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Author Topic:  Changing how I play
Bob Hoffnar


From:
Austin, Tx
Post  Posted 9 Nov 2017 3:55 pm    
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So I have been making some changes in my playing. My gigs are different in Texas and I am adjusting. PLus I am always trying to grow and trying new things.

#1. I am playing a LeGrande III D10 so no cabinet drop. I am tuning straight up. At first it was driving me crazy but now it seems like the way to go. I need to play allot of 3 note chords in the music I play around here. I still hear in pure just intervals but I have learned how to accept this basic flaw in tonal harmony.

#2. I dropped the 3rd finger pick. Now I'm playing standard 2 finger picks and a thumb pick.

#3. I am learning how to play country pedalsteel and stay within the limits of the idiom at least while I'm on stage with a country band. Somebody calls Green Snakes you better know what to do. I still have a long way to go learning the vocabulary but it has been super fun doing it.
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Jim Cohen


From:
Philadelphia, PA
Post  Posted 9 Nov 2017 4:11 pm    
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Bob, I'm curious why you decided to drop the third fingerpick?
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Bob Hoffnar


From:
Austin, Tx
Post  Posted 9 Nov 2017 4:47 pm    
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I was experimenting so I took it off and never missed it. I found more uses for my third finger with the pick off. Muting, harmonics and my basic hand shape feels more natural now. I would put it right back on if I needed to play 4 note chords though.
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Glenn Demichele


From:
(20mi N of) Chicago Illinois, USA
Post  Posted 9 Nov 2017 6:40 pm    
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I'm tuning straight up again, for the third time, but this time it's sticking. Helps loads if there's a piano in the band too.
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Damir Besic


From:
Nashville,TN.
Post  Posted 9 Nov 2017 7:25 pm    
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I've been tuning 440 straight up my whole life ... got a hold f Basic C6 course by Buddy where he used 3 finger picks, so I start doing the same thing... recently I thought about dropping the third pic and go back to two...
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John Scanlon


From:
Jackson, Mississippi, USA
Post  Posted 9 Nov 2017 8:05 pm    
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I use only two FPs, but that's just because that's how everyone said it's always been done. No true logic to that. I've always wondered why most of us limit ourselves to just 3-note chords and only 3 fingers when we have five. Makes no sense. Finger style guitarists use 4 fingers. I know Joe Wright uses 3 FPs. I bet Bobbe, who used none, used more than 2 fingers. Why do as the banjoists do?
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Paul Stauskas


From:
DFW, TX
Post  Posted 9 Nov 2017 10:10 pm    
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Love these kind of posts / updates!

Interestingly, I am playing with one Texas group now though probably a pretty different situation from Bob H. I am never striking three strings at the same time to form a chord (three-note chord) though I will arpeggiate a chord. So mainly single note lines and arpeggios and two-note chords. I am wearing three finger picks but never use the ring finger pick! Still using tempered tuning.
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Bob Hoffnar


From:
Austin, Tx
Post  Posted 10 Nov 2017 12:36 am    
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Paul, Glad you are finding work.

I got another level of focused on tuning. Started getting gigs playing microtonal drone music for a few different composers and realized my intonation playing country could use some work. I stopped listing for beats and frequencies. Now I listen for consensus and don’t worry about my intervals being pure. I got the legrande with the anti detuner (which really works) to make sure if I sounded pitchy that it was me and not the steel. I’m also trying to know what I’m going to play ahead of time and trying to play more simple and concise.

It all comes down to what I can hear and my ability to deal with it. Playing in tune is maybe the hardest thing.

The Emmons legrande III has been a game changer. I’m thinking that in a year or so when I feel more comfortable with the straight up tuning thing I’ll end up back with a push pull though.
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Pete Burak

 

From:
Portland, OR USA
Post  Posted 10 Nov 2017 10:33 am    
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Bob Hoffnar wrote:
I was experimenting so I took it off and never missed it. I found more uses for my third finger with the pick off. Muting, harmonics and my basic hand shape feels more natural now. I would put it right back on if I needed to play 4 note chords though.


And you can still use that finger to pick strings as needed.
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Mickey Adams


From:
Bandera Texas
Post  Posted 10 Nov 2017 7:42 pm    
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Smile.. Come visit Bandera Bob..
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