"Bluegrass: We Eat Our Own!"
06.27.2006- CST
"Bluegrass: We Eat Our Own!"
Well salt me down for an anchovy. We had a rehearsal last week over at the lovely Gibson offices/rehearsal space in NYC, and I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO BRING THE DIGITAL CAMERA. They have Liberace's rhinestone-encrusted piano in the lobby. They have wacky video game (Guitar Hero) where you "play" a little plastic guitar joystick and you work your way up through small clubs where they actually PAY you (unlike real life), and you get booed for playing clams (like real life!). They have climate-controlled rooms filled to the rafters with shiny new guitars. Why they even have FANCY UPSCALE SODA POP in the fridge of the Artist's Lounge. I know you'd like to see pictures of that, wouldn't ya, huh? Huh? I had a soda that was some sort of grapefruit type thing, with an aftertaste of Bactine(TM). I rehydrated AND disinfected my shaving nicks all at the same time. They call that "multi-tasking" here in the Big Crapple, word up y'all!
Wow, I'm thirsty again just thinking about it. Powerful thirsty.
The facility is really cool -- it's on the site of the old Hit Factory recording studio. A lot of history in that building. The great Gibson folks, couldn't do enough for us. Thanks, guys!!!!
We've been rehearsing like mad for our July tour (dates above). Check out our new show print posters that we had made:
We have a bunch of brand new originals to teach our band, and since Brandi sings most of the lead vocals, the majority are in "girl keys" like B-flat, which means I'm playing mandolin in closed positions, as there are virtually NO open strings I can play. So I'm getting a real fretboard education.
Over the past couple months, since I got this lovely Gibson F-5 Fern, I've discovered that I really like having the pickguard on the mandolin. Having the pickguard on there is a very big part of the tone -- it keeps me from resting my right hand on the top. I rest my knuckles on the pickguard instead of bracing my fingers against the wood, which allows the top to vibrate more, and it makes it easier to pick in the "sweet spot," over the fretboard extension.
It tends to sound harsh when picked below this point, closer to the bridge...
...which is a subtlety that was largely lost on me with other mandolins
Playing the Fern in the "Man of Constant Sorrow" play...how'd it get so dang GREASY??
I also found initially that I was hitting the treble side fretboard extension with the pick (my last mandolin had a scalloped fretboard extension), but discovered that the Fern seems to respond best to hitting the strings with the very tip of the pick. So my playing technique has adjusted, and the clicking noise of the pick hitting the wood and/or fret wire on the extension has stopped for the most part, because I'm holding it closer to the tip.
Something else I've been using to allow the soundbox to vibrate even more freely: a Tone Guard. It's a wire "screen" that clamps onto the back with small, non-abrasive leather pads, and is designed to isolate the back of the instrument from the player, which allows the both the top and back to produce more volume, and deepens the tone.
You can test the concept right now without having one: face a wall about a foot or two away to allow the sound to bounce back directly to you, and play your instrument normally. Now hold your instrument by the neck so that the back is a couple of inches away from you and try playing -- notice the difference. The only problem is sometimes my shirt or jacket buttons get caught in it...I've actually stripped a couple clean off my shirt. And Brandi doesn't do my sewing for me ("NOT in my job description!" she says).
The funny thing is this mandolin has sort of "trained" me to play in a certain way, and the results have been pretty impressive...experimenting with strumming and chopping styles and pick position has been a much quicker process. I've learned quite a bit about producing tone from having the Fern, techniques that I'm using on my other instruments as well.
Let´s talk a little bit about picks. The vast majority of guitarists use a flatpick, but it wasn't always so. Many of the early guitar players in bluegrass and old-time string band music -- Lester Flatt, Carter Stanley, and Charlie Monroe among them -- used the combination of a thumbpick and a single fingerpick on the index finger.
...Bermuda shorts not included!
