Unconventional Techniques?

[Tig]

What if any playing techniques do you use that are unconventional or an alternative to what is considered to be standard or normal? What do you experiment with? A unique vibrato style or string bends?
I don't try to over analyze this kind of thing, but am wondering what other's do. what others do.whatw

When I play without a pick, I notice over time that my finger picking has evolved into a strange and varied assortment of unconventional string attacks. It's hard to explain, and I have no video recording equipment to illustrate these actions.
Sometimes all four fingernails are brushed across the strings at 90 degrees for a simultaneous strum. For jazzier chords, the middle, ring and pinky pluck in a swirling fashion. Other times, finger picking kinda' happens in random or cyclic patterns. Finger and nail angles also vary quite a bit, as well as how soft or firmly the finger tips brush or attack the strings. It all depends on the sound I'm looking for. I've never seen anyone do some of these less common things, but I'm sure I'm not the first.

Also, for some bends, I pull the string down instead of bending upwards toward the heavier strings.

 

[Bookkeeper's Son]

I play acoustic quite percussively sometimes, and have noticed that, although I'm playing with a pick, I drag my index finger across the strings on the downstrokes. It's enough that I actually wear the corner of the fingernail down.

 

[Tig]

Well, I guess I'm an unconventional freak after all!

It is difficult to put into words what I'm talking about.

 

[Ch0jin]

Yeah I'm quite sure I do a few things that are unconventional (read:wrong). Particularly my finger playing style. I started trying to play with my fingers to learn a couple of Black Keys songs where you kind of flick two strings at the same time. Now I find I really prefer the more intimate connection with the guitar you get using your fingers, and have become noticeably more awkward when using a plectrum.

That said. I didn't, as I should have, "learn" finger style from someone who knows how to do it. I basically just kept moving my left hand about until it made the right sounds. Sometimes I'm just bashing my index fingernail into the strings like a pick, sometimes I'm strumming using a few fingers, often I have my hand in the same shape as if I was holding a pick, but I'm just using my index fingertip. When I look at proper finger style, I am very aware I'm doing it "Wrong", but I still enjoy my method.

 

[ROCKER IN PROGRESS]

I have noticed that I adjust the way I hold my pick for different sounds. I have found choking up on the pick can give you more of a meaty tone. If you hold it farther down and at an angle you get mor of a jazz sound you can also go deeper into the string for a twangy sound so I guess we all have different techniques.

 

[Commodore 64]

I like to use my fingers on an acoustic guitar too. I find myself using only my index finger sometimes, instead of finger picking with multiple fingers and thumb. I tend to do it by feeel too, somewhat random use of fingers/thumb, and string skipping. Also I like to strum percussively, and twist my wrist and my thumbnail strikes the body of the guitar, near the soundhole. My Taylor is getting some marks in teh finish because of it.

 

[R_of_G]

In younger days, I broke my left pinkie several times. As a result, I don't have nearly the control of it that I do the others on that hand.

It's not as much of an issue fretting chords as it is using that finger for playing riffs or solos and such. My playing technique thus involves a lot of sliding into notes with my ring finger that I might not have done if I could have fretted it with the pinkie.

Then again, with the influence Frisell has had on me, perhaps I'd have slid there anyway.

 

[Eric]

Nothing that I can think of for me. I figure I should know the rules of thumb before I start to break 'em.

 

[Commodore 64]

Nothing that I can think of for me. I figure I should know the rules of thumb before I start to break 'em.

The more you read about guitar greats, the more you find that they do stuff that may not be conventional. There's a reason, "By the book" types are the butt of many jokes. At some point you gotta take what you got, and go with it. Even if it means grabbing chords differently than Mel Bay said.

I'll tell you what, I wasted more time over-analyzing everything, from pick attack, to alternate/economy/downpicking, to where my thumb is on the neck, to whether I "cheat" o0n power chords. Paralysis by analysis. One of the most valuable things I've gotten out of lessons is my teacher doesn't get hung up on the mechanical stuff. He just tells me to play, however I can get the sound I want is OK. There's no test or reward for being able to economy pick 567 beats per minute.

 

[R_of_G]

I'll tell you what, I wasted more time over-analyzing everything, from pick attack, to alternate/economy/downpicking, to where my thumb is on the neck, to whether I "cheat" o0n power chords. Paralysis by analysis. One of the most valuable things I've gotten out of lessons is my teacher doesn't get hung up on the mechanical stuff. He just tells me to play, however I can get the sound I want is OK. There's no test or reward for being able to economy pick 567 beats per minute.

+1

There are certainly styles of guitar, classical being the most obvious, where technically precise playing would be advantageous, but for the vast majority of us playing some variety of western popular music, what makes the instrument so great is that from different hands come different sounds.

 

[Bookkeeper's Son]

There are some very notable self-taught musicians whose playing and/or composition is quite unique, in part because they never learned the "right" way to do it.

 

[Eric]

The more you read about guitar greats, the more you find that they do stuff that may not be conventional. There's a reason, "By the book" types are the butt of many jokes. At some point you gotta take what you got, and go with it. Even if it means grabbing chords differently than Mel Bay said.

