Matteo Mancuso's Electric Guitar Picado Technique

Playing Technique
#1

Hi. Due to my struggles with traditional picking, and after seeing some people on Youtube adopting this technique on electric guitar following in Matteo’s footsteps, I’ve been considering the somewhat outlandish idea of giving Matteo Mancuso’s Picado + Free stroke combination a shot. Given I have no prior experience with classical/flamenco technique I have a few questions that some of you can hopefully shed some light on:

1: First and foremost, is this a feasible endeavour in the first place? Could I reasonably expect to get this technique to a proficient enough level to tackle high speed shred-type lines like Matteo, without the advantage of classical training, or is this unrealistic?

2: Should Picado be approached using the same ‘start fast and sloppy’ methodology that is optimal for traditional picking, or otherwise? Should I also start with tremolo right off the bat and go from there like the traditional CTC methodology dictates?

3: Is blazing fast picado a rarity amongst players who adopt this style, or is it feasible for most people to achieve given adequate practice?

4: Does this kind of technique have a rough learning curve, or can it be picked up to a basic level of proficiency in a reasonably short time frame?

5: What are the cons of this technique? Is it usable on a steel string acoustic guitar? Muting seems like it would be an issue, but Matteo seems to have it under control on both clean and high gain settings. I’ve seen him play both with and without a fretwrap, so he doesn’t seem to be reliant on it. Weaker pick attack would also be a consideration of course.

To those of you not familiar with Matteo Mancuso’s fantastic playing:

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#2

I don’t think classical training is necessary. I never really focused on fast picado since I didn’t play flemenco. The classical repertoire doesn’t have much blazing fast playing in it. That said, if I stopped doing all the other little guitar rabbit holes I dive in and JUST wanted to do fast picado, I’m sure I could get good results just by applying the same principles I’ve learned from Troy

Yep. In general with motions, you won’t know if you’ve got a good one until you make sure it’s capable of going fast. Back when I was studying classical guitar I had an ‘ok’ tremolo. I could get through pieces but it was always challenging and fatiguing. So, I was probably not doing it correctly. I did plenty of ‘slow and perfect’ practice. A few months ago when I got my magnet I wanted to see what my classical tremolo looked like. I haven’t played much classical lately so I had to dust off some rust. I threw out all the stuff I was told during my training and just tried playing as fast as I could move my fingers and in pretty short order I had it cleaned up and faster than back in college when I practiced for hours each day.

I don’t follow many people who play electric like this, but pretty much any flamenco player who is pro level can do fast picado. Not necessarily Paco De Lucia fast, but plenty fast.

I dunno. That’s probably highly dependent on the person.

Muting as in palm muting or muting as in noise control? Regarding weak pick attack…the flamenco players have a very hard attack. Even sans nails, there are plenty of great bass guitarists who get a good attack playing with fingers. Rest strokes, particularly if you dig in, have a very powerful sound

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#3

Very helpful. Thanks!

Noise control. It seems like it would be difficult with no palm contact for string dampening, but then again Matteo gets by just fine without it so maybe it’s not an issue.

#4

Two basic questions:

  1. How is this technique different than what many bass players do?

  2. Is this to be used in addition to a pick for certain situations, or as a replacement for a pick? What is the benefit of switching?

#5

Check this out:

Another amazing thing about Matteo is his tone - he has this warm, beautiful sound that is really pleasant to listen to. Amazing technique. Can absolutely see why people are raving about this guy - what a talent.

#6

Take this with a grain of salt but I believe Picado involves using a combination of the pad of the finger and the fingernail to pluck the string, whereas bass technique is generally just the flesh of the finger.

Matteo uses this technique along with free stroke technique exclusively; no pick. This combination seems to allow him a lot of fluidity and dynamic control when it comes to arpeggio type lines, allowing him to play things that would be difficult or even impossible with a pick, or at the very least would require elite levels of picking ability to pull off. I would guess it’s also more mechanically reliable than traditional picking, given how mechanically nightmarish the guitar can be compared to say, a piano.

