2 Way Pickslanting Acoustic/Gypsy

Playing Technique
#1

@Troy Just wondering if you have a second for a question:

I have been exclusively a gypsy picker for a couple of years and mostly playing Gypsy Jazz, sometimes working on straight ahead jazz with a fairly strict gyspy pick stroke.

I’ve been interested in adding in other picking styles because there are things things that are really hard to play well with that style (even though the masters can pretty much do anything). So much double downstroking.

The thing I really love about Gypsy picking is that it gives you a really strong, loud and articulate sound on acoustic guitars (Selmers in particular).

I was just wondering, do you think you can get the same sort of strong acoustic sound with 2 way pickslanting? Can you get a powerful upstroke rest stroke pick sound? I was playing with it a bit this morning but just wondering what your thoughts are.

It seems like there’s two varieties of acoustic players, those who anticipate being amplified and don’t really need to make a huge sound, and players who generally aren’t amplified (Gypsy Jazz and Bluegrass, etc) where being able to put out a loud sound is a survival technique.

Anyway, just wondering…

#2

I’m confident reverse gypsy (i.e. sweeping on the upstroke) picking would work just as well as regular gypsy picking.

#3

Bluegrass players need to be pretty loud as well, and many of them are DBX (two-way pickslanting is sort of… part of the suite of techniques that let them crosspick, but not the only one or even the primary one).

#4

It’s true although I think bluegrass players might not need to be quite as loud as gypsy players potentially. In GJ you have like 2-3 guitar players (sometimes a lot more) pounding out rhythm 4 beats a measure, it’s a lot to power over.

Bluegrass, I think, would be normally soloing over bass and mandolin chords mostly. Not that they don’t value loudness but I think it’s a bit easier to be heard, depending on the situation.

But also,yes…

#5

In Bluegrass you also need to be heard over a banjo a lot of the time which is deafeningly loud.

If you have a pickup you can compete with them a little but if you just use a microphone it can be a real struggle. Most of the time when the guitar player takes a break you’ll notice everyone else will soften up and play more quietly so you can be heard.

That being said some players like Trey Hensley get crazy volume just from attacking the strings so hard :slight_smile:

#6

Forgot about that dang banjo.

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