need to learn is the spelling/terminology and im rolling.

TK

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 14 2008 9:28:50

duende

Posts: 3053
Joined: Dec. 15 2003
From: Sweden

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

quote:

I should be sucking pretty bad for quite some time.

oh man.. its gonna be tough. ts hard to know how to play but not be able too.
you´ll be pretty frustrated.

but im very shure you wont be that bad.

Henrik

ps lets hope the gigs and studio work getts going again in the future

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This is hard stuff!
Don't give up...
And don't make it a race.
Enjoy the ray of sunshine that comes with every new step in knowledge.

RON

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 14 2008 10:00:30

Ron.M

Posts: 7051
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Scotland

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to duende)

Hey don't feel too sorry Henrik,

Todd probably has the strongest ring finger of anybody on this Forum!

cheers,

Ron

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 14 2008 10:04:57

Arash

Posts: 4495
Joined: Aug. 9 2006
From: Iran (living in Germany)

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

f..ck the banks and the crisis they caused , which seams to stop at nothing. Not even musicians.

---

btw, i think you will have fast and good progress with your right hand (the last video looked promising already).
Wish you success (both in your job and your new flamenco techniques!)

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 14 2008 10:20:29

koella

Posts: 2194
Joined: Sep. 10 2005
From: holland

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

Í can't believe everybody is buying this.
You can't fool me Todd.
I still remember the joke you made when you said you quit guitar because of the studio work.

That about the pick I believe of course, but only because I saw it with my own eyes..

You have a strange but tasty sense of humour

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 14 2008 11:20:53

Ron.M

Posts: 7051
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Scotland

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to Arash)

quote:

f..ck the banks and the crisis they caused

Yeah Arash,
Earlier this year I moved our modest Building Society savings account which had lapsed from a headline 5.00% pa and had silently fallen to 1.8% over the year, without any written notification, to their online account, which again boasted 5.00% per annum.

The Bank of England recently dropped their interest rate to 3.00%, the lowest it has been in 50 years....meanwhile on checking our Internet account, I see that they've lowered their interest rate to 2.00% automatically, and again without notification.

Meanwhile, they have raised their borrowing rate to almost 5.00%

It's no wonder that when the taxpayer bailed them out and gave them hundreds of billions of pounds to lend back to us, that the very first thing they were interested in was in giving themselves massive bonuses to celebrate the fact that they were still in business!

Also the small pension I was expecting has dropped by about 40%

Pop the champagne there Old Chap what??

Governments don't control banks.
Banks control Governments IMO.

cheers,

Ron

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 14 2008 12:03:00

Ailsa

Posts: 2277
Joined: Apr. 17 2007
From: South East England

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

Well for sure the economic situation is creating a lot of problems. I took my daughter into town on Saturday, and she was really sad to the see the Woolworths there closing down - many empty shelves and stuff being sold off cheaply. When I told her that many people would be losing their jobs she was really upset - I guess when you are 14, you don't know what economic crisis means until you see it with your own eyes.

I'm sorry the music work isn't enough to support you atm Todd, but hopefully you will be able to go back to it at some point. There have been many fine musicians who have had to have 'day jobs' as well as their music.

But to pick or not to pick? I figure you'll be pretty **** hot whatever! You have the internal musicianship, and the understanding. The technique will follow. Good luck man!
xx

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 14 2008 22:50:35

henrym3483

Posts: 1584
Joined: Nov. 13 2005
From: Limerick,Ireland

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

agree with ron,

i am really tired of thos B(w)ankers in screwing us all over and having to bail them out with our tax payments,its pretty much the same here in ireland, bankers had a swell do with champers for x-mas whilst other companies due to spending cut-backs have cancelled many x-mas parties for work and bonus's have been cut across other business's whilst the B(w)ankers still get theirs. and they still don't want to lend us the cash even though they've been recapitalised by us.

shame

henry

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 14 2008 23:56:45

Francisco

Posts: 879
Joined: Jun. 13 2005
From: SW USA

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

Good luck, dude. I'm sure you'll pick it up in no time.

As far as the economics, bummer! But, I guess you gotta do what you gotta do.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 15 2008 4:20:26

John O.

Posts: 1723
Joined: Dec. 16 2005
From: Seeheim-Jugenheim, Germany

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to Francisco)

Good luck man and I hope the crisis resolves itself quickly. I hope you get more work as a musician soon and that your predicament doesn't become a trend with musicians in general.