#7

Yeah, it seems to me that you should definitely learn this and put it in your toolbox, pulling it out whenever appropriate!

Indeed, one of the beautiful things about CtC is that it gives me perspective: before, I viewed “escape hatches” like sweeping or strategic “legato” notes as signs of weakness/imperfection, but now I view them as signs of genius. The easier the music is to play, the more likely it is to sound great and be error-free!

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#8

Hello!

Thought I’d chime in withe modest knowledge I have.

  • first before I do share, although I encourage you to pursue this don’t give up on picking entirely just yet. You can have more than one tool in your arsenal, and sometimes all it takes is an unexpected lightbulb to get you moving.

  • As you already know from being a member here, there are so many systems and solutions to your problem. Besides alternate, economy and associated mechanics, don’t forget to also try a pick-pick-hammer approach that is so effective → Josh Meader and other players really burn with this approach! Same with hybrid picking.

That being said I do love Matteo’s musicality, he blows me away. Very very inspiring!

I would distinguish two things here though in respect to his tone:

  1. the approach of playing with a “diagonal” right hand position to have a mix between nail and flesh (as you know he doesn’t stick to only that approach). This gives a really warm tone yet with a clear attack. I learned this in the past from an amazing guitar player from Latin America (there were a bunch of them playing a concert locally - they were all scary good!) and it’s very effective.

  2. a more fusion oriented tone and settings to get in the ballpark - a lowpass which must be set pretty low

In respect to the technique of picado here is what I learned from personal experience:

Oh and note that now I’m no longer speaking about the diagonal right hand position picking, which can still be fast if you’re playing arpeggios and/or adding hammer ons and pull offs occasionally. Rather I’m speaking in terms of the faster picado with a more perpendicular position.

  • unlike how the pick moves through the string to sound a note, imagine your fingers being more like the little hammers on a piano. To sound a note, they push downward towards the body of the guitar, still ending up resting on the string below similarly to a rest stroke.

  • Here you can practice the flamenco technique where you play a note and quickly choke it with the other finger. I would suggest playing the notes very slowly yet choking as fast as you can.

  • What people mean by Matteo using a bass guitar technique I guess refers more to the approach of sweeping with the same finger to your next note if it is situated on the string below (thicker string) instead of strictly alternating between i and m regardless (think of the amazing Paco De Lucia).
    Both approaches are totally valid and it’s up to you.

  • Speed: that’s the part I was referring to when I meant this is from personal experience. So take this part with a bucket of salt.
    → I can get away playing bigger movements with the pick and still getting the speed I want.
    NOT so with picado. I absolutely have to have the shortest possible distance in my movements. One brain trick I use for that is focus on the middle finger and let the index finger “bounce back up”.
    The reason for this is my index finger tends to be the one that travels too far if I let it.

Cheers!
Sary

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#9

What an impressive description! :grinning:

I’m going to learn bass guitar at some point (soon) and play with fingers, so would you advocate strict i/m alternation, or sweeping? It seems like both are valid choices, but if you had to choose one, which one, and why? Thanks! (I was going to choose alternation, but I don’t know why!)

#10

Hey :wave:!

I choose strict alternating i m but let me tell u why as it may not apply to you or in other words according to my reasoning you may not be interested in reaching the same goal.

Personally i like to ask myself: ultimately, which kind of phrasing/tone will pursuing this technique help me achieve? The reason being as that as guitarists - but also applies to others ie. sound engineers - we sometimes tend to follow visuals, when at the end of the day all that matters is the output, in this case the sound!
(I know i sound like I like to hear myself speaking but english is not my first language and I can’t communicate my tone of voice thru this msg so bear with me hahaha)

This is what made me experiment and try to master different picking techniques which is the tone, an aspect of phrasing. For example when you hear Anton Oparin talk about dynamics, you know that it’s not just theoretical as the guys sure has enough control of this aspect! What I was saying in another thread tho is that it doesn’t seem to be the only way to do it. Rick graham stretches the string before releasing is and the distance that it travels ultimately leads to how strong the note will be played. I find this stuff fascinating and don’t think it has the exact same sound.