I'll tell you what, I wasted more time over-analyzing everything, from pick attack, to alternate/economy/downpicking, to where my thumb is on the neck, to whether I "cheat" o0n power chords. Paralysis by analysis. One of the most valuable things I've gotten out of lessons is my teacher doesn't get hung up on the mechanical stuff. He just tells me to play, however I can get the sound I want is OK. There's no test or reward for being able to economy pick 567 beats per minute.

This is true, but it's all relative. I'm personally really sick of being brow-beaten and told that technique doesn't matter at all. It does, and most of the purveyors of the do-whatever method HAVE decent technique, but they just take it for granted. I'm in the process of quitting my current lessons because I just can't take it anymore: refusing to acknowledge that there are certain things you can do to help you play what is in your head.

I know it's more important to feel and play without understanding what you're doing than to have great theory knowledge and great technique and play crap that sounds bad and has no feeling. I get all of that. But guess what? When I finally got my teacher to show me how to hold the pick in a way that would help me play single-note lines better, it became easier!

I wish the anti-theory/anti-technique/anti-convention people would just settle down and understand that when you're really inexperienced, that crap does matter. Without it, it's like asking Oprah to go build a spacestation. She's not dumb, but she just isn't equipped to do it without some additional knowledge.

 

[Commodore 64]

I'm not anti-technique. But I'm not such a technique nazi that I think that one technique is the best for everybody. When I was in High School, I was a pole vaulter. I was clumsy. My vertical leap was terrible. My upper body strength was not stellar. But I got a scholarship to a Division I college because I did pretty well using other strengths. I am tall, I had good "air-mindedness". When I planted the pole in the box, I was always "under" on my take off, as such I bent the pole low as I inverted my body. This is not good technique. In fact it's very limiting and meant I broke a lot of poles. It also meant I would never go to the olympics, or even the NCAA championships or support myself and (future) family by pole vaulting. But it was good enough to get me to 17-feet and pay for half of college.

I hold a pencil differently than 99% of the people in the world. It's what works for me, and I can still write. Maybe I can't write like the world's number 1 calligrapher, but I can still write legibly and get my point across. So if I hold a pick a little different because it's more comfortable for me, I'm not going to stress out because Paul Gilbert doesn't hold his pick that way. That's fine. I don't aspire to be Paul Gilbert.

I'm playing with people in a band setting fairly regularly. They don't care how I hold the pick. They care that I play the right stuff at the right t ime, with the right dynamics. It's far more important to me to learn enough theory that I can figure out what key a song is in so that I can know where to solo, and what chords (or pieces of chords) to play at what time. They don't care if I play Gimme Shelter with my thumb dead-nuts on the middle of the back of the neck, or whether I squeeze the neck with my thumb on top. They just care that I keep the groove of the song going. I bolded that part for a reason. It's important. It's even more important than getting every single note to ring out clear.

So, I'll never support my family playing guitar. I'll never be as good as CeCe DeVille. But maybe I can get to 17-feet on the guitar, and that is more than enough for me.

 

[Eric]

So, I'll never support my family playing guitar. I'll never be as good as CeCe DeVille. But maybe I can get to 17-feet on the guitar, and that is more than enough for me.

I get you. I just think that a LOT of people end up rebelling against technique nazis so much that they end up being anti-technique nazis. I'm not cool with that, because you end up ignoring things that can be quite useful.

But whatever. It's all a hobby for both of us anyway, and while I have quite a few more thoughts on the topic, they're not really concise enough to bother with on a public forum.

 

[Tig]

I wish the anti-theory/anti-technique/anti-convention people would just settle down and understand that when you're really inexperienced, that crap does matter.

Wow, that certainly was not my intention with this thread and I sure that's not what you are implying here. In all honesty, I have not seen any serious anti-anything in this thread so far, which is really cool. I've seen a similar reaction to a thread on theory and didn't get why either. Also, the last thing I want is paralysis through analysis.

I was curious to see if others use playing techniques that are unique or different than what is considered normal. Depending on the style I'm playing, my technique ranges from "standardized" to "what-the-hell-is-that?"! What's cool is that it all works for me, otherwise I wouldn't use it.

I also think it is important to start with well taught techniques that prevent problems which can limit our abilities later. In the same light, this is art, and creativity is a critical component.

 

[Eric]

Wow, that certainly was not my intention with this thread and I'm sure that's not what you are implying here. In all honesty, I have not seen any anti-anything in this thread so far, which is really cool. I've seen a similar reaction to a thread on theory and didn't get why either.

Oh no no no. Sorry, I derailed the thread (as always). I was talking about the people who poo-poo method books and traditional techniques like strict alternate-picking or something because they're so uncool and uncreative. Not really talking about the unconventional techniques offered up in this thread. I guess my whole diatribe was really an overreaction to the overreaction I see sometimes when people de-emphasize traditional avenues of learning on the guitar.

I used to play acoustic exclusively, and I played it without a pick for many years. I wouldn't recommend that 'technique' however. It really hindered me severely. One thing I still do, however, is play the open D major chord backwards (by most people's standards). For me, the index finger goes on the high E string.

 

[Tig]

Wow, I stumbled across a player using a similar technique that I tried to describe, but he's much better than I!
This is from Summer NAMM, featuring new resonator type guitars from HeliArc.

 

[NWBasser]

Me too.

I mean, after playing pick pretty exclusively for so many years, I recently started messing around with various strange finger-picking and strumming "techniques" with some very nice results.

It's been pretty fun and has opened up a lot of new sounds.