John Scofield
I watched a Frank Gambale instructional video the other day: Monster Licks and Speed Picking. Aside from a strange captivation by his attire, I found it mostly worthless. He moves around all his scale and arpeggio shapes so that every string change is picked by sweeping, never alternate. It's a clever idea, but I'm not interested at the moment. And it's hell on the left hand.
One of the special features on the DVD was this John Scofield performance:
I've heard plenty of Scofield's music before, but this was the first time I realized how similar my approach to improvising is to his. Sparse, bluesy lines in a jazz setting, very melodic, lots of microbends, dirtier tone than the typical jazz guitar. I shall listen to more of this fellow with my new discovery in mind.
Anyone have favorite Scofield albums or YouTube videos? I've heard A Go Go, Uberjam, and Out Louder (with MMW). My usual strategy is to throw every one of an artist's albums in a playlist on Rhapsody and hit shuffle, but he has about 50.
K (14 Mar 2008 at 8:41pm)
Hi, I am a professional guitarist, and have been since age 15 (I'm 36 now) I've never worked a "real" job, and never will! I live in LA, and do very well here. I stumbled onto your blog when I was looking for a copy of Vai's 30 hr workout for a student of mine. Anyway, I just want to say that you are on the right track. Being a musician isn't always an easy road, but if you put the time in, it will certainly pay off. It did for me.
Cheers
K
ps-a friendly tip; I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss Gambale's picking technique (I call him "Gum ball" lol). I know he's a goof ball and all, but his picking approach has it's uses
Jason (15 Mar 2008 at 5:08am)
Hey Joe, I put a Scofield/Pat Martino video on my blog last year. A 14 minute jam between the two of them - you have to check it out.
Joe (21 Mar 2008 at 6:52am)
> I wouldn’t be too quick to dismiss Gambale’s picking technique
Perhaps I should have used milder language. You're right, I shouldn't dismiss it, and I don't really intend to. I actually use the economy picking technique all the time, sweeping across adjacent strings every chance I get.
I only have a problem with his approach of contorting all the left-hand fingerings to eliminate the need to ever alternate pick across strings. Like I said, it is a clever idea, and like you said, it does have its uses. But learning to employ it is a big hurdle on a path I'm not currently trying to take.
So I suppose there's a chance I'll come back to this technique later, but for now, I'm more focused on other things. Thanks for sticking around for a bit after stumbling.