Franklin's right hand (what's the secret?)

Ben Godard · From: Jamesville NC

I guess this question would be best answered by Paul himself. So Paul if you run across this post. Feel free to chime in. Very Happy

I know this topic has been beat over and over again. But here's the question.

I am also curious as to how Paul plays with his right hand. His characteristic sound to me is embodied in his touch. Specifically in his very subtle pick attack. This is a lot of what makes his music so smooth and tasteful. I've read a lot here on the forum about this and I know the foot pedal has a bit to do with slower songs but I just don't know how he does the same effect on fast uptempo songs. It's not the foot pedal doing this. It's his touch. But how the hell does he do it??? Confused

Now I know of course his sound is the product of over 40 years of dedicated playing. But I would still like to know some of his tricks.
. As far as the pick attack,
Here's my 2 cents worth of thought on this. When the thumbpick or the fingerpick makes contact with a string, its going to make an attack. The question is how to control this.
Well it seems that the only way to control it is 1)how hard you pick the strings, and 2)perhaps the angle you pick at it. I don't see a whole lot of room for adjustment there.

One might say that you learn to pick the strings fast but gently.....Well, then your not playing loud enough...
Another person might say pick further away from the bridge.

I don't know?
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Here's an interesting piece of info. A while back, I read Paul's interview in the old Steel Guitar Magazine back in the early 80's. There was one part where he mentioned how during his playing, he had his bass settings turned back quite a bit because the way he picks produces a more bassy response. I found this very interesting.

Anyway, Paul is a wizard with whatever technique he uses. I don't know of any steeler who has quite the same touch. Of course Buddy, Chalker, Hughey, Day, and Byrd and others had a great touch as well. But to me, Paul's touch has something more to it.

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

I can't speak for Paul, but you left out some variables.
By rotating your hand a bit (yaw), you can pick with the edge or flat of yer fingerpicks (some also slightly rotate the picks on the fingers); by tilting your hand (pitch), or by changing the curve of the blades of your picks, you change the attack, changing the tone in another way.
The motion of the picking fingers changes things too, from what Paul does (sorry, don't quite remember his motion) to Buddy's bizarre blend of relaxed precision, to Sarah Jory's Cobra-strike (seriously: watch her right hand. She keeps it cocked back and sends her picks out like a cobra's head or a frog's tongue).
There was a discussion a couple weeks back that I'd meant to bookmark but didn't (and my Google Fu has let me down) wherein someone described the variations of right hand posture and attack, and their effect on tone.
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Hans Penner · From: Manitoba, Canada

Here's a youtube video of Sarah Jory's Cobra-strike. Right near the start is where you can see her attack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl3COTJbNAI
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Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

To echo and amplify Bob's words, the gentler you strike the string, the more pick noise. I like to think of pick noise as nearly a constant, and you can only defeat it by wrestling the biggest note out of it each time. TBH, that does oversimplify things, but it works as a point of departure.

And in that discussion on the angle of picking, the cleanest tones were not necessarily the most agreeable. As I recall it, the sweetest tones also came from a posture that increased the pick noise.

I hope Paul does chime in
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Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

or maybe 8 to 10 hours a day for 40 years has something to do with it !

t
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Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

Paul commented one time that he doesn't bend the finger picks. He leaves them straight. That may be part of it.

Roger Francis · From: kokomo,Indiana, USA

Doe's anyone reconise these finger picks he is using? They sure look like JF picks, thats the only ones i know of that has the diamond shaped holes anyway. I have a pair of these that i use and they are a purdy heavy pick in witch i found you can have a harder attack on the strings without actualy having to hit the string physically harder to some degree. You can see them better starting at about 2.45 in the video.

http://youtu.be/cixiEyfeJSg

Charles Curtis · Posted 9 Dec 2011 6:56 am

Dawn's singing, the band and Paul's beautiful music; IMO, it just doesn't get any better. Thank you.

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

The secret to Paul's right hand is that it's connected to his incredible mind and heart.

Ron Funk · From: Ballwin, Missouri

To piggy back on Jerry's comment about Paul's heart.....I was fortunate enough to catch The TJ's one Monday night at Station Inn and thought I recognized the guy sitting in front of me with a young boy (they were both wearing gray Cowboy hats with that Confederate style hatband), and black leather jackets. It then dawned on me that it was none other than (a clean shaven) Cowboy Eddie Long. Eddie and I chatted a little bit about a show many years ago when a band I was playing with opened a show for Hank Jr. I was really surprised that Eddie remembered that show (details regarding lack of adult beverages not necessary here). But back to the topic of 'heart.'
Eddie had brought along his son (who couldn't have been more than nine or ten years old) and mentioned to Paul that his son had started