The world is just feeling the tip of the iceberg right now though and things will get REALLY BAD starting next year according to what the experts are saying. Fortunately I'm still in the office of a small company who still needs my position and my guitar students are mostly either from rich families or in college.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 15 2008 4:31:25

Jan Willem

Posts: 274
Joined: Feb. 21 2007
From: Belgium Halle

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

You'll do just fine! Like arash said, one of your last vids looked very promissing.

For the crisis; I think it's a bit easy to only blame the banks. It's the banks, multinationals, and their investors and shareholders (who want to see the maximum of profit, no matter what). It's the fault of our western greed and our "megalomania" view on the world. Of course lots of regular people are now victim of some financial games the very rich played (who off course have lost some money butt still have huge amounts of money)

This whole financial crisis is a good lesson in humility for the west IMO.

JW

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 15 2008 4:45:34

ricecrackerphoto

Posts: 265
Joined: Feb. 5 2006

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

damn, todd. that makes me sad because i kind of really liked the fact that you were so iconoclastic with the pick. i still fondly remember someone years ago on the foro registered long enough to log in and hurl insults at you, one of them being "american pick boy!"

not only does the economy blow for many industries, things are also rapidly changing. i've had to get a real job also in the meantime as photography in general is suffering badly these days. but the real change in photography now is the fact that everyone is a photographer.

while i hate sitting in front of the computer, i have to say that full health benefits is actually really cool!!!!

doug

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 15 2008 5:41:38

Florian

Posts: 9282
Joined: Jul. 14 2003
From: Adelaide/Australia

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ricecrackerphoto)

I think some of u guys are looking at this all wrong, think about him for a second and the real world and not about getting him to like you or appearing politicaly correct to him or looking nice.....i think its great that hes droping his pick for his own sake...noone will ever be able to take anything away from him after, weather its politicaly correct or not...he will get ride of the Yes But, might not be fair but its a reality, some might not tell you but its there "Yes But"....weather its me or someone else...if i ever took anything away from you it was only in a midlle of an argument when we were both giving it and taking it...

it wasent so much your pick that made people pick on it it was your comments and its allways an eazy target....but the truth is you are doing yourself a favour i belive..there will be absoluteley nothing anybody can denie you about after..

even if none of us here ever denied you anything because of it.. theres always the chance of the guy in the real world thinking "yes but" this way you take control of the situation...u dont relie on peoples political correctnes or ignorance or knolodge or open mindness...

who wants to spend all that time practicing all that time geting it right and in the end u are still relying on other peoples knolodge or ignorance more so then anyone else....

Its eazy to say "i liked it"...dosent cost me anything but at the end of the day its you that it will effect more when its eazyer for some to dismiss you then pay attention because they found an excuse..You are as good as anybody yet people will always be able to rob you of it because of the pick....weather u like it or not, weather is fair or not..

I for one dont see it as a bad thing, i am proud of you, i think its the best thing for you

the technique IS just a tool most of the important things you need are allready in you..(if u can hear it in your head u can do it)

its not like starting...the compas is there, the musicality is there, the ideas are there, the left hand is there....this is relatively a small thing...

Micho had to relearn playing on his leftside or something like that..its just a tool

If you doing this for yourself then congratulations i respect the courage..I think you will benefit from it in the long run..

if you are doing it for the wrong reasons...to please others, shut em up then dont be stupid, its your life, they will just find something else to give u a hard time about

I know i am kind of contradicting myself but it all depends on how you feel about it

regardles of what we had going in the past i am giving you the same advice i would give a best friend if he asked and I was really thinking about him

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 15 2008 5:56:47

gj Michelob

Posts: 1531
Joined: Nov. 7 2008
From: New York City/San Francisco

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

The economic depression impact is daunting, and I feel for and admire all musicians and any other professional needing additional jobs, work to make it through. We all need to change at time of crisis, and hopefully that change will constitute a new dimension of our future happiness. That is all we can hope and work towards.

As to “dropping the pick” I am really impressed. It is ironic, but while I always perceived Todd as a great musician, that awkward flaw or whim in his technique detracted somehow from whatever he presented (always otherwise impeccably).

Last year I finally resolved to cure my own shame of the "crouching thumb” and dedicated substantial time to correct that ugly (and impairing) fault. I am so please I did. So many other aspects in need of a cure… but one at the time…. and steady, is all we can do.

Good luck dear Todd.