If you ever see old films of Flatt & Scruggs, watch Lester's right hand: he picks down on a bass string with the thumbpick, then strums down across all the strings with the thumbpick, and then hits the upstroke strum with the fingerpick. The result is a "bum-diddy, bum-diddy" freight train type rhythm. Whenever he does the "Flatt G-run," he just drags his thumb straight down the bass strings (NO up and down picking) while his left hand takes care of the hammer-ons, and pull-offs. Trust me, it's much tougher than it looks!
In the years since, players like George Shuffler, Bill Napier, Doc Watson, Clarence White, and Tony Rice, among many others, have inspired countless players to develop their flatpicking technique. The flatpick is a simple tool that lends itself well to both rhythm and lead playing...easy to use, but actually tough to really master. So much depends on your grip, how loose or firmly you pinch it between your finger and thumb, how close to the tip you hold it, etc.
Finding the perfect pick is sometimes like finding the "perfect" instrument -- you have to try a lot of them until you find the one that is perfect FOR YOU. For many bluegrass pickers, the ultimate material for picks is real tortoiseshell, largely unavailable because many tortoise and turtle species are on the U.S. endangered and threatened species lists, and are banned from trade by CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). That just helped to give tortoiseshell something of a legendary status.
Not everybody likes them, though. I asked my buddy James Alan Shelton, lead guitarist for Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys, what he uses: "I think it is about a .092 mm [teardrop shape]. I keep a piece of 400 grit sandpaper glued to the underside of my guitar strap to sand off any rough edges that may cause a pick to drag. I like for a pick to be smooth on the edge, that's why I can't use tortoiseshell picks. They get a rough edge and I feel like they hold me back. It's like trying to play with a file!"
Now I've never had that problem, but then I don't bear down as hard as James does. And I certainly can't play like he can, holy moly!
There's an incredible variety of materials used for picks, nearly all are composed of man-made materials of some type or another, though you can get picks made from bull horn, stone, brass, recycled ATM cards, or any crazy old thing. The standard pick is made out of cellulose, the most common shape is the "teardrop."
"Teardrop" shape: Gibson pick, "clown vomit" pick
Some players, myself included, prefer a larger "rounded triangle" shape.
"Rounded triangle" pick
Bluegrass musicians seem to use thicker picks than electric guitarists. If you use too thin of a pick, you'll notice a percussive clicking along with the notes, which is the sound of the pick flexing and slapping against the strings, sort of like the playing cards kids used to attach to their bike frames, so they would make a slapping sound on the spokes.
If you want to experiment, try a pick with a thickness between .8 mm and 1 mm. Or, if the picks you use come in the usual fast-food configuration, start with a "medium," and see if you can SuperSize your way up to a "heavy," which will give you a much fatter tone. Gibson makes their "Wedge" rounded triangle picks in both Medium and Heavy: grab a few, take a test drive, and see what you think.
Gibson "Wedge" Rounded Triangle pick
I would caution that if you don't use tortoiseshell now, I wouldn't recommend getting used to them. Needless to say, turtles shouldn't be slaughtered and harvested for guitar picks. That said, real Atlantic Hawksbill tortoiseshell has a certain hardness that helps create a crisp, clear, warm, "organic" tone, and since it's so hard, a slightly thinner tortoise pick will have the same response as a thicker celluloid one. Shell picks also create a nice click that really defines your notes. If you simply MUST get a tortoiseshell pick, you can legally recycle the material used on jewelry and knickknacks from the first half of the 20th century. I have picks fashioned from pieces of Hawksbill shell found on vintage makeup cases, and they never leave the house except under armed guard (or underarm guard).
Real Hawksbill tortoiseshell picks
If you decide it's worth destroying a collectible to make a guitar pick or two, you'll need a fine-tooth coping saw, files, sandpaper, and a vise to achieve the desired shape, thickness, and flatness...or, if that's too much work, be prepared to pay a premium for someone else to do it for you. There's a cat that shows up every year at IBMA with a shoulder bag full of them in all different shapes, and believe me they ain't cheap! But once you go shell, you may never go back, so be forewarned.
