Ah thanks Jim, I knew it must be something like that. I don't think it's that the fans are faulty, it's just that they're going at full speed most of the time. What's the name of the control software?

Yeah, that's a pretty good string stabber.
 
I'm sure you are familiar with the "Flamenco" style multi finger downward flourish (where you kind of roll your hand/fingers downward to rake the nails across a chord). This stabbing is just a tighter and targeted attack.
 
One thing my old bass buddy used to do (and he stole it from Entwhistle) is a hyper rapid flicking back and forth of the finger to essentially speed pick a bass string (or two at a time). Pretty cool but doesn't work that great on guit without some ultra control (strings are too close together).
 
Unfortunately I've never really had the time or opportunity to really getting my finger picking technique down to real pro levels. I can perform most of the techniques well but cannot sustain them long enough with enough clarity to really muscle through pieces like you probably can.
 
Like I can do basic classical pieces or finger plucked tunes but super fast runs or crazy arpeggios elude me. I'd just need to practice it all I guess but playing causes me such enormous pain these days and I have mountains of plectrum material to track that I just stick to what I know.
 
There is something entirely satisfying about flesh and nail though. I love noodling around on my bass and guits with my fingers. It just turns into too much moosh on a track though.
 
I do however do quite a bit of hybrid picking (using the definition of plectrum plus finger picking... seems that term gets used for other styles). I'm actually tracking some bluesy stuff using that method right now and let my nails grow a bit to do so. Pretty simplistic stuff (just plectrum and middle finger) but effective.
 
Cheers.
 
PS: Yeah... totes post sumthin'. I'd be interested.

Beepster
Yeah, that's a pretty good string stabber.
 
I'm sure you are familiar with the "Flamenco" style multi finger downward flourish (where you kind of roll your hand/fingers downward to rake the nails across a chord). This stabbing is just a tighter and targeted attack.
 
One thing my old bass buddy used to do (and he stole it from Entwhistle) is a hyper rapid flicking back and forth of the finger to essentially speed pick a bass string (or two at a time). Pretty cool but doesn't work that great on guit without some ultra control (strings are too close together).
 
Unfortunately I've never really had the time or opportunity to really getting my finger picking technique down to real pro levels. I can perform most of the techniques well but cannot sustain them long enough with enough clarity to really muscle through pieces like you probably can.
 
Like I can do basic classical pieces or finger plucked tunes but super fast runs or crazy arpeggios elude me. I'd just need to practice it all I guess but playing causes me such enormous pain these days and I have mountains of plectrum material to track that I just stick to what I know.
 
There is something entirely satisfying about flesh and nail though. I love noodling around on my bass and guits with my fingers. It just turns into too much moosh on a track though.
 
I do however do quite a bit of hybrid picking (using the definition of plectrum plus finger picking... seems that term gets used for other styles). I'm actually tracking some bluesy stuff using that method right now and let my nails grow a bit to do so. Pretty simplistic stuff (just plectrum and middle finger) but effective.
 
Cheers.
 
PS: Yeah... totes post sumthin'. I'd be interested.

Yeah I do a sort of flamenco technique when I strum - down with the surface of the finger nails and then up with the surface of the thumbnail. You can get some pretty good strumming speed up like this.

Steve Baughman has an interesting banjo style guitar technique which he uses to great effect. Check out some of his videos on YouTube, he has some amazingly beautiful music, I really love his Bony Crossing The Alps.

One of the first times (or maybe the first time actually) someone played a guitar in front of me was when I was probably about 5 years old going to this weird small town all French Catholic school and the principle coming into our classroom with his guitar (I think there may have been a teacher's strike going on so they were trying to just keep things going).
 
He was playing some folk/gospely/hymn type stuff and using the "Apple" technique. He even made sure to say "Apple" to me when I asked because he knew I didn't speak French (why my parents put me in that school I have no clue... very stupid).
 
It seems to me one of the most ineffective ways to actually play and I've never been able to make it work properly but he and so many others seem to be able to make it work.
 
I just end up yanking off hunks of skin from my fingers and/or catching the edge of my nails (thus almost yanking them off as well).
 
The Flamenco flourishes, the stabs you describe or doing the up/down flutter has always worked much better for me.
 
Then again I think maybe the "Apple" works better for those who have big meaty hands. Mine are long and lanky.
 
Meh... just reminded me of that aaaaancient memory. lol

Beepster..all good info except for the characterization as *stabbing*.  The attack is from the first knuckle with no hand movement.  Stabbing will actually slow you down.
 
Work on the 12 Etudes by Villa Lobos with a good teacher.  You'll be amazed at what happens to your speed.
 
Teachers in NYC are legion.  But Nick Goluses, Oscar Ghiglia and Sharon are probably who I'd choose to work with.  I don't even know if Oscar Ghiglia is still teaching.

You are totally right and I should probably not use bad descriptors like that but I didn't have my teaching hat on.
 
I guess it would be better described as a "flick" (which reading the OP again sharke did use) or even a "thwack" if you were to get your wrist into it (which I would sometimes do).
 
Both of those words do the actual action very little justice though because it is rather complex and potentially varied.
 
This is why it is such a huuuuuge pain to describe guitar techniques in text. Even video doesn't do it justice. Any material I write about guitar technique (yet to be released) I make sure that it is known a professional instructor (or instructors) should be sought out to properly demonstrate the very physical aspects needed for succsessful playing.
 
Holding the guit, fretting the notes, plucking the notes, etc NEEDS to be learned in person. The theory, concepts and general philosophy can then be absorbed through text, vids, audio examples and independent practice.
 
I was lucky enough to take a full year of lessons to get that type of thing out of the way and from there I was able to just go nuts on my own.

I loved the CG milieu...except for the eggshells.  It's such an exciting pool of knowledge.  It's kind of like traveling the world, especially South America.  Unfortunately it's populated by a lot of uptight schizoids.  I prefer heavily medicated schizoids.:DD:

I haven't ever studied with anyone (I do think it's the best way to go), but... I've been watching a lot of Lindsey Buckingham videos lately. I love the way that guy plays, and of course Jeff Beck.
Those guys are probably not the style or technique your thinking of, but this thread made me think of them.
 

clintmartin
I haven't ever studied with anyone (I do think it's the best way to go), but... I've been watching a lot of Lindsey Buckingham videos lately. I love the way that guy plays, and of course Jeff Beck.
Those guys are probably not the style or technique your thinking of, but this thread made me think of them.
 

Add Mark Knopfler to that list! 

Check out Steve Baughman doing his signature clawhammer downward thwack technique - I would love to master this style, I do something which sounds similar, a kind of boom-chucka style, but the way he does it is totally different. I've tried to pick it up but it's a technique that's so different from the way I do it that I find it really hard to master. Baughman makes it look easy though.