Streetwise Guitar interview - database of famous players’ picking techniques

Playing Technique
#1

I just watched this interview and really enjoyed it. One thing that I found interesting was that Troy mentioned he can usually discern a player’s technique just by looking at them, before they even play a note.

Later he talks about tailoring your playing to your strong suit. One of the challenges when copping licks is obviously knowing from the outset if your techniques are simpatico.

Taken together, this got me thinking: it would be helpful to have a database of famous player’s typical technique (that may not be a fair assessment; mea culpa, if so).

For example, if I want to learn some Jerry Garcia or Dickey Betts licks, it’d be helpful knowing what their usual technique is and whether that fits with my own. It also tells you if you need to figure out how to adapt licks to fit your approach. Obviously this isn’t a panacea, but more of a time saver when it comes to learning licks.

Thoughts?

2 Likes
#2

Could see this being useful, I’m sure there would be some degree of “crowd sourcing” that would have to happen, unless you stick to well known musicians.

#3

It’s an interesting idea, but I do feel like it’s more useful when that information comes up in context rather than as a database. But I’m interested in what the application would be. For your example, if you wanted to learn some Jerry Garcia licks, how will it save you time to know what his picking technique/orientation was? Just in terms of fingering/note location choices?

#4

Fair question! I’m thinking specifically of a song like Help On the Way/Slipknot, which has a lot of diminished arpeggio runs. Being able to look at a transcription and also understanding how Garcia gets from string to string would be helpful in getting those licks clean(er), I would hypothesize. It’s like having a rough guide as you work through the string changes.

Perhaps those that understand this stuff better can just look at a transcription or a riff and recognize what method works best? Or maybe you see a riff and know that you need to start it on and upstroke even though the guy who played it first started with a down stroke? That just seems like it might be useful info to have.

I don’t know. It’s not always immediately obvious to me. Garcia may not be a good example as he was a banjo player too and did plenty of fingerpicking and hybrid picking too.

Seems like some of the big names should be fairly easy to pin down. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

#5

This is actually pretty easy to do once you know what you’re looking for, how they hold the pick and the motions they use to change strings. I don’t agree that we need to make all the same mechanical choices as another player to imitate their style and note choice. You can see guys like Andy Wood and Jeff Loomis play Yngwie licks and sound awesome, even though they’re using a different technical approach than Yngwie actually uses.

Particularly in the case of Jerry Garcia, it seems the challenge is not in the mechanical efficiencies needed to play fast shred guitar, but really in phrasing, harmony, improv. I don’t think the way he holds the pick really matters very much at all in comparison.

#6

Oh, of course. This is not what I was implying. My supposition was more along the lines of using another player’s technique as a basis for analysis; by understanding how they do something can inform how one approaches that same thing on their own. It need not be identical, but understanding how someone else does it is simply one variable in the equation; it’s not the answer.

As Carl Miner, David Grier, Molly Tuttle, Andy Wood, et. al. demonstrate, it’s not always about shredding. But simply understanding how someone moves across the strings, i.e., skipping, sweeping, escape motions, etc., can help one develop their own technique and find ways to accomplish the same (or similar) ends–as you mention with Wood and Malmstein–with one’s own technique.