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Hola! When playing arpegios on the bass strings the sound of the nails get really annoying, but I didn't figured out how to reduce it. Any ideas? to make them shorter is no option because they have ideal length mas o menos.
RE: arpegios on bass strings-reducin... (in reply to athrane77)
Nail shape makes a big tone difference. Depending on your exact angle of attack you may want to shape it a lil different. Ricardo's got some god threads on nail shape if you poke around, it's been discussed a fair amount.
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From: Washington DC
RE: arpegios on bass strings-reducin... (in reply to athrane77)
quote:
ORIGINAL: athrane77
Hola! When playing arpegios on the bass strings the sound of the nails get really annoying, but I didn't figured out how to reduce it. Any ideas? to make them shorter is no option because they have ideal length mas o menos.
I saw a fantastic classical player, Ana Vidovic, and when she moved to the bass strings with a-m-i type arps, it was "zip, zip, zip !" The reason is because of the wrist angle. That is way flamenco players angle the wrist so that the angles of nail attack are more straight on and you dont get that sideways zipping sound. It can still happen, but considering the extremes I feel these little "noises" are truly what makes guitar playing sound cool vs other instruments that are bowed or keyboard type instruments, bass guitar with no nails etc.
Check out the intro buleria of Tomatito's Encuentro video for some bass arps. Compare to Vicente Amigo who does a similar falseta por bulerias, but plays appoyando with "a" and m fingers. PDL used apoyendo "a" finger but tirando m and i fingers for his granaina in the 70's which was pretty effective and might help a bit on bass strings too. (Just remembered he does the same with Taranta black and white video on the bass strings to start)
Here is tomatito getting pretty smooth sound on the basses intro for this buleria, you can see his angle of attack is straight on :
In this version the same falseta you can hear some string noise...I for one thing it's totally cool sound.
RE: arpegios on bass strings-reducin... (in reply to athrane77)
Thanks Ricardo. But I don't know what you mean by "straight angle of attack"? Can you make a photo to point out the difference between the classical and flamenco angle? That would be so great!!
RE: arpegios on bass strings-reducin... (in reply to athrane77)
quote:
ORIGINAL: athrane77
Thanks Ricardo. But I don't know what you mean by "straight angle of attack"?
If you watch Vicente on video and focus on his right hand/arm you might notice that he lifts his right arm before/when playing (long) arpeggio and picado runs. This hand/arm position makes the fingers/nails hit the strings under a more straight (90 degree kind) corner without bending the wrist to much. Another effect is that when you run this setup from treble to bass side the angle of both your wrist and the plugging remains the same, a bit like handling a rake (if you keep your upper arm posted on the guitar the angle of plugging changes when running up and down unless you correct that by slightly changing the angle of your wrist). Another way of getting a more straight angle of attack every now and then is to rotate your hand a little bit to the pinky site which changes the angle of movement of the fingers (as well as the part of the nail you use for plugging).
When you apply a straight angle of attack al the energy you put in goes directly into the string without losing energy to sideways gliding. You can check the effect of various angles of attack by placing the finger on string and then slowly, very slowly, increase pressure until the string is plugged. When you apply a straight angle of attack the finger will remain on 1 place until the added energy makes it pass the string, if you apply a less straight corner of attack (not necessarily worse as doing it straight) part of the energy added will make the finger glide "parallel" over the string before it builds up enough pressure to pass/plug it (so it doesn't leave the string at the place of first contact but dude to the sideway gliding at a slightly different place). Playing is a compromise between a more effective angel of playing vs a more relaxed way of playing in any given situation.
Sound also plays a role in your attacking strategy. I know some classical players go way further in leveling the differences in string reaction then flamenco players tend to do (like treating/plugging each treble string slightly different in order to level their mass difference and sound response). If i'm not mistaken gliding off sideways is one of the traditional "do's" in classical playing, resulting in a more classical sound (by killing some of the strings overtones).
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