In the case of Matteo (can’t stop saying how much of a fan I am) think of his “diagonal” RH playing. It sounds so warm on the higher three strings. Same on the lower ones except because of the material used for the lower ones you’re bound to hear a “swish” sound. Does anybody else notice it?
It doesn’t bother me at all personally. I think he sounds amazingggg. I had to point this out however to explain how techniques are tools that give us a sound.

In my case the reason why I choose alternating m i is because I believe Paco has a sound I currently cannot achieve. I want to add this sound to my arsenal not the technique per say.

So since you are looking to use this for bass it might not apply to your goal. Frankly i believe bass playing is an art form in itself that I don’t have any experience to speak about.
I may borrow some lessons from the instrument (slap pop etc) but ultimately I’m still a guitarist and don’t think I have the proper touch for that.

I’d say experiment with both! Or ask a bass player; I’m sure he or she will give you better advice in this area!

Sorry for the long (not so helpful) message…

Cheers!

#11

On second thought…

Thanks for asking that question, I realized a bit ago that you made my brain work in the background and that my last post might not be totally accurate in respect to m i or “bass technique”.
I won’t bore you with the details but just remember that whatever I said was just conjecture as I’ve only recently started practicing the technique and shouldn’t draw conclusions just yet. Let’s see what happens.

But it did give me some ideas! So thanks again for this discussion.

And oh I should probably go to sleep…

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#12

I haven’ played finger style in like a decade but I’d also suggest exploring the picado with index+ring fingers as an alternative to index+middle. Ergonomically, it apparently makes sense because the difference in length between the fingers is less noticeable, which results in more comfortable angles for the wrist. Also, it seems like some people find it faster. At least I can tap test way faster with my index+ring fingers.

#13

I found a very interesting variation on the Picado technique involving the thumb. I think it’s a strictly alternating p-m-i sequence(Thumb, middle, index). Seems to work very well. I wonder if there’s any advantage over Matteo’s i-m and occasional i-m-a technique.

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#14

Advantage would be that it’s got way more speed potential. Cycling with an extra digit is always going to beat alternating between 2 digits.

Disadvantage is probably that there are sort of “rules” when changing strings efficiently. For example, when doing an ascending scale it’s going to feel better going to a higher (i.e. thinner) string if you pluck it with the “m” finger, just due to the positioning of the fingers. “i” would be a little more awkward, “p” would be the most awkward. If descending, reverse that set of rules. It would probably land us in territory like USX and DSX where there are certain combos that just work better. With 3 fingers involved, that’s more of an opportunity for getting tripped up.

It’s a similar consideration with just the i/m but you can offset this with clever “tracking” and it’s not the same type of deal breaker we face with plectrum where the pick is “trapped”

Last disadvantage could be tonal considerations. Getting a consistent tone between all 3 fingers could be a challenge depending on the setting. Maybe in an electric lead type of thing the natural compression of the distortion would help. I know in classical it’s hard to not play a little louder with the thumb compared to the other fingers and that’s one of the reasons they prefer i/m alternation.

So many possibilities!

#15

That’s pretty interesting. I think I’m faster with those 2 fingers also…maybe! I never really trained to get blazing with i/m alternation and my teacher’s advice of “just play slow and gradually speed up” never would have gotten me there lol!

Re: the length of the fingers being different, yes. BUT you can tilt your hand a little and offset some of that:

@Jakeh15 that’s a good video for an overview of the classical/flamenco approach. Whatever he says, make sure you pay more attention to what he “does” particularly in the fast parts. Not saying those are 2 different things (it’s been years since I’ve watched that video and I saw it pre-Troy), we always need to be cautious when great players tell us what we should do. It’s not always correct!!! What they do is going to be correct. Good luck!

#16

Of course, but if I’m not mistaken Matteo adds the ring finger to achieve his fastest speeds.

Thanks. I’ll definitely take a look.

#17

Not sure how helpful it will be, but I’ve had this video open as a tab in Firefox for ages:

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