Ramon Amira -> Picado with I and M (Jun. 5 2010 20:03:47)
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I have a suggestion for anyone who might be interested in experimenting with it, with respect to alternating when playing picado. I developed a method for myself when learning guitar, and now use it with my students with great success. I came to the conclusion that when playing picado with I and M, it is more fluent and secure if you always use M when ascending to a higher string, and always use I when descending to a lower string. Think about it – you wouldn't dream of playing an ascending arpeggio on 3-2-1 by ascending with A-M-I – it would be incredibly cumbersome and unnatural, because I-M-A very naturally fall on 3-2-1. It's really the identical thing. M naturally falls to the next higher string from I. That's because M is longer than I, which makes it awkward to ascend with I instead of M. Play apoyando very slowly and take a look at your right hand fingers as you ascend. If you play the third string apoyando with M, it comes to rest, however momentarily, on the fourth string. So now M is on the fourth string and you have to reach up with the shorter finger I across the third string to the second string. It's cumbersome. Now reverse it. Play the third string apoyando with I. Now with I resting on the fourth string see how easy and natural it is to play the second string with M. M goes right to it. You don't even get a sense of reaching or stretching. And the same thing happens descending. Try it slowly, and you will see immediately that when you ascend to the next string with I, there is a sense of "reaching" upward unnaturally. Then ascend with M, and you will see how easily and naturally the movement flows. Then do the same thing descending. Descending to the next string with I is more fluent than with M. So I always ascend with M and always descend with I. However, this imposes certain fingering revisions and requirements, that fortunately are easily met. Sometimes the next note falling on the next string down or up might not fit into that scheme. This is solved by simply taking the note on a different string. To take the most elementary example, play a one octave descending C scale in the first position. If you play the C on the second string with I, you can descend perfectly according to this method, until you come to C on the fifth string. At that point you would have to descend with M, and that breaks the pattern. Instead, if you take the D on the fifth string instead of the open fourth, you can maintain a perfect alternation, and descend to the fifth string with I playing D after M has played the E on the fourth string. The left hand fingering would have to change as well – you would play F with 2 and E with 1, and of course D with 4 and C with 2. This is just a simple example for purposes of illustration, but you can extrapolate from that to any and every run, and utilize the same principle. This might not be for everyone, but it might help some to play picado faster and more fluently.
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