I am saving this as a possible practice exercise
YT page http://www.youtube.com/user/Joebuddha
He uses a pick (on a guitar), which most ukers don't, but as seen in the Mighty Uke movie, the Canadian Ukulele students vary from fingers to pick. There's a scene in the movie where the Langley Ukulele Orchestra goes to Hawaii for 2-week relaxing vacation where they go to lessons and perform about 40 times! Some of the girls had elastic ponytail bands and they put them on the headstocks of their ukuleles to hold their picks.
YT page http://www.youtube.com/user/Joebuddha
He uses a pick (on a guitar), which most ukers don't, but as seen in the Mighty Uke movie, the Canadian Ukulele students vary from fingers to pick. There's a scene in the movie where the Langley Ukulele Orchestra goes to Hawaii for 2-week relaxing vacation where they go to lessons and perform about 40 times! Some of the girls had elastic ponytail bands and they put them on the headstocks of their ukuleles to hold their picks.
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This exercise also works by alternating thumb down and index finger up. Joe also does a few Guitar Riffs that you can see on his YT page
Joe Buddha? That puts Joe Cool to shame.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about thumb - index finger picking, Jeff.
Ukers who use their fingers would benefit from it.
When I began playing and watching uke videos, I
was flabbergasted to see people using their thumbs
for picking single notes, and all down strokes to boot. Yes, I know some very big names do it quite
successfully, but for everyday players this is a
primitive stone-age technique. Fred and Barney
no doubt play this way. Alternate up and down
picking is the vastly preferred method of
playing single notes. I still shake my head at
people thumbing their notes. Why in the world...
Can you imaging Joe Buddha using all down strokes?
He'd still be on that damn exercise that he started on this video. Even Joe Cool knows this.
But that's just the opinion of a failed guitarist, so take it for what it's worth.
Mr.POB I like hearing your personal comments. I often do mix in up-plucks but it doesn't always feel the most natural. As I did this exercise I can see it's value. In my classical YT video playlist I see many of those players combining ups and downs quite smoothly.
ReplyDeleteWhen I began taking guitar lessons, the first nine
ReplyDeletemonths or so were all down strokes with a pick, but
the day arrived when I and my other down-stroke
friends reached a point of major crisis - we discovered that up-strokes existed and that alternating up and down-strokes was the future for us. Horribly difficult to make the adjustment, Jeff,
bar chords were nothing compared to putting down and up strokes together. So, I understand how it
feels going from all down-strokes (and, yes, down-strokes feel stronger and more natural) to
alternating strokes. It's not easy at all, but it is worth the effort.
I've started doing Joe's exercise with my pick.
Very slow, of course (returning to the pick after ages away from it), but it is well designed
and it'll work over time.
Have to give myself
a cool spiritual-sounding playing name, Joe Buddha is tops. I don't
think Joe Jesus or Joe Judas would work for me.
Larry Lao-tze? Donny Tao? Ronny Khrishna? Nothing works yet. But now when I'm in a playing bind, I
can ask myself, WWJBD. What Would Joe Buddha Do?
And problem solved...
Hey Guys,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your comments!
I am really glad you guys have gotten something from my video.
If you have any questions about picking technique please feel free to reach out to me.
joebuddha@me.com
Thanks again
Joe "Buddha" Todaro