Pick Blocking a Standard C6 Grip

Fay Reid · From: Orono, Ontario, Canada

What, if any, is the most efficient technique for pick blocking the C6 standard grip, say, strings 5,6, and 8 when moving to the inversion above or below? When moving to the inversion above, string 6 is not dampened by the new position. If moving to the inversion below, string 8 becomes the problem. Actually, any split-finger inversion presents the same situation.
Thanks in advance for your responses.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Instead, I'd use palm-blocking or left-hand (lift the bar) blocking, whichever was easiest and fastest. Don't try to do all moves with one technique, but use the one that's most natural at the moment. A good player moves from one technique to the other seamlessly, without even thinking. (It's a matter of finding out what you're most comfortable with and what works best..for you!)

Jody Carver · From: KNIGHT OF FENDER TWEED

Donny
What do you think of pick blocking?? Just because I'm in the Hall of Fame doesnt make me know it all. There are many things many of us dont know and we can always learn from one another. Those were the words of Noel Boggs.

Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

I find myself pick blocking before I move to the next inversion and then I pick again when I get to the new chord I want to play. A way to practice that is to very slowly play each note of the chord 3 times with your hand in the chord grip:
Thumb on st 8 pick 3 times
and index on 6 pick 3 times
and middle on 5 pick 3 times

leave your hand in position and each of your picks on the strings ready to play at all times. Only move the finger currently engaging the string.

then play the chord cleanly and slowly 3 times.

I play each chord or note as a quarter note then a quarter note rest before moving to the next note or chord. Use a metronome to keep yourself honest.

If you are pick blocking right you shouldn't have the problem you posted.

That is assuming that I understand your question !

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Bob
upcoming gigs
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Fay Reid · From: Orono, Ontario, Canada

Asumming that all three strings are picked simultaneously.

Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

Fay,
When you play the chord you play all the strings at once of coarse. To get your hands together you need to practice and make sure each finger is happening. The best teaching system for getting your right hand together I have ever seen isJoe Wright's.
Joe doesn't post much these days on the forum but if you do what he teaches you will no longer have the problem you are talking about.

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Bob
upcoming gigs
My Website

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Okay, little lesson here for the less experienced, so seasoned players can scroll on down or bear with me, here. Pick-blocking is a technique where you deaden the strings (stop them from ringing) by getting the picks right back on the strings after they’re picked. It takes some force (it’s usually impractical to pick-block on soft, slow passages) and it’s best applied on faster stuff (for most of us). It’s a valuable technique that for some players comes hard, and those players may find other methods of blocking that simply work better.

In the example that Fay gave, he used the example of playing a 5, 6, & 8 grip, and then moving up to another grip (like 4, 5, & 6). Now, if the strings are pick-blocked properly, there’s little chance of the 8th string to keep ringing, since it would be effectively pick-blocked before you picked the 4, 5, & 6 grip. If the 8th is still ringing, then your pick-blocking technique just isn't what it should be. For some, that’s okay...that's what proper playing is all about - using what’s effective (for you). If there’s another way for you to execute a particular phrase effectively, don’t worry about using pick-blocking on it. It’s a valuable tool, but not a necessary skill for everyone to master, especially if you can accomplish the desired effect by using another technique.

This sort of answers Jody’s question, I feel it’s a valuable technique, but not a “must have” technique. There’s many great players who do a lot of pick-blocking, and many great players who’ve never bothered because they can accomplish the same thing in another way. As always, the “best” technique is the one that works best for you. In the end, what matters most is the sound, the music, and not exactly how you go about making it.

David Doggett · Posted 8 Aug 2006 7:15 am

In fast pick blocking while staying at the same inversion, as in Bob H's example, the act of blocking the previous chord while picking it again is essentially one act: the picks hit the strings (blocking them) and an instant latter you pull them off (picking the next chord). But in moving to another inversion it must be two acts: 1) block the previous chord, 2) move to the next inversion and pick the next chord. Thus, it can slow you down if you always have to pick-block before moving to a new inversion. But you can sometimes skip the block on the previous inversion by using behind-the-finger blocking. If you move the inversion up one string, as you pick the new string with your thumb pick, you let the back of your thumb block the lower string of the previous chord. If you move the inversion down one string, you block the previous top string with the back of your index finger (or whichever finger is the top one). If you move further than one string, you can use the heel of your thumb to block lower strings as you pick the next inversion (also, the tumb of your bar hand), and you can use your ring or pinky finger to block top stings. The main idea is that you develop a frame of mind where your fingers are blocking as many strings as possible at all times, and you just remove them temporarily to pick a note. Rather than think of picking then blocking, you think: block, pick, block. Fortunately, I had the long-time habit of doing this for playing acoustic blues. So when I took up steel, finger blocking came much easier than palm blocking. Playing old-style acoustic blues is a good way to get the feel of finger blocking.

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Student of the Steel: Zum uni, Fender tube amps, squareneck and roundneck resos, tenor sax, keyboards

[This message was edited by David Doggett on 08 August 2006 at 08:17 AM.]

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

I think David D. has the right idea - rather than think that you're going to play some notes and hopefully block some other ones before things get out of hand, you want to have a mental concept that you're only going to let a few, chosen notes peep out a little bit at a time. I came to it from playing loud electric rock guitar, but it's the same idea.

I also think that proper left-hand blocking come to bear - the tip of your finger extending beyond the bar chooses the limits of what the highest string that can ring is, and your left-hand thumb cuts off the bottom strings. You move the bar across the strings to control which set of strings can potentially ring, and your right hand only has to block the inside voices. In theory....

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