Blocking with the bottom of the right thumb

John Polstra · From: Lopez Island, WA, USA

I've been trying to gain a little proficiency at pick blocking, and it's coming along (slowly). I was working on one of Micky Adams's excellent videos on Youtube, where he has you repeat this pattern (string number on top, picking finger on bottom):

Clyde Mattocks · From: Kinston, North Carolina, USA

John, back when I learned, nobody ever talked about
pick blocking. You just did what you had to in order to make it sound like you wanted. Only after it became the "big thing" in teaching, did I go back and analize that I used a variety of techniques,
mostly learned without putting a name to them. This is in no away a put down of formal teaching of blocking, as I am sure it will get you there sooner.
I do, however, see some players over obsess about this.

I do remember that crossing over with the thumb was a big breakthrough for me. I believe I was trying to
decipher a Buddy Emmons phrase when it came to me.
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LeGrande II, Nash. 112, Fender Twin Tone Master, Session 400, Harlow Dobro, R.Q.Jones Dobro

John Polstra · From: Lopez Island, WA, USA

Thanks, Clyde. I know what you mean. I don't have any illusions that learning pick blocking or any other technique will instantly make me a good player. But there is one particular single-note phrase in a solo I've been working on where I think pick blocking would enable me to play it better.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

I wouldn't. I'd palm block all of it, or pick block it in the beginning. If the crossover move is what's giving you a problem, practice just that (the 3rd and 4th notes). You may find the move easier if you flick your hand slightly to the right (without moving your wrist or arm). Practice the move about 25 or 30 times, then switch and do it on lower strings, and do the same on a higher pair. Once you simplify it and get past the "mental block", you'll be able to do the physical move. When you have that mastered, then add the 1st and 2nd notes. Repeat it until you can do all 4 notes easily, and then add the 3 notes on the end.

Whenever you can't do a string of notes, break them down into groups of just 2 or 3, and then work on tying them all together. I wouldn't use the base of the thumb for the reason you already mentioned...it just invites getting the pick hung-up in the strings. (You don't want to degrade one technique to improve another.)

Clyde Mattocks · From: Kinston, North Carolina, USA

Well, John, I just sat down and tried it. Like Donny, I found that I automatically palm block it
on the crossover with the thumb. Also, Donny's advice about breaking down a difficult passage into little three or four note segments is right on. Good luck!
_________________
LeGrande II, Nash. 112, Fender Twin Tone Master, Session 400, Harlow Dobro, R.Q.Jones Dobro

Dean Parks · From: Sherman Oaks, California, USA

Yes, John, that's the way you do it with pick blocking, silence the lower string with the thumb when you shift up to that position. If the thumb pick hangs, find a different thumb pick maybe, but most likely you'll end up clipping off the offending portion of the pick. Wire cutters followed by emery board.

Practice this (bottom to top):

4 i
5 t
6 m
7 i
8 t

Maybe throw in a B pedal bend on string 6 on your way up, and play string 3 with m at the end, if you see what I mean.

Never settle for a ringing 6th string when you do that shift to 3 strings higher. The other (lower) strings should have been blocked as you go also.

Phil Halton · From: Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA

There's a great little trick for preventing getting the thumb pick wrap hung up on a string. Pete Wernick showed it to me a few years back and I do it now to all my thumb picks.

Heat a pair of needle nose pliers in a cup of boiling water. Then clamp onto the last eighth inch or so of the thumbpick wrap, and bend it so that it forms a kind of barb that'll dig into the flesh of the thumb. Not so much that its uncomfortable or overly large --just enough that its noticeable.

There are two benefits:

1) you'll never catch your thumbpick on an adjacent string no matter how hard you try--its just not possible if you curled the wrap so that it digs into your thumb's flesh.

2) That barb helps to keep the thumb pick from slipping on your thumb as you play--especially in sweaty conditions.

It may take some experimentation to get just the right amount of curl on the right amount of thumb pick wrap, but once you get the technique, you'll have eliminated the possibility of hanging your thumbpick on adjacent strings, and you'll have a far more secure pick.

