DFBurst: Well, we are moving to the suburbs,
and I finally will have a music room. I need some
ideas on how to hang/display guitars...room
acoustic recommendations...carpet vs. tile vs.
wood for flooring.
I want it to feel warm, cozy, hip, but still coffee
shop-like. I might display framed and matted
classic album covers and some other tasteful
music memorabilia.
Any help is appreciated...
rrhea: My room is not the
fanciest, but you must include
a work bench. I cannot tell
you how much I have enjoyed
mine and it makes doing
everything (even if you only
change your strings) much
easier and safer.
Here’s the other
side of the
room. Simple
and humble.
dougk: Don’t confine yourself, forget what
your wife may think, you need to hang guitars in
EVERY room! No music room... music house!!
Jeffj:
Jackaroo: Just a few pics from a recent hang
at my place with our own Ubershall.
jazzandmetal?: Paging Jmintzer and
George Johnson.
Jmintzer: LOL!
I just finished my guitar
room last Spring. The
slat-board and hangers
are from String Swing...
(P.S. That’s Ron Thorn hard at work in my basement...)
5E3: I alternate pick whenever needed, most
of the time without even thinking about it. I
imagine most players do the same.
Well I recently started working on a speed
picking lesson/exercise and the instructor
preaches a very strict down-up down-up picking
motion. I found out that when moving from
string to string I have a bad habit of breaking
the down-up pattern. For example, my last pick
on the D string was down, and as I move to the
G string I should be using an up pick, but have
a tendency to use another down pick. This is
turning out to be a very difficult to break habit
Now I know this sounds quite trivial, but I’m
wondering how important is it to keep in
the strict pattern or down-up down-up when
changing strings? If you are counting time in
your head, then down is 1, up is 2, etc., and
keeping that straight may matter.
Thanks for your thoughts on this.
Mandoboy: It really depends on what
you are going for, articulation-wise. Alternate
picking is an excellent (and difficult at first)
method of approaching playing, but it can be
limiting as a one-size-fits-all approach. There
are times when economy picking, crosspicking,
sweep picking all have their place if you get the
desired results sonically.
Playing 8th notes 3+ 3+ 2 across the strings (see
the crosspicking link) sound like 3+ 3+ 2 if you
pick them DDUDDUDU or DUUDUUDU rather
than DUDU- think 12312312 rather than 121212.
Playing odd figures like 5’s and 7’s; the new
“one” likes to get a down, so a 5 might be 3+ 2
DUDDU DUDDU or 2+ 3, DUDUD DUDUD.
It depends very much on how you want the
line to sound. No doubt that alternate picking
produces good, smooth results, and when you
master it, it allows you to play without worrying
about what your right hand is doing, and
focusing on the left hand, or looking out at the
audience (for your parole officer, etc.)
For certain things like Chuck Berry intros,
alternate picking sounds weaker (read: lame!)
than using all downstrokes (also very effective in
other situations!)
Articulation is something wind, brass and string
players obsess over, and it’s worth thinking
about on plectrum instruments too.
Poppa Stoppa: I think that strict dududu
is incredibly important for developing an
advanced time feel. It’s all about developing
the movement of your hand/pick into a thing of
wonder & beauty, timing-wise.
Of course there are times when you have to
do something else just to be able to play a
line at speed or whatever, but if you’re not
automatically doing it wherever possible your
timing will suffer.
Snap: Even John Petrucci uses economy
picking sometimes, so it can’t be all that bad
for your technique.
Mandoboy: Tal Farlow and Tony Rice are two
examples of non-alternate pickers who don’t
seem to have much problem with time, groove,
or facility (not to mention ideas)
spencerbk: Economy picking is not
necessarily a bad habit. Jack Zucker (who
posts here) wrote an entire book making
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Guitar rooms... need ideas
and pics
Alternate picking: how
strict to be?
www.premierguitar.com 216 PREMIER GUITAR NOVEMBER 2009
