I'm new to GSI forum. I'm Todd. I posted some mp3's

[Todd]

Hello all. My name is Todd. I figured i'd introduce myself
and give you some of my info.
I play solo flamenco and classical guitar. I play a Brune model30f.
Its a cypress/spruce flamenco in the design style of Marcelo Barbero.
I use Hannanbach 728 basses, and Goldin trebles.
I love Sabicas, and Julian Bream.
My goal is to play solo concerts at some point.

So, anyway, here's some mp3's of my playing. They were done on the
same guitar, but with different mic placements.
Hope you like em;. You have a very nice forum here. I look forward
to chatting with you guys and gals.

http://djmichaelk.com/todd/toddmp3/scottishchoro.mp3 Villa Lobos

http://djmichaelk.com/todd/toddmp3/zapateado128.mp3 Sabicas'

Regards,
Todd K

[NGiorgio]

Hey Todd,

Awesome stuff. I really like the material. Terrific technique. Great sounding instrument.

Good to have you here.

[NGiorgio]

Todd,

Just listened to you again. It was even better the second time.

I have to ask two questions. How long are you playing flamenco, and who did you study with?

Oustanding performance.

[Todd]

Thanks! Glad you liked those clips. I just recorded Scottish Choro
yesterday.

I was lucky enough to have a guitar playing father. He played many
styles, but mainly flamenco.
He got me started around 5 years old with the guitar.

However i did venture into many different styles. You name it, i've played it.
From blues to rock to classical.
I spent alot of years picking, and ended up developing some extremely
advanced hybrid picking techniques.
With this technique, i use a pick, and my M, A, and pinky all together.

So if you can believe it, i played those pieces with this pick/finger
hybrid.
On occasion, i have non believers that say its impossible.
But luckily, i have a video of myself doing 5 note flamenco tremelo
with the pick in my hand, for just such occasions! :lol:
Say the word, and i'll post a link.

Sorry for the long winded response, but i like to get the pick thing
out in the open right off the bat. Some people are judgmental about
this, but i say, hey, its the end resulting sound that counts.
Nobody can ever tell im using a pick by listening, but as soon as
they ask me about technique, the cat comes out of the bag.

I must admit, i enjoy the controversy sometimes. I have an instructional
DVD in the works right now. I'm using the working title,
"PICKING NYLON"
A stupid idea? Maybe, but i've never seen anybody play concert solos
with a pick.
BTW, do you know of anyone else that does this?
Todd

[edwardcav]

With a pick??????? It sounds even better now! Truly amazing!

Hey that video - is it downloadable? I mean, I believe you, but I have to see it...

[NGiorgio]

You fooled me. I went and listened to the zapateado again, I couldn't hear the pick. I don't care how you do it, I still like it.

What finger(s) do you use for golpe? Do you use the pick for up strokes, such as in triplet rasqueados?

Very unusual technique, I'm sure that you will hear some interesting comments about it here.

No, I don't know of anyone who uses that technique in classical or flamenco.

Jazz great Wes Montgomery, never used a pick on electric guitar, just his thumb. He had a great sound. I suppose it is the end result which counts the most.

[Todd]

Here's the video link. Its a wmv file. If for some reason you have
trouble downloading, try right click, save target as.

My sequence for tremelo with a pick?

Pick down for the bass note, pinky, A , M , pick up.

Check it out! :twisted:

http://djmichaelk.com/todd/toddmp3/todflamenco3.wmv

[edwardcav]

:shock: that is amazing! You would have to get sore wrists, right?

[Todd]

Nope 8)

Never had any hand or wrist problems, thank god!

The movement looks funny, but i'm using minimal tension/effort.

I'll have to make some more videos soon. You'd be amazed see
how certain things are easier with the pick.
Well, if you're a good picker, that is. :o

Toddk

[NGiorgio]

Just checked out your video. Wow. I would imagine it to be more difficult to play that way. However you make it look rather easy. Did you ever play conventional fingerstyle, without the pick?

[MegaBrawn]

Very interesting technique. Truly impressive. To my knowledge, I recall that Japanese guitarist Kazumi Watanabe uses a pick/finger-style hybrid as well.

[Todd]

Really? How could i find more info about him?

I'll try Google, but sometimes the Japanese guys are hard
to locate.
I'd love to see someone else doing this stuff.

Todd

[steve v]

Todd,

What kind of recording equipment were you using for the Choro, and where did you record it? The sound quality is extremely good, probably the best I've heard on material that somebody's uploaded, and somehow I'm pretty certain I wouldn't get the same results plugging a microphone into my home computer...

[Todd]

Thanks very much for the compliment.

I've spent many years studying recording techniques, along side of
my playing studies.

Here's my set up.

Pentium 3 , 1 ghz processor. 512 ram Windows ME.

2 Shure SM-81 small condensors.

2 Monster cable Studio pro 1000 microphone cable

Aphex model 1100 Thermionics Stereo tube mic preamp

M-Audio Delta 1010 Soundcard.

Emagic Logic Audio Platinum audio/midi software.

Plugins used on the guitar sound were;

Universal Audio Powered Plugins Realverb, for the room ambience.

