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Miguel de Maria -> RE: More thoughts on picado (Feb. 7 2005 15:09:14)
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-Picado is not one of my strong techniques and is my least favorite to practice because it is the most fickle.
My friend Miguel Rodriguez, a master, told me: "Picado will always be the hardest technique, because it requires coordination.:
-There's days when no matter how hard I try and concentrate, I can't even play a simple eighth note phrase without flubbing a couple of notes. Then there are not so common days when I can play the same phrase with no trouble at all. What gives here?
I've experienced the same thing. One thing, the more you practice and work on it, the more consistent you become. But I saw Miguel in concert and he flubbed some fast scales, and well all know Paco messed up those fairly easy licks in Entre Dos Aguas on the video, right?
-[:@] Practicing picado doesn't give me the same return on time invested as does alzapua, for instance. But I have to say that on the rare occasion that I can pull off a good punchy picado, it really does feel good [8D] Almost like hitting a bull's eye or something?
When I hit a picado run dead on, I feel like I'm flying. I love it.
-One thing I've noted in analyzing my picado technique is that I play phrases smoother if the "i" finger leads. By this I mean that the "i" finger marks the down beats of the note groups. Whenever I picado with the "m" finger leading, I can't play the phrase with the same evenness and control as with the "i" finger. Perhaps it's natural mismatch of the "i" and "m" finger lengths, or maybe I just haven't worked hard enough at marking the down beats with the "m" finger [X(]
I noticed the same thing. In fact, Miguel told me I needed to practice starting with the m more. I started doing that, and like a tennis player who gets better at the backhand after working so hard on it, started getting better at the m. It is important. However, Miguel claism that in flamenco, you should make sureyour i finger is better, because the m is naturally stronger.
-I usually end up changing the fingering patterns of picado transcriptions to accomodate my "i" leading preference. It works for most phrases but not all. Some have to be played with the "m" leading, and these are ones I strugggle with [:@] Anybody else out there have a preference for playing picado or are you the fortunate ones that can play either way with no trouble any day of the week? Please tell me I'm not alone [:o]
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You're not alone, Eddie, you're not alone! The problems you have are the same ones I have had/have. Maybe some people don't have them,b ut I do! It's a damn hard technique! But I do believe that anyone who really wants it, can have it, but they have to put in a lot more time than on something like rasgueado, alzapua, or maybe any other single technique.
Ron, I never knew anyone wanted a video of me playing! Not much to see there, really :) Anyways, we've had financial troubles and are going to be moving out of the manse. Housing prices have risen 25% here in the last year, and we think they're going to blow. We'll rent for awhile and buy something else when it settles down...
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