Peter Otrushko wants you to get better

[WindinBoy]

This lesson (http://www.mandolinsessions.com/apr08/Keyes.html)on right hand practice is pretty useful, especially for those who strive for more accuracy.

It's the Mel Bay's Peter Otrushko lesson, and it is refreshingly succint. I found some improvement from it, maybe others will to. I feel Peter would be a good teacher for many, he just gets right to it, no an excess of philosophy there, just do this and why it works.

He plays very tastefully, another one of my favorites.

[DougC]

It is hard to teach 'from where people are at'. Giving a person or group just what they need takes a bit of thought before and during the class. Peter has for a long time been insightful and not a ham or show off. So many are just flashy players with little consideration of their audience. As a member of the 'audience' I appreciate his consideration and give him high regards.

[mikeyes]

I've found that the teachers who really address the needs of the student usually come back to the same thing: the right hand is the most important aspect of playing and good tone is paramount. The same lesson was given in seminars by Andy Statman (who hardly played at all), Roland White (who spent hours on one right hand exercise), and John Carty (who emphasized tone over flash.)

In the workshop shown in this article Peter O kept coming back to the right hand and talking about developing good tone over left hand gymnastics. While he can play just about anything and any style, his tone was what impressed me the most. As it should.

[fishdawg40]

Great video but a question. When he says to touch the string below and/or above the plucked string is that just for this exercise? Or should this be done in everyday playing? I'm guessing it's the former. And he wants his students to do this in order to really practice getting a deeper tone everytime they pluck a string? Thanks.

[DougC]

When he says to touch the string below and/or above the plucked string is that just for this exercise? And he wants his students to do this in order to really practice getting a deeper tone everytime they pluck a string? Thanks.

I think Peter said that you should be aware of where you stop the picking motion. i.e. Dig in, stop before you hit the next string, go the other way and also know where to stop.

He's right about the boring part! I could do it only for a few minutes before I was off to other things. This is gonna take some effort!

;)

[WindinBoy]

I think Peter said that you should be aware of where you stop the picking motion. i.e. Dig in, stop before you hit the next string, go the other way and also know where to stop.

He's right about the boring part! I could do it only for a few minutes before I was off to other things. This is gonna take some effort!

;)

True, but you can practice your scales this way on the downstrokes as a warmup.. good thing to do with the TV or a certain "no-mindedness" it will pay off later I think. It's an effort towards RH consistancy I believe and picking through the strings each and every stroke.

[greg_tsam]

I think Peter said that you should be aware of where you stop the picking motion. i.e. Dig in, stop before you hit the next string, go the other way and also know where to stop.

;)

I watched it again and he was suggesting that you use the strings above or below as a stop. I've heard this from other sources too. Basically, hes talking about follow thru.


I've heard it before but it didn't sink in. Yesterday, my goal was to make every stoke full and follow thru to the next string stop and it made my tone better and cleaner. Frustratingly slow but I'm sure that's going to change with a fair amount of practice.

[Steve Davis]

Peter seems to suggest using rest strokes exclusively. John McGann has suggested using rest strokes on down picks only. Any other professional opinions?