Do some research and you will be amazed at how many modern picks on the market compare themselves to tortoiseshell as part of their sales pitch. I think I must have tried them all, and they ain't even close. I thought I was S.O.L. until someone hepped me to Tortis faux tortoiseshell picks. They were originated by luthier John Greven, but are now made by the Red Bear Trading Company in Nevada.
They're made from a polymerized animal protein, a byproduct of the dairy industry, and are very close chemically to real shell; you could look at it as cultured turtle shell. They claim that people can't tell them apart from the real thing in blindfold taste tests, and I'm here to tell you that they live up to the hype. Last summer Dave Skowron at Red Bear was kind enough to Priority Mail me a couple, with the "speed bevel" edge that mimics a broken-in feel, and I've been using them on stage and in the studio exclusively for the last year, and folks they're fabulous! Virtually indistinguishable from turtle shell, better than bull horn or any other organic material I've used. I recommend them highly.
Tortis pick
You can buy them at the Gibson Showcase retail store at Opry Mills in Nashville: http://www.gibsonshowcase.com/bluegrass/index.html
...or through First Quality Music Supply in Louisville, KY, one of Gibson's biggest distributors: http://www.fqms.com
Once you've got your plectrum situation sorted out, try out this crosspicking guitar intro/turnaround to “Rank Strangers’ that I promised to show you last week. Thanks again to Mr. James Alan Shelton, who transcribed this for his excellent crosspicking instructional book Clinch Mountain Guitar.
The arrows with the "H" above 'em indicate hammer-ons. It's in 3/4 time, in the key of F (the key the Stanley Brothers originally recorded it, so you will need to capo at the 5th fret and play out of a "C" position. Have fun!
|-----------|-----------------H----||----------0-----------0--|
|-----------|-----H-----------^----||------1-----------1------|
|-----------|-----^-----0---0---2--||--0-----------0----------|
|-----------|---0---2--------------||-------------------------|
|---3---3---|----------------------||-------------------------|
|-----------|----------------------||-------------------------|
|-----H---------0-----------0--|-----------0---------H--------|
|-----^-----1-----------1------|-------1-------1-----^--------|
|---0---2-----------2----------|---0---------------0---2---0--|
|------------------------------|------------------------------|
|------------------------------|------------------------------|
|------------------------------|------------------------------|
|----------------------------------|---0-----------------|
|-----H----------------------------|---1-----------------|
|-----^----------------------------|---0------0----------|
|---0---2---0-------2---0----------|---2----------3------|
|---------------3-----------2---3--|---------------------|
|----------------------------------|---------------------|
|-----H-1------1----------|-------------------------------|
|-----^-1------1----------|-----H---------1-----------1---|
|----0--2------0------0---|-----^-----0-----------0-------|
|---------------------3---|---0---2-----------2-----------|
|-------------------------|-------------------------------|
|-------------------------|-------------------------------|
|-------------------------------|---------------------||
|-----H---------1-----------1---|---------------------||
|-----^-----0-----------0-------|---------------------||
|---0---2-----------2-----------|---------------------||
|-------------------------------|---3-----------------||
|-------------------------------|---------------------||
While we're talking about James Shelton, I should mention that he has an instrumental CD on Rebel Records called "Half Moon Bay," and a new compilation CD out on his own Sheltone label (as opposed to TortoiseSheltone?) called Gospel Guitar. It has most all of the gospel songs he's recorded on his solo projects down through the years, and it's a wonderful example of his fretboard wizardry. Of course most anything he puts his .092 mm McCabe's plectrum to is pretty amazing, but I admit I may be just a little biased...
You can find these two CD's, along with a lot of other examples of James' fine musicianship, here: http://www.jamesalanshelton.com/new_page_3.htm
Talk atcha again soon...y'all come back now, hear? Buddy
