Chords for Two-String Pick Technique Lesson, from Intermediate Bluegrass Mandolin with Sharon Gilchrist

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Hi, _ _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ this is Sharon Gilchrist with Peghead Nation, and I'd like to now teach you I'm
going back to Old Kentucky, one of the, again, bluegrass classics.
And the reason I want to get into this one is to talk about a right hand technique where,
as opposed to fiddle tunes, which are mostly single string playing, this, _ a lot of bluegrass
vocal songs sound great if you can play two strings at a time in the right hand.
So I want to look at the two [Eb] string technique in the right hand _ and just use this basic
melody as a template to work on that technique with.
So before I get into teaching you that melody, what I want to discuss is basic right hand
technique for playing two strings at a time. _
[D] And here's something you want to be aware of is not letting the pick dig in past the string.
_ If it's digging in past the strings, you'll notice that you're going to have a much harder
time turning the wrist and you might feel tangled up in the strings.
If you've ever struggled with two string playing before, that might be the reason why.
_ _ So you want to learn how to just keep the pick out on the edge of the strings. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ I have a, I've given a tremolo [N] exercise in the course that is a great exercise for learning
how to stay out on the fronts of the strings.
So you can refer back to that, add that in your practice session if you need some help
learning how to stay out on the fronts of the strings. _ _
So things you want to think about while you're doing two string playing, you want to think
about hitting all four strings like they're one string so [D] that _ that downstroke I'm really
getting through all four and on the upstroke as well. _ _ _
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You may notice that in my right hand I'm using a little bit of a rotation to help my
wrist turn out.
That'll help me catch that other string I think a little quicker.
So I'm going to turn out and back in.
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That rotation is just like a little turn in the wrist.
Looks like this.
I'm just spinning off the axis of this forearm line here into the thumb.
My wrist is just kind of opening off of that and then dropping back in.
And then I'm going to turn back down.
You should feel the inside of your thumb turn towards the body of the mandolin and then
open back up.
_ So when you're rotating if you were to look dead on at the back of the hand you won't
see a big flourishy, any type of circular motion.
This is a good thing to check out in the mirror and see if that's happening.
If that's happening you're likely using what I call a down and up wrist to help you turn
in or out.
_ So we don't need the down up wrist here.
We can just use this rotating [D] wrist. _ _ _
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_ _ _ _ _ _ And again you want to just look for that inside of the thumb turning in and opening back up.
_ So the forearm is going to have to respond to that rotation in the wrist.
I'm not driving too hard with my forearm while I'm playing but you're going to see a little
forearm motion back there. _
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_ _ _ _ _ _ And a great way to practice this is to put on a metronome and at first if you're not
used to it and you want to learn to stay out on the tops of the strings you need to practice that rotation.
If you haven't done that before it takes a little while to get used to it and get it
into your playing.
A good way to practice this is to use a metronome at a nice moderate tempo and _ just practice
constant eighth notes with it.
It could be like a 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and_
You could do that for, you know, I'd [G] put it on for several minutes and just lock that
in and practice it on each set of strings. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ One other tip here is I find that if I have just a tiny little bit of a downward tilt
_ _ _ _ _ _ on the pick it helps me.
Everybody's a little different about that.
So _ _ practice your constant eighths with a metronome.
Another thing you could do, another rhythm you might want to practice with a metronome
on two string playing is a rhythm that's going to be common in fiddle tunes and bluegrass melodies.
It's the rhythm we use for kicking off fiddle tunes, [D] a potato rhythm which is 1, 2 and 3,
4 and 1, 2 and 3. _
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_ _ _ And a third rhythm that you could work on that's really helpful to in tunes is to take
your constant eighths and try to bring out some accents.
And the beats that I would want you to accent are the downbeats of 2 and 4.
It's like 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3. _ _ _ _ _
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_ That can just provide a nice kind of groove and a backbeat emphasis in your playing.
_ One of the things I find that helps to bring out the accent on 2 and 4 is to also accent
the upstroke right beforehand.
So it would be like this, 1 and 2 _ and 4 and 2 _ and 4 and.
If I were to do that a little quicker it would sound like this. _
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_ _ _ _ [A] And these different rhythms are things that can also really color your solos and help
you get some extra feel across.
And I'm using that and I'm going back to Old Kentucky.
We'll get into that a little bit too.
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