Picado apoyando technique

[Shroomy726]

Ok, I am still practicing my picado with rest strokes. I am progressing slowly, but i have one question. Is it usual that it is harder to play in the bass strings? I find it very easy to play the trebles, but when i go to the basses, there is some friction and I have to press harder. Any oppinions?

By the way, does anyone have a nice piece with good picado technique that can help me get better? Right now I am doing a simple chromatic scale all along the neck alternating the starting fingers i and m. I do this all along the neck and then back. I am also practicing the por arriba and por medio flamenco scales.

[M. Stephenson]

For technique I would recomend getting a flamenco piece that has some runs punctuated by some strumming. I find that going fluidily from runs to chords/strumming can be hard, as it often requires some adjustment in both hands. If to much hand adjustment is required, then a refinement in technique may be in order.

Playing the bass notes does take a little more energy. I also have found that hand position has a greater effect on tone in teh bass than in the trebble (as in getting a scratchy sound when I play sloppily)

Your comment about pressing the strings got me thinking. Though your choice of words may not have actually described your finger motion, there is a difference between pressing, pushing and pulling.

I prefer to think of the finger motion as pulling - a way of thinking I learned in Aikido. It is a little hard to grasp at first as it looks like pushing, but in spirit you are pulling your finger as if the string is already behind your finger, as if it were attached to the joint.

I will contemplate this pressing-pushing-pulling idea more tonight when I have a guitar in hand. It will be intersting to see my actual finger movements with these ideas in mind.

[Shroomy726]

Yes, when i meant pressing I was not referring to the finger movement. The way i am playing the string right now is by planting the fingernail and the fingertip and then kind of like pulling up and pushing down, perpendicular to the soundboard, at the same time. If you have any songs that involve runs and strumms i would be more than happy to practice with them. But i think that an exercise would be better. how do you practice the picado technique?