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Picado - angle of attack, position of nail/finger on string
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Ricardo
Posts: 15160
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
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 RE: Picado - angle of attack, positi... (in reply to kitarist)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: kitarist
quote:
After long time practicing staccato it pays to relax the fingers and actually increase the range of motion. [] Anyway it looks to me you can reduce the amplitude only as much, at some point you cant produce the sound anymore.
If your goal is to reduce amplitude, i.e. if you are mimicking motion, you are doing it wrong IMO. Reducing the amplitude can be/is a consequence of efficient, precise, "relaxed", perfectly timed alternation strokes; the latter is the goal that the staccato tool is helping you reach.
Exactly. You don’t concern at all about amplitude, only timing of the rest or cut off of the sound. The relaxation occurs immediately after that moment and the faster you do it, the more time you spend in the relaxed state. Think about rhythm. If you play quarter notes with no rest then the planting has to occur very quickly before the stroke. If you instead practice playing a 16th, then THREE 16th rests before the next note, well most of the time spent is in a relaxed state waiting for the rests to go by. Naturally, the stroke itself has zero amplitude as you are simple pushing and releasing. Your concern about economy is only about the OTHER finger that is quickly coming up to stop the string from ringing. You naturally only move as much as needed which is basically very very low amplitude. The sensation becomes of minimal effort (not of more effort).
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CD's and transcriptions available here:
www.ricardomarlow.com
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Date Jun. 22 2021 19:39:01
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Ricardo
Posts: 15160
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
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RE: Picado - angle of attack, positi... (in reply to zendalex)
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quote:
The point is, when people just embark on staccato practice (and I am thinking for Joe here it is quite relevant), they get to the point of having difficulty going through a string.
Then the mechanics are wrong somehow. There is only reset action to worry about, no “getting through a string” you just glide off of it.
Nail shape is important. I can tell Todd is using round nails because when he demos the twist action to use the side of his nails, well, with the flat/ramp type shape I and others use, we can’t do that or the corners get caught. The whole point of filing the nails is to get the crisp tone and zero resistance from the string but the straight line has to be created at the specific single angle you attack the string from. With round nails many players feel that “hung up” feeling as the nails grow too long. Using glue makes it worse because that round nail won’t bend. When you file flat or ramped, the glue curves the nail slightly so the edges bend down, and this is ideal for ramp function because it aids in the planting position such that the string sits on top of the nail edge, never underneath. So whether it is staccato picado or arpegio etc, the nail just glides over the string from the planted position.
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CD's and transcriptions available here:
www.ricardomarlow.com
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Date Jun. 23 2021 18:41:23
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Ricardo
Posts: 15160
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
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RE: Picado - angle of attack, positi... (in reply to joevidetto)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: joevidetto
quote:
such that the string sits on top of the nail edge, never underneath. So whether it is staccato picado or arpegio etc, the nail just glides over the string from the planted position.
Can you say this part differently - I'm not sure what you meant : ) or at what point in the stroke you are referring to the string being on top of the nail edge ??
Imagine the geometry of the letter “L” such that the long vertical is angled back forming an obtuse angle instead of 90 degrees. That long line is the nail surface viewed from the side. The shorter horizontal is the white nail growth that stops at the nail bed left to right. The reason a vertex or corner is formed is thanks to your filing “flat” or straight across in only one direction along the long vertical. When folks round off their nails they remove that corner and the horizontal line actually disappears into the nail bed sooner because it curves. So the idea is to have that corner set up at the comfortable length such that planting the finger on the string involves the string touching the flesh and the long vertical line, just above that corner.
oL. If you have this shape and twist your angle of attack toward the thumb side, as Todd demonstrated, the string will end up UNDER that corner, touching the horizontal line instead.
This description is two dimensional. In 3D the straight line exists on a curved space such that the same situation occurs on the pinky side of the hand. Classical guitarists tend to play with straight wrist such that they Ramp the nail shape severely on the pinky side. That means the horizontal line going into the nail bed on the pinky side is longer (more white nail before nail bed) than on thumb side. We flamenco players play with wrist bent sideways so a more straight on approach to the strings, and don’t need such a severe ramp. White material on the horizontal is about equal on both sides of the m and a fingers.
Because we change angles for using pulgar and index together, the long horizontal on thumb side can be problematic. The solution I found is a very short horizontal on thumb side (so index does appear ramped up toward pinky). I don’t need that ramp for picado arpegios etc, so it is a compromise for the sake of various usages index is needed for.
If you are still not clear check archives for pumping nylon.
_____________________________
CD's and transcriptions available here:
www.ricardomarlow.com
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Date Jun. 24 2021 16:43:33
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AndresK
Posts: 347
Joined: Jan. 4 2019
From: Patras, Greece
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RE: Picado - angle of attack, positi... (in reply to zendalex)
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Staccato is very helpful. Again remember to relax when preparing the fingers on the strings and not prepare stressed fingers.
Instead of thinking anchor, which for me that english is not my primary language, feels a bit heavy (thinking ships and large metal objects on the bottom of the sea), you can feel resting your thumb naturally on the bass string you like or on the top when you play the bass strings. This relieves the tension of the other fingers and gives precision to really fast runs.
I cannot think of a flamenco player not doing this, Paco, Vicente, Gerardo, Moraito, Pepe Habichuela, Manolo Franco, Ricardo, Grisha, Antonio Rey, Jeronimo Maya, etc. That does not mean they cannot play picado without resting the thumb of course.
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Date Jun. 27 2021 20:44:19
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agujetas
Posts: 60
Joined: Mar. 9 2021
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RE: Picado - angle of attack, positi... (in reply to AndresK)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: AndresK
Staccato is very helpful. Again remember to relax when preparing the fingers on the strings and not prepare stressed fingers.
Instead of thinking anchor, which for me that english is not my primary language, feels a bit heavy (thinking ships and large metal objects on the bottom of the sea), you can feel resting your thumb naturally on the bass string you like or on the top when you play the bass strings. This relieves the tension of the other fingers and gives precision to really fast runs.
I cannot think of a flamenco player not doing this, Paco, Vicente, Gerardo, Moraito, Pepe Habichuela, Manolo Franco, Ricardo, Grisha, Antonio Rey, Jeronimo Maya, etc. That does not mean they cannot play picado without resting the thumb of course.
I agree with this. You can rest the thumb on a bass string lightly without creating any tension in the hand as long as you don’t press down with the thumb. The most natural position for the hand is where the fingers are slightly curved and the the thumb is resting by itself not far from the index finger. That is basically the position from which I do picado. If I want to not anchor the thumb on a bass string I have to lift it up - if anything this creates more tension in the hand.
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Date Jun. 27 2021 21:50:26
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