Fast Triplet Run... To Hammer or Pick?

[9lbShellhamer]

I'm working on Thile's "Ah Spring" from the Stealing Second album. He does this amazing triplet run at 1 minute and 10 seconds into the song that helps to make the whole tune. Check it out if you haven't. The song is at 224 BPM, and as you see from the picture below, there is this phenomenal triplet run he does. (See Tab Below) I'm trying to figure out the best way to approach it. I can pick it cleanly, but obviously not at that pace. Is he picking or hammering a little too?

Here's the song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB3MT1oybZM

Here's the tab for the run:

[CES]

I'm working on Thile's "Ah Spring" from the Stealing Second album. He does this amazing triplet run at 1 minute and 10 seconds into the song that helps to make the whole tune. Check it out if you haven't. The song is at 224 BPM, and as you see from the picture below, there is this phenomenal triplet run he does. (See Tab Below) I'm trying to figure out the best way to approach it. I can pick it cleanly, but obviously not at that pace. Is he picking or hammering a little too?

Here's the song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB3MT1oybZM

Here's the tab for the run:

Man, props for going for it! It's a great tune. It's written like he picks it, though mere mortals may have difficulty doing so. It sounds like he's doing some hammering, but after seeing a solo show a couple weeks ago, he's probably picking the darn run...

[Tobin]

I believe Thile picks them all. Sam Bush does a similar thing on Brilliancy. It takes some work to shift gears and go into fast triplet mode. Practicing jigs can help develop it.

[J Walsh]

He's picking all of those notes. there are some triplet lines that he (and others) do that can be played with hammer-ons/pull offs/slides, but those types of lines tend to have utilize this picking sequence for each triplet: down stroke, slur (hammer-on, pull off, or slide), upstroke. repeat. The second set of triplets in the line you're learning has a string crossing on the second note (where it goes from B to G and then back to B), and this is not possible to do in this position with a slur. Know what i mean?

If you check out this link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGMiDG48EfY), at 2:32 or so Dominick Leslie does a line that is a great example of a phrase with triplets using slurs.

[JeffD]

Not that I can play that cleanly, but there are several tunes I play that have things like that in them. What I do is go into a sort of controlled tremolo mode. Its kind a brief machine gun burst of tremolo, followed by normal picking.

Of course I practice the bursty part a lot before hand, to get the right hand and left hand to sync up. But my point is that it feels to me like a different mode of playing. It is distinctly not just normal playing sped up, it is a kind of an unsustainable burst of tremolo, a launch that mercifully is only sustained for a few notes.

It seems to me to be analogous to what the tongue does when you say "diddly". Its not "da da da" only faster. Its a different mode.

[Ivan Kelsall]

If you can't 'pick' the triplets easily & cleanly,then do try 'hammering on' the notes - it's a valid technique & it's allowed . I would however advise you to at least try to accomplish the triplets by picking,all that can do is to develop your technique,but don't sweat it if you can't. Unfortunately for us mere mortals,we don't all have the incredible skill of Mr Thile,
Ivan

[Jordan Ramsey]

As stated, Thile is picking all the notes in this passage. Slurring is a perfectly valid approach in some situations, but ultimately not possible on the second beat in this example.

I'll add, the fundamental key to making this work is proper pick direction. Start the measure with a down stroke and alternate through all four groups of triplets, paying special attention to the second group where you have to stay on the "outside" of the strings for the B G B crossing (up, down, up), as well as where you catch the high G with an upstroke on beat four.

Anyone who struggles with this passage should slow it way down, get the proper pick direction ingrained and everything clean and relaxed, and then gradually work on building up the speed.

[AlanN]

CT and others of the modern breed hit this technique often. And it even predates the CT-era. One example is when Dawg gets his beautiful triplet flurry over the CM7 on Swing '51 off the Quintet record. Sounds like he is picking every note. Wayne Benson and Alan Bibey have used this technique to good advantage - Wayne on a IIIrd Tyme Out youtube performance (forget the number) and Alan on numerous occasions, here is the 2-bar lick he gets in B chord, clean as a whistle, on Blue Kentucky Wind, off a Lou Reid recording. It sounds like he could do this all night long...the bum

As Jordan says, the key is adherence to strict d-u-d-u, even when crossing strings. So, in Alan's lick, the D note on the A string (4th note below) needs to be an up-stroke.

[UsuallyPickin]

OK ... you four letter words .... five for plural ... now I have to get this CD off the rack and listen to it again........ I'm already embroiled in Bush and Reischman .... thanks a lot .... Sheesh ... R/