There you go - from a professional.
Hey Hey by Big Bill Broonzy- 1:27 of pure unadultered acoustic blues. It’s a simple I IV V blues progression in E, but man he grooves it and fills in all the parts - do you hear how his big ol’ thumb just thumps the bass line, while he plays melodic stuff on the upper frets with his fingers? Sweet! I am thinking I may take a shot at figuring this out using my hybrid picking approach…
I’m still working on that Rev Peyton lesson someone posted earlier (I thought in this thread, but I can’t seem to find it), where he’s doing an alternating bass/octave line with the thumb + melody on the high strings. It looks simple but I have not yet achieved enlightenment and gotten my brain to work that way on even a really simple pattern. I can play piano with two hands and therefore two melodies, but I can’t play guitar with two hands and two melodies…yet. I expect a lightbulb will blink on if I keep trying, but it hasn’t happened. Yet.
Aha, it was this, in another thread.
One of the trickiest things about writing guitar advice on this message board is the range of experience, from beginners looking for advice to very experienced players. Squeegee, and for all of the rest of you for whom I’m going over stuff you already know, my deepest apologies.
Well, the big difference between playing bass and melody on piano and playing bass and melody on guitar is that on piano you’re telling your two hands to do different things. Most of us don’t have much problem holding the pot with one hand while stirring the pot with the other (though playing stride in the left and melody in the right is way harder than stirring the spaghetti sauce). Telling the different digits on one hand to do different things is way, way harder still. You do that in piano when you start on Bach three part inventions and fugues of 3, 4 or 5 voices, and it’s pretty damn hard.
So, back to guitar - what’s easy and what’s hard? The RH thumb is usually keeping straight quarters - that’s fairly easy. What’s hard is that it’s often jumping a string, fr’instance playing |(6) (4) (6) (4)| over and over. (Numbers in brackets refer to string numbers - in this case, the low ‘E’ and the ‘D’ string.) Because of the ergonomics of jumping over (5), you run a risk of accidentally ‘tinking’ the strings.
A useful exercise - take it painfully slowly with just the thumb. Water torture slowly. Metronome at 50 at the fastest. Plant i, m and a (index, middle and ring, respectively; ring is annular in Spanish, which is where this convention comes from.) on (3), (2) and (1) for now. Pluck (6) and take the thumb straight to (4). Pluck (4) and take the thumb straight to (6). Don’t pluck it till the metronome ticks, but get the thumb to the next string before the light on the metronome goes out. Once you’ve got it, do it some more. Do it slower, until the other people in the room give you the PINs to their credit cards - this is how you’re going to pay for your next guitar.
Next thumb exercise - plant i and m on (2) and (1). Finger an E Major chord. Thumb pluck sl-o-o-o-w-l-y |: (6) (4) (5) (3) 
When you get tired of that, go to G Major. Try A Major like this - 5 (6), 4 (5), 2 (4), 2 (3) {fret number followed by string number - barre at the second fret is probably the easiest way to take this one…} Go back to E. Same idea - slow enough to piss off a slug; whip that big boy over to the next string and feel the trigger under your thumb before you pull it.
What you’re doing here is separating the preparation from the articulation - if you start out going too fast, the thumb just ‘feels’ like it’s being rushed around. (Yes, I know your thumb doesn’t have feelings in that way - it’s a useful image, and it’s a Hell of a lot easier than writing ‘developing neuro-ergonomic pathways’ over and over.)
Travis picking in both versions is a really useful middle stage in this process; by both versions I mean p-m-p-i and p-i-p-m (p=thumb; fr. Spanish pulgar or pólice). Even if you just pick through some chord progressions, it helps to get the thumb used to doing twice as much work as the fingers while playing half as loud.
Some folks like to play bass by itself, then melody by itself then put the two together. Try it; it might help.
I find it’s the togetherness that’s the big challenge, so here’s my standard practice thing I do with multiple voice things - play the bass while you sing the melody. La, la, la or make up words if you have to. Then flip it - play the melody and sing the bass. It gets you used to hearing the totality in your mind’s ear. Makes it easier to get the totality out of your hands…
Hope some of this helps, and again I apologize to those who already know all o’ this.
Fun times: A bit of thoughtless expediency and I am stuck with 5 stitches at the top of my left index finger - just a quick knife slice and I was done, right? Well, after the slip, I was really done for a few days. :eek::rolleyes::dubious::smack:
No biggie, but no guitar for a few days - argh - and typing is a bear.
Back to the main topic: Another reason why I love the Dope - your post, Le Ministre. It is both fascinating and compelling - and could not be more illustrative of the other end of the spectrum from me. You are the City Mouse - i.e., formally, classically trained, with a thoughtful, structured approach to acquiring capabilities - and I am the Country Mouse - doin’ what I can with what I have.
One of the reasons I have gravitated to hybrid picking is that I seem to just “fall into it” - i.e., where I would normally do up-and-down flatpicking, I now try to “put my fingers out there” and see what they grab that sounds cool. So I hit a lower note with my pick - on the A or D string, say - and then throw my middle and ring fingers out to pluck the G and B strings or maybe the high E and listen for what sounds good. If I hear something interesting I may stop and try to recreate it - and if I can, I try to use it in a phrase - either a lead/melodic phrase, or I set up a low-string riff and see if I can insert the upper-string fill-bit into a gap in the riff, maybe skipping a chord or two in the riff, but trying to pick it back up on the correct beat. Before I know it, my fingers “have a place to go” - an option when I find myself in that particular position on the neck. And when I have a few options in that position - well, I have options and can choose and things get interesting and fun. But, to be clear: I have no idea what I will be doing and no set finger pattern - so if I get stuck sometimes I will use my mid finger on my picking hand to get out of the jam, sometimes my ring and sometimes both. No rhyme or reason - it just feels good. On the Acoustic Guitar Forum, I read players contrasting “fingerpicking” with “fingerstyle” - near as I can tell, fingerpicking is a more patterned approaching; fingerstyle is “use your fingers somehow” - although I use a flatpick / hybrid approach, I appear to be more of a fingerstyle guy…
I have found my horizontal flexibility increase a ton this way - with my fingers available, I have a lot more reach with my picking hand (I never had much reach, and never really practiced to attain it - I was never motivated to shred), so if I get “stuck in a corner” while picking I can reach out with my fretting hand to a new spot and, even though my pick may be in the wrong position, my fingers can pluck the string and I can keep moving.
As for flatpicking bass notes in chords while using my middle and ring to sound higher strings, I started with Norman Greenbaum’s Spirit in the Sky(neck pickup, lots of gain, Tone rolled off to get that big, flabby tone). Make an A chord, then flatpick the Open A string and alternate that with plucking the G and B strings you’ve fretted (ETA - actually, it may be the D and G strings; can’t check right now) - with your mid and ring fingers. Get that groove on an A chord - just sit and watch TV while trying to get that up/down oom-pa groove going between pick and fingers. When you have it - then try the riff’s changes: it alternates between 3rd fret/5th fret and 5th fret/3rd fret - in both cases, use your mid finger to fret the A string at the correct fret and you index finger right behind it, one string up (D) and one fret lower (2nd or 4th as needed). Once you can sell that riff using Hybrid picking, you will know if you dig that approach. At that point, I felt like all these possibilities had opened up.
What I love about our contrasting approaches are that they clearly both work and illustrate how music and art don’t judge - you bring to music what works for you and, if you’re smart, you are open to new approaches. When my stitches get out, I look forward to running through your drills,** Le Ministre**…
NOOOOO!
Sending you healing vibes. {{{{{{WordMan}}}}}}
Heal quickly! A few years ago I had surgery on my right index finger, and I had a gig shortly thereafter. I had to learn to hold a pick with thumb and middle finger for a couple of months. Left index finger is much harder to work around, though…
Also, stay away from oyster shucking 
I once cut off the tip of my index finger on my left hand about a week before a show*. The doc cauterized the cut. I started the show with a big old bandage on the finger. I got about halfway through the second song and said screw it and took off the bandage and started using the finger.
It hurt like hell. I had blood dripping off my strings. I played very well that night. I think it was because every note hurt and I had to really want it. I thought my finger was going to explode by the end of the third song. I managed to finish the set ok but it was pure agony.
Good show though.
Slee
*Cleaning a fish. Cut the tip right off and blood was spurting everywhere.
Thanks for the kind wishes and whoa, **slee **- I’ve played while sick a few times but never left blood on the stage!
I bought a Takamine, and they have many many models. I got the GS330S dreadnought, with a solid cedar top. It sounds great. I don’t know if you like the dread size, many people don’t. But, Takamine also makes other sizes. In around the same price range as the Takamine, are Seagull which are also very good. I haven’t messed with any Epiphone acoustics in over 30 years, so I can’t help with those. Just get to a store, try them all, and then decide.
Congrats, great purchase… i picked up one of these used this year, and lovelovelove it!
We picked out the Takamine EG340C. I wanted the EG340SC with the solid spruce top but they had only the floor model and it was a bit scratched. I just started playing (learning) 7 months ago so I can’t offer an opinion on the quality but I think it is a very nice guitar for the money. I have been practicing on electric up until now so it takes some getting used to.
The store here in Guadalajara doesn’t carry Epiphone but they did have a nice inventory of Taylors and a really beautiful Takamine Santa Fe model, all beyond my price range, and I took turns with each of those. They were all fantastic but cost 8 to 10 times more than the EG340. Maybe someday but for now I think this model will serve me well.
Thanks to everyone that responded.
Awful. I know the feeling. Immediately after I got my H&D for my 40th birthday, I got my left hand caught in the mold gear of a Linotype. Mashed all my fingers good, broke my ring finger, and flat out crushed my pinky. Was a couple of weeks before cound play anything, and months before I could use all my fingers. There was a long stretch of me doing my best Django imitation with my index and middle fingers only. I have no idea how he did it. His two-finger style is harder than I had ever imagined.
Just cut those stitches out and lay down a fat bead of superglue!
Yep - I took the dressings off this morning and put one of those futuristic bandages on it. Doing okay, but the uber-PowerPointing I must do today will not be fun. In a week, I will de-stitch and switch to superglue.
**CBEscapee **- congrats on the new guitar!! Sounds like a great purchase.
In other news: God, I suck. I’ve stopped Rock Band and switched back to a real guitar to practice power chords up and down the neck. I need a lot more practice up and down the neck.
Oh it’s not a new purchase, I got it back in ummm May (?) or around then. It is a nice change from electric, and for those times I just don’t want to bother with amps and cables and all that stuff. It was funny. I went to the local Sam Ash (good people here, not like in the horror stories at all), and said “I’m looking for something decent that won’t break the bank”. they fixed me right up 
In this thread, Rafe Hollister is bragging on his brother the blues guitar player…
http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?series=Blacktop��§ion=guitars&page=comparison
Just got an advert for these. Pretty. Been thinking about maybe a guitarfetish jaguar/jazzmaster… in a year or two.
Just bought a Pocket Pod (My Black Friday present to me). My god, it’s gorgeous. The sounds…
The one with the LCD, but not the X3.
I gotta check out one of those PODs sometime; when I have in the past, I just focus on how they aren’t as touch-responsive, but there are so many sounds in 'em…
<typed using my stitched-up finger, so I must be getting better…>