Universal Audio Powered Plugins EX-1 for slight EQ

i am recording in an ordinary basement room.
Its carpeted, dry , and quiet.
I have my PC tower in the adjacent room to kill the drive/fan noise.

The mics were set in an X/Y stereo configuration.

The mics are very close to the guitar. So close, that my right
hand sometimes hits the mics by accident. :oops:
This proximity sounds great, but you have to play VERY cleanly.

Any squeaks or creeks are gonna scream bloody murder.

Recording at 24 bit, 44 khz.


Hope that helps give you some idea as to what goes into making
a decent home recording.

Cheers!
Toddk

[portlandgreg2]

Todd,

Really nice recordings. Could you comment about the equipment you use, how many mics, mic placement, etc. I'm sure others are curious also.

Thanks.

[portlandgreg2]

I see Steve V beat me to the punch! Thanks for the response.

[Axel]

Todd those are some great recordings. I have always pondered with the idea of using this technique on my electric (without the up stroke pick) to avoid having to drop and pick up a pick between tremolo and regular pick playing.
I will definetely give this technique a try now!

Brett Garsed, a great rock/fusion/jazz electric player also combines pick and fingerstyle in his playing. Although he uses it mostly for colour etc while doing scales. It's still quite interesting, he has a great instructional video.
Good luck with your DVD, I will be on the lookout for it.

[Todd]

Hey, yeah, i'm familiar with Brett. The first time i heard him was
on a record called Centrifugal Funk.
It was him Shawn Lane, and Frank Gambale.
Lots of shreddin goin down :twisted:

The hardest thing about my tremelo technique is, using the pinky,
and getting it to match M and A in volume.

Good luck, and let me know if you have any questions about
tremelo or arpegios or whatever. I've got some great sequences
for arpegios.
That's awesome that you're gonna try the tremelo. I'm glad my
video could help you believe in CAN be done. :lol:
Toddk

[Axel]

You're absolutely right, the pinky is the hardest part.
I have a question actually. Is your nail length in the pinky similar to your nail length in the ring finger? or is it longer or shorter?
I wish I had picked up on this earlier :twisted: For now I'm just playing some tremolo pieces and studies with this new method but if you have any suggestions my ears(eyes hehe) are all yours :D

[Todd]

Yeah, my pinky nail is a bit longer. I dont know if that really helps
so much or not. It depends, some people only use nail, others use
a mix with flesh. Some more flesh than nail, others more nail than flesh.

As daunting as it seems, in order to do the tremelo, and also to grab 4 strings at the same time in chords, you have to whip the pinky into shape.
You'll need it for rasgueados too.
Its not so bad really.

The other useful technique i found crosses over well is sweep picking.
But not necesarily in the Frank Gambale way.

Its fragmented into smaller sweeps. Mostly 2 and 3 string sweeps combined
with M and A.
For instance,
Try playing the string sequence- 4321234
Play it -- pik down pik down, M A M pik up, pik down.
It may seem impossible to get control of this at first, but trust me,
it can be done.
I'll have to make some more videos this weekend! :P
Let me know how you do with this sequence.
Toddk

[M. Stephenson]

Nice video Todd.

I have seen Steve Howe play this way.

I have also seen Steve Hackett often pretend like he is holding a pick when he plays his classical pieces, but he freely goes back and forth between fake pick and normal CG style.

I used to do a lot of pick work and I tried this style, but found normal CG playing style to be easier. However, I do not think that I will ever mach the speed, crispness and fluidity of the fast runs that I was able to acheive when using a pick.

[NGiorgio]

Good point regarding the speed obtained when playing with a pick, M.Stephenson. I too, played plectrum guitar. First learned how to play that way. I developed excellent speed as well. I suspect that most of us would not be able to match the speed available to us with a pick, playing conventional fingerstyle. However, here are some extremely fast classical and flamenco players out there.

Why do we need that speed? Is it really necessary to have that much speed in conventional fingerstyle playing? I would think that Todd's hybrid style would take an enormous amount of effort. To get the pinky to work as well as the other fingers could be very difficult for most players. Also the right hand index finger, a strong finger is eliminated from use. What would be the advantage of this style? Perhaps Todd could explain why he chose this method of playing.

A while ago, I came across a player who incorporates the RH pinky with classical technique. I believe his name is Charles Postlewaite. He has a method available. Anyone familiar with this method?

[Todd]

Its kinda hard to explain. I started playing when i was a child, using
fingerstyle. My dad was a flamenco guitarist.
In my teens, i got into electric guitar and started picking.
I got obsessed with speedpicking and sweeping for a while.
Then i saw Danny Gatton. He was playing like Wes Montgomery
with Chet Atkins shoved up his butt. Amazing pick fingerstyle!!
I became obsessed with that. All the while keeping some nylon
chops together. The hybrid picking started to bleed into my nylon
string playing. OVer the years, i managed to conqueur most any
technique needed for flamenco and classical, with the pick in my hand.
It wasnt really planned. I just kept fiddling with it, and it seem to
come natural to me.
And, as mentioned in this thread, i feel i get the best of both worlds.
The separation and polyphony of fingers, with the speedy fluid
lines of the pick.
THE END
Toddk

[thaddeusb]

todd,
very well done. i am thoroughly impressed. i was especially impressed with the zapateado. Those solo concerts arent too far away

thad