John Polstra · From: Lopez Island, WA, USA

Thanks for the great advice, guys. It sounds like there are a couple of ways to do the blocking on this kind of thing. I tried the run using palm blocking and was able to play it about five times faster than when I try to pick block it. Of course, that's because I'm no good at pick blocking yet. Smile

Since the exercise is supposed to be for pick blocking, I'm going to keep working on it that way for awhile. But Clyde's and Donny's comments reminded me that I don't need to block the whole passage the same way. Hopefully, once I get the basic moves into my muscles, I'll get to where I'm not thinking about it consciously any more.

Dean, on your suggestion I tried a different kind of thumb pick, and it's working much better for me. Instead of the pick band, it's now my flesh that touches the string to block it. And the problem of the pick hanging up on the string seems to have gone away. I went from the Dunlop red Delrin pick to a Dunlop white size small pick, in case anybody is interested. I like that red pick otherwise, though, so I'm going to try Phil's method of "de-clawing" it.

Very helpful advice here, as always. Thanks for taking the time to give it. You guys are going to make a pedal steel player out of me yet.

John

John Polstra · From: Lopez Island, WA, USA

Barry Hyman · From: upstate New York, USA

Watch out guys -- radical self-taught go-it-your-own way maverick is making trouble again:

Playing pedal steel is WAY EASIER without picks!

Just eat some healthy food and maybe take some vitamin/mineral supplements, and your fingernails will be strong and thick enough to withstand several hours of playing every day. (Maybe a few days a year a super-short nail or a split fingertip will bother me, but then I just substitute another finger -- I have the fourth and fifth fingers moderately well trained to pitch in when I need them.)

I keep a fingernail file handy and keep them smooth and ideally about an eighth of an inch long -- not enough to get in the way, but long enough to have a choice between fingernail tone and fingertip tone.

I get all the treble and brightness and twang I want by using a George L E-66 pickup, maybe one of the brightest pedal steel humbuckers on the market, and by running through a Music Man amp that has ten-inch speakers.

I played with picks for maybe four years, 1972 to about '76, then have been using fingernails ever since. It is so much easier to use the tips of your fingers to block, and you don't have to worry about picks getting hung up or making noise on strings other than the ones you want to mute. Plus you can still block with the side of your palm and the side of your thumb. Fingertips without picks make lovely soft little mutes that stop strings instantly with just a touch -- no noise or scratch. And you never have to worry about shaping picks or losing picks or having them snap off or twist around. Much, much, much easier! I know the purists will foam at the mouth and say I am being irresponsible again, but it WORKS! And the tone is exquisite -- sharp as nails (pun intended) by the bridge, and soft as kitten fur out near the middle of the string...

Every once in a while I put the fingerpicks back on to see how they sound, but I always come back to the same conclusion -- they are not necessary, they definitely get in the way of blocking, and the tone is brighter but not necessarily better. Plus strings last longer and break less often! Try it!
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I give music lessons on several different instruments in Cambridge, NY (between Bennington, VT and Albany, NY). But my true love is pedal steel. I've been obsessed with steel since 1972; don't know anything I'd rather talk about... www.barryhyman.com

John Polstra · From: Lopez Island, WA, USA

Marke Burgstahler · From: SF Bay Area, CA

Like an idiot I showed up at a gig the other day without my Crown Royal bag (isn't that what EVERYONE uses?) that contains my picks and bar. Luckily, I had a dobro bar in my gig bag, and I made it work.

I have been playing bottleneck slide for years, and Warren Haynes told me one night "try losing the pick and playing with your fingers". As he predicted it took some getting used to, but now it's second nature for me.

I found the steel a LOT easier to play without the picks. Blocking came easy. I just missed the attack of the picks. But golly, it sure made blocking simple!

Part of me feels like I'm "cheating".... Laughing

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"It Don't Mean A Thing If It Aint' Got That Swing"

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