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Post by hushnel on Oct 27, 2022 10:53:39 GMT -5
I play classical guitar a couple times a day. At least an hour, often more. I’ll even pick up a bass, a good idea since I’m primarily a bass player. I usually pick new tunes that are a challenge. Usually having to learn new chords and figering positions. Stuff I can’t initially play. I don’t expect to ever nail it but, oddly enough I eventually do. The most recent being Chan Chan by the Buena Vista Social Club. Took a while but I got it, not so much chord challenging, rather right hand fingering. I’m persistant. If I do strum it’s kind of a Flamico style. All from the hand my elbow barely functions and the bicep doesn’t work.
I’m not great at guitar but can hold my own on bass. I’ve been told twice by medical professionals that I would never play an instrument again, paralizeing my right arm when I broke my neck and crushing my left hand in a motorcycle accedent, Doc told me I’d be lucky if I’ll ever be able to pick up a pencil and sign my name. I sent him a video link of me sitting in with Albert Castiglia a few months after my last appointment with him.
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DrKev
Wholenote
It's just a guitar, it's not rocket science.
Posts: 418
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Post by DrKev on Oct 28, 2022 3:42:59 GMT -5
If you don't need to strum, don't strum. If you do need to strum (i.e. it's a required for a piece of music you want to play) as a guitar teacher I recommend strumming from the wrist and NOT from the elbow. I explain better here in words than I can typing...
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Oct 28, 2022 9:13:45 GMT -5
Lennon was a wrist strummer par excellence. Look here. Sorry  |
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Post by hushnel on Oct 28, 2022 13:19:35 GMT -5
Yeah, I can strum a bit from my fingers, I have about and inch and a half of sideways wrist movement but zero rotation, the radial head is fused at the elbow. I can also pluck the strings with the 5 fingers of the right hand letting the pinky slide off the E and B, or hit any of the other single finger two string options, depending on what I want from the chord, or where I want to emphasize the strings of the chord. It actually gives me a bit of a unique sound that is pleasing to the ear.
I’ve nobody but myself to blame. This injury goes way back to the mid 70s, I fell off a 6 story building onto blacktop. My legs took most of the damage but the right arm took a beating as well.
I’ve pretty much evolved from the immortality of youth, the big plus is I’ve been sober since January 7th 1994. Yeah, I’m one of those, but a very lucky one.
When I started this musical journey I was 7 or 8 years old, the orchestra was part of the Duval County Public School system . I had no choice of instrument, the Orchestra leader put me on the violin. I did mention to him that I was left handed, he smiled and told me that was a good thing as all the real work would be on the fingerboard and my weak hand just had to deal with bowing the 4 strings. Seemed logical to me, it still does. We had a bit of a falling out, he had me at second chair when he discovered I couldn’t read music, I kinda could, I could read it but not at performance speed. Back when I was first learning to read I was diagnosed with dyslexia, It still gets in my way from time to time. I can read OK but the symbols and speed required to sight read just never worked.
I’m one lucky guy, I can still play and do it well. If I had spent most of my life playing lefty I’d be done long ago. it’s six of one a half dozen of the other, what is considered a right handed instrument, in my experience, is actually perfect for us lefties. the strong left hand is on the fret board were most of the work is done, the right hand holding a bit of plastic and dealing with 6 strings, in my case fingering those 6 strings.
My thinking on this subject is that the playing style of the guitar has changed from those first early instruments, when a good bit of right hand finger dexterity was used on the string.
Wow, John must have really loved her.
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Post by markfromhawaii on Oct 31, 2022 22:11:52 GMT -5
Wow, John must have really loved her. Until the halfway point I thought maybe she was going to sing it straight for once. But I was wrong.😆 Sorry. |
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Post by bluzcat on Nov 1, 2022 6:09:18 GMT -5
We will now engage in mandatory clapping for Yoko and crew…🤣
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Post by funkykikuchiyo on Nov 2, 2022 10:01:20 GMT -5
I'm a lefty playing righty too, and I've always had the same problem. Same with picking. My playing has tended to use my left hand as a crutch, and I'll often use hammer-ons/pull-offs to work around being able to pick cleanly. It seems to be more intuitive for righties. I've tended to use a sort of compound picking where I use my fingers along with a pick and for some people it might seem like a more advanced method, but for me I think it is yet another crutch. If I could have gotten a good grove with strumming I probably wouldn't have adopted that style.
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Post by hushnel on Nov 2, 2022 15:46:13 GMT -5
My route was a good bit different, I started with the bow in my hight hand, so no strumming, then with the bass, though initially also a bow, when I got that first Famus semi acoustic bass I used my fingers, starting with two finger. Over the years I got all my fingers working for me. At the finger board I use 4 fingers, on the the bass and on guitar I use all five on the strings.
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