Hi folks
I’ve been playing for over 30 years, and have been transcribing and playing Django Reinhardt / Gypsy Jazz for the last 10 years.
After numerous personal/group/on-line lessons and countless hours of jamming and playing in bands, I’ve finally cracked “Gypsy picking”, but I never learned rock picking technique.
I want to improve my right hand-left hand coordination and clarity of articulation when playing arpeggios and scales at speed. I’m too old and boring to want to set a world speed record for being able to play a zillion notes per minute, but it’s nice to be able to play fast and clean when it’s tasteful to do so.
I know it is frowned on by the purists, but there are some fantastic Gypsy players who use economy picking and string skipping in their playing: guys like Birelli Lagrene, Joscho Stephan, the amazing Doigts De L’Homme (and I believe even Stochelo Rosenberg uses a sneaky upward sweep now and then…).
Learning new techniques and crossing genres opens up new directions for self-expression, which for me is what it’s all about at the end of the day: if anyone else enjoys listening, then that’s a bonus!
I’m here because I was really impressed by the clear explanations and attention to detail in Troy’s 12 part “Cracking the Code” YouTube series; and the production quality and animations were excellent.
I’m currently working through the Joscho Stephan/Gypsy Jazz lesson bundle.
I’m really enjoying it, learning lots, and already finding that my technique is starting to improve. I was worried that learning rock picking might make me unlearn Gypsy picking, but it seems that you can have your cake and eat it!
String skipping will probably be the next big challenge for me to try to master…
Looking forward to learning more from this forum, and to meeting and sharing ideas with fellow travellers on our individual musical journeys.
All best wishes
Dave
