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View Full Version : Finger style crosspicking



Varin
Aug-14-2005, 4:25pm
I do some light crosspicking on slow tunes, and like the sound of it. On faster tunes I just can't seem to get the pick going that fast. (I know, practise and patience). I sometimes play fingerstyle guitar using a flatpick and the middle and ring fingers. This afternoon I tried using this approach to crosspicking on the mandolin, and it seems to work fairly well. A little practice will be required to get an even flow of notes, but getting up to speed seems much easier. Has anyone else tried this? Any good reasons not to do it this way? Any accomplished pickers doing it?

John Flynn
Aug-14-2005, 9:09pm
I have tried both crosspicking and full fingerpicking with a thumb pick and two fingerpicks. I can get a little more speed on the roll with the fingerpicks, but then I am pretty much stuck fingerpicking the whole tune, which can get tiresome. With the crosspicking, I can switch back to single notes, strumming, tremolo, whatever. Your solution seems to be ideal if you can make it work for you. I don't know of any famous pickers that do it on mando, but I have seen a lot of guitarists do it and I am sure there must be some on mando. I say whatever can get you to make the sounds you want is good.

mandocrucian
Aug-17-2005, 11:03am
Pick + fingers. The portal to a different playing level. I use the fingers a lot. Good on doublestop pinches and tight sounding 3 note chords. Gotta do that on Latin stuff if you want that rhythm sound. Pick alone won't give it to you.

Niles Hokkanen
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Varin
Aug-19-2005, 9:18pm
Thanks Niles. I think the last part of my question has just been answered as well. I feel validated. I'm still working on getting an even sound between the fingers and the pick. I think it's just a matter of experimenting with different picks, getting the fingernails trimmed right, and refining the attack a bit. You make a good point about the other things you can do with a pick and fingers. Once you start using them to do the crosspicking, it's pretty natural to explore other sounds as well. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif