Interesting connection between edge picking and classical guitar

Playing Technique
#1

I was re-watching Troy’s video on edge picking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeqotzwM1uY and at 7:36 where he mentions the cause of the tone changing may be because of the length of time the string is in contact with the pick. It reminded me of a video I watched about shaping your nails for classical playing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC9Zq5S2b5Q and Susanna Prieto’s comments @ 4:54 where she relates the longer contact time between her nail and the string to a bolder tone and she mentions plectrum users’ thin sound because of the shorter contact time.

At faster tempos, edge picking gives us a nice technique to change contact time without a lot of mental energy. At slower tempos it’s revealed to me that I can really mix plucking through a string slowly and quickly as two new methods of articulation.

A secondary benefit of increased pick contact time/steeper edge picking, at least for my playing, is that it’s really cleaned up and improved the tone of anything I play in forte or when I really dig into a particular note.

Just wanted to share those two revelations on the technique in case it helps anyone else. Thoughts?

#2

In classical guitar, I always felt I got a bolder tone when the shape and length of the nail was perfect. Too much point in the shape or not engaging the proper amount of fingertip flesh, which is more bound to happen when the nail gets too long, made the sound thin out.

Edge picking or not, on a nylon string guitar, I just can’t get a pick to sound as full and round as properly prepared nails. I sort of feel like it’s asking too much of a pick to sound like nails, and the inverse would be true too.

None of this is to in any way discredit the benefits you’ve listed :slight_smile: I just feel like in general classical guitar tone production is its own thing.

#3

Oh understood, I’m sure there are other uncontrolled variables in there when comparing a plectrum and prepared nails 1 to 1. Differences in material, thickness, and actual stroke angle and direction.

After taking a deep dive watching lessons on the classical side, particularly Pepe Romero and Julian Bream, I’m more interested in recontextualizing some of those old right hand and left hand techniques for e. guitar and seeing if they’re as equally useful.

#4

You can’t go wrong with Romero and Bream for tone production. If you haven’t already, you should check out Christopher Parkening. He was always my favorite in terms of getting the most beautiful sound out of the instrument.

Let me know what you come up with for any classical/electric cross-over! The more I tried to find a bridge, the less in common I found haha. Actually a lot of it is thanks to this site. I think for years I was trying to shoehorn some principals I’d learned in classical into electric playing. Reading more posts on here, and of course all of Troy & Co.'s groundbreaking work on electric mechanics, I’ve come to just think of the 2 as different instruments that happen to have all the notes in the same place :slight_smile:

All that said, I can’t wait until the Magnets are finished production so I can put one on my classical and see if I can spot some inefficiencies that hindered my progress over the years. I now know what I was doing wrong all these years on electric. Curious what I’ve been doing wrong on classical…