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gj Michelob

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 15 2008 7:29:19

Anders Eliasson

Posts: 5780
Joined: Oct. 18 2006

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

I knew this would happen.
When I saw your solea upload, I knew it was just a matter of time. This feeling and sound of thumb flesh and nail is so addictive.

Take it easy, I´m dead sure that its only a matter of a little time and you´ll be as good without a pick or even better.

Besides economical crisis always end, so you´ll be able to play and teach with or without a pick.

I´m looking forward to your uploads.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 15 2008 8:53:37

ToddK

Posts: 2961
Joined: Dec. 6 2004

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

Thanks for the votes of confidence everybody!

I really appreciate it!

I should have time to do some short little vids of my progress.

I got a silk wrap nail on my index yesterday, and have already
started working on stuff. My thumbnail is still a hair short,but its
enough to work with.

Its painfully slow, but not as frustrating as i thought.
What immediately strikes me, is i like not having to have work arounds
for everything, and i dont have to think about the sound hardly at all.
With the pick, i was always working so hard to get it to sound decent.

Now everything sounds right, with out alot of work.

Anyway, cheers all!
TK

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 15 2008 17:49:12

Guest

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

well now we all have faster picado than you

anyway good luck, im sure youll be fine though. i think just on your point alone of 'being able to get a good sound easily' its worth the effort to drop the pick. but if you didnt lose the pick thats ok too, who cares. you know what u gotta do now tho dont u? we want a ceremonius burning of the pick/s (upload some footage of it please)i reckon youd get to your favourite pick and just snap, 'noooooooooooooo.....not the 0.73mm....nooooooooooooo. did you think of maybe a support group to help, just so you know u not not alone thru this. pickaholics anonymus is always there for you man

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 15 2008 18:43:43

Guest

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to Guest)

....... been ten days now, havent touched a pick....im going crazy....people looking at me funny...what do they want from me???!!!... make them go away, please just make them stop.....(one eye twichting irradically, and in featal position)

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 15 2008 18:46:45

gshaviv

Posts: 272
Joined: Mar. 22 2005
From: Israel

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

Good luck man. I always enjoyed seeing your amazing pick playing and I'm sure I'll enjoy seeing your amazing all-fingers playing.

It's like who moved my cheese. You know that story? It's about two little mice in a maze that are conditioned always to run to the same spot where they would find their cheese. One day someone moves their cheese. One mice just panics when he gets to the spot where the cheese was supposed to be and just freezes and dies. The other mice starts looking for something else in the maze and find all sorts of new adventures and treats that end up being much better than the cheese.

The moral is that you should view any change as an opportunity to improve and welcome it, rather than freeze in the face of it. You are doing the right thing trying to find new opportunities in the face of trouble. I'm sure in the long run we'll only end up with an even better ToddK (can you imaging that?)

Good luck man on your new journey, keep us posted, we are behind you.

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Guy

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 15 2008 22:23:12

Francisco

Posts: 879
Joined: Jun. 13 2005
From: SW USA

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

quote:

The moral is that you should view any change as an opportunity to improve and welcome it, rather than freeze in the face of it.

Ole!

So true, whether talking about guitar playing or the economy!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 16 2008 2:20:15

cneberg

Posts: 257
Joined: Apr. 20 2006
From: Sončno polje pri Večnosti

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

Sorry, but I don't understand.

You have something very special. You have an amazing & original technique! You can play almost anything, any style,.... And you are better than majority of us will ever be...

....and regardless of the financial crisis, picks are still very cheap.

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Luka

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 16 2008 2:55:50

ToddK

Posts: 2961
Joined: Dec. 6 2004

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

Well, ive had very little time to practice, and i ended up tearing that
silk wrap off of my index, so i dont really have an index nail.

That's really messing me up. But im making some progress.

Its just painfully slow. As soon as i have a decent index nail,
and i can get through a basic falseta, i'll post a vid of my progress.
Or lack thereof

TK

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 21 2008 1:13:34

Pimientito

Posts: 2481
Joined: Jul. 30 2007
From: Marbella

RE: Im dropping my pick! (in reply to ToddK)

Thats something I never understood about your hybrid pick playing was how you emulated the index finger eg. in bulerias compas. If it was simple down up with the pick you couldnt then add a bass note (could you?)
With the index finger keeping compas you can add bass notes or golpes or rasgueos whenever you want. It sucks that you lost your index fingernail. For me thats worse than losing the thumb!!

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 21 2008 2:17:05