I’ve seen and heard about this long and detailed write-up on picking technique authored by Tuck Andress. If a copy is already here, my apologies.
Pick+and+Fingerstyle+technique+6-7-20+version.pdf (219.8 KB)
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I remember this from way back. At the time, I couldn’t quite understand exactly what I was reading… It’s been nearly a couple of decades since I seen this…
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he appears to state playing from the knuckles is ideal. perhaps thumb and first finger movement is what he means versus wrist. I’ve never been a purveyor of this approach.
Playing from the large knuckle is what classical guitarists advocate too. Right or wrong, that analogy of kicking a ball is exactly what my instructor (Julian Gray of Peabody Conservatory) told me when he was training me on the fundamentals of classical guitar tone production.
Tuck mentions seeing some classical guitarists that don’t adhere to this…I can’t think of any as the main right hand technique of classically trained guitarists tends to be very similar. BUT I’ve seen plenty of good steel string fingerstylists that just sort of do ‘whatever’ technique-wise and get good results.
@Ruefus it’s a pretty fascinating read! I’ll have to give it a not-skimming proper reading later. It’s certainly more thorough than anything I can say I’ve seen, pre-Troy of course 
I read this ages ago, I think back when it was actually on Tuck’s website. Pretty interesting at the time - looking forward to revisiting it tonight.
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I remember this one, probably close to 20 years ago? Always fun to read it when it pops up.
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Who’d have thought a fingerstyle player would produce such a detailed anaylsis of picking for the time.
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I assert that RDT with Trailing Edge Grip is very close to the Benson picking described here. This is my current favorite for single note playing.
When I read the Benson excerpt many years ago, I misinterpreted the basic motion as being the “knocking on the door with the back of your hand” motion. Based on this error, I could never find a comfortable pick grip.
Reverse Dart Thrower is the “right” motion, at least for me. As for the “pick wanting to rotate”, I use a three finger grip that allows very fine control over the pick angles and a very secure grip.
The last disadvantage that I’m still working on is this: strumming in a bluegrass style. Switching from a Lead break to strumming Rhythm involves lifting from the bridge anchor to a floating hand to play the boom-chuck or boom-chuck-a with a strum. I have not figured out how to do this with a trailing edge grip, and it may be impossible.
Might be. Obviously it is a different family of techniques from what you’re working on, but the fact that Molly Tottle has night-and-day different forms of lead picking and strumming, it’s possible there is not a single posture solution for your latest problem either. Keep it up and keep us posted though!
Has there been any focus on Strumming mechanics here on CtC? I’m here to tell you that it’s not trivial.
I spent the last week at this little shindig http://www.alleghenyechoes.com/ and found myself very lacking at the primary duty of bluegrass guitar: strumming rhythm.
Yeah I am not sure. I have always focused on picking so if there is talk of strumming I may have tuned it out lol! I did recall Troy mentioning the clear form changes present in Molly’s 0laying when she switches between rhythm and lead.
Also there is the Brendan Small interview. I don’t recall totally but I’d bet they talk strumming there some too. Different world than Bluegrass of course.
Also the Joscho interview. He does some crazy fast strumming but again, that won’t be anything like what you are going for.
Then, I just thought of Cory Wong. He is awesome at strumming and I think he does some trailing edge. It doesn’t look anchored, BUT maybe that would be a less disruptive change for you allowing you to keep that basic grip and pick orientation.
For whatever it’s worth, the idea that the large knuckles (MCP joints) are the strongest is just plain wrong. The MCPs are primarily flexed by the lumbricals, which are small intrinsic muscle of the hand. The middle and small (PIP and DIP joints respectively) are flexed by stronger muscles in the forearm. Further, the longer lever arm creates a type 3 lever, meaning the lumbricals are most also the most mechanically disadvantaged flexors.
This doesn’t mean that it’s “wrong” to use MCP flexion as the primary movement in finger picking, but it does mean that the explanation given here by Tuck is just plain wrong.
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Ha. That’s pretty funny. I remember you writing something similar in another thread after you read the book written by some classical guitarist who’s name I can’t recall at the moment. Maybe it was David Leisner.
I wonder why using that MCP joint is what classical and even flamenco (think Paco de Lucia’s blazing picado) guitarists rely on so much if it has nothing to do with power then? Just trying to do a more “clawing” type of motion feels really strange to me but it could just be because I’ve never played that way. There could be tone implications too since the best sounds (if we don’t consider a rest stroke) require pushing down and across the string. That clawing motion I can only do in a way that results in pulling upward on the string. It produces a thin/weak sound, at least when using fingernails.
My guess is timbre. A more powerful joint is of little value if you can’t align it to the task, and a more powerful joint doesn’t necessarily correlate with a thicker, fuller timbre (which might be described as “powerful”).
It was. I’d be interested in your take on this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Summa-Kitharologica-Physiology-Guitar-Playing/dp/078669047X
The antomomy/physiology described in the first chapter is accurate and would have accelerated my learning. The technical instruction sections are specific to classical guitar.