Jimmy Bruno: No Nonsense Jazz Guitar: Picking
Last week, I wrote about Jimmy Bruno's approach to 7th chords on his instructional video, "No Nonsense Jazz Guitar." The other valuable concept I picked up was his approach to picking.
I have long been a heavy user of strict economy picking, a combination of alternate and sweep picking that requires careful planning of picking directions. Whenever you're about to change strings, pick in the direction of the new string. All notes on the same string are played with alternate picking. Those are the only rules.
This method is easy to employ on predictable lines that change strings frequently. A three note per string ascending run would be picked down-up-down, down-up-down, etc. A two note per string descending run would be picked down-up, down-up, etc. Just pick towards the new string when changing and alternate when not.
The tough part is looking ahead to the next string change on less predictable or improvised lines. If you're about to play nine notes on one string before switching, the first note must be picked in a direction such that the last is picked towards the new string. Worse, when you're improvising, you usually don't know how many notes you're about to play on the next string, so it's impossible to know which way to pick the first note. I just make my best guess and keep playing.
Jimmy Bruno's approach solves this problem. His strategy is the opposite of mine. When he changes strings, the first note of the new string is picked away from the previous string. So there's no more looking ahead to the next string change.
The only disadvantage is you end up doing a lot of what I call "inside alternate picking." This happens when the notes before and after a string change are picked away from the next string and away from the previous string, respectively. I find "outside alternate picking" more comfortable and effective.
For example, try playing a down stroke on the first string and an up stroke on the second string and repeat as fast as you can. That's inside alternate. I find outside alternate much easier: pick up on the first string and down on the second.
All my thoughts that inside alternate can't be used with fast lines were put to rest by Jimmy's playing. He plays like a damn hummingbird, giant sweep arpeggios and lightning-fast scales everywhere.
So what do I do now? I don't want to change my entire picking style to fit this technique. I think my best option is to keep the skills I already have with outside alternate economy picking and incorporate Jimmy's style into my improvising. I'll make time to get my inside alternate up to speed, now that I know it's possible. Then I can use it whenever I'm forced to, whenever the faster outside alternate fails me.
Tony Hogan (20 Nov 2007 at 1:15am)
I'm 51, when I was about 17 I studied with a guy called Don Andrews, he'd been playing for 44 years at that time. He always taught the down up approach to most players but he looked at the technique I had developed naturally and said 'don't change, it works', what I was doing was picking a down stroke on whatever string I landed on and it was natural for me to do that and he felt that it was better to follow what is natural on condition that it is sensible and doesn't slow you up. I reckon if you're after a speedy technique, practice bluegrass tunes, and just playing them to a decent tempo will automatically correct a technique because your hand will tell you the best pathway. A lot of players might probably disagree with me but it's important not to place technique above music, a lot of supposedly great players do this and their music sounds aweful. The new players play very differently with their fretting hand, more expansive, this doesn't suit everyone because everybodies hands are structured differently.
I like your blog
Joe (29 Nov 2007 at 1:18am)
I agree with you about keeping the music above technique. I've put my picking technique through big changes a few times in the last 5 years, and I always kept this in mind. I found the best method was to take a little time to focus on the technique, then forget about it and get back to the music until I thought my technique needed work again.
Joe Starr (27 Nov 2010 at 1:38pm)
Hi Joe: Your website is the best that I've seen yet!
I'm originally a pianist [graduate with an M.M. degree from Juilliard].Years back I heard Segovia in concert and was blown away. I began serious study on classical guitar to the point that I played on the intermediate level. My teacher played a Johnny Smith record and I couldn't believe what I heard. His technique was absolutely flawless! I purchased an electric guitar and bought books on jazz guitar . However, I couldn't find a book that explained a logical picking procedure. You solved the problem in your first paragraph on the proper picking technique by Jimmy Bruno.
Thank you ever so much!
P.S. I can relax now that the problem is solved!
Joe Starr
Joe (27 Nov 2010 at 1:51pm)
Hi Joe,
Thanks for dropping by. The truth is, there are a variety of possible logical picking procedures. I'm not aware of any that are considered "proper" in the music I play. One approach is the "economy picking" style that I use, the one outlined at the beginning of this post. Another is Jimmy Bruno's which has a subtle change, described at the end of this post. Another is simply strict alternate picking, with downstrokes on strong beats and upstrokes on weak beats. Great guitarists have built careers on all three of these approaches, so my best advice is to pick one you like for now and develop the rest of your playing in that context. You can always change or augment your picking skills later. I did.
Joe
Joe Starr (25 May 2012 at 8:01am)
Joe: Thanks for your response.
At this point in time,the problem that I have is logical picking where chords are included in guitar arrangements.I like the old standards [Jimmy Van-heusen,
Cole Porter,tunes. . etc.].What I usually do is write piano arrangements for guitar. This results in melody-chords interjected with chord or scale fills.I usually get hung up on the proper pick direction to use just before playing a chord. Do you have any suggestions? Joe:I want to thank you for your explanation of the Jimmy Bruno picking technique. It works! Your website is very informative in every way! Thank you so much for your generous sharing of your knowledge with all guitar players.
Joe Starr
Joe (25 May 2012 at 9:32am)
Ooo, that can be tricky. My suggestion is to always play interjected chords with down-strums. Unless you're funk- or folk-influenced sound with lots of down-up strumming, just strum down any time you want to hit more than one string with your pick. I'm sure there are other ways of doing it, but in a jazz setting, I'll adjust my single-note picking directions as needed to allow every chord to be strummed downward. Watch some Joe Pass footage when he's using a pick, you'll probably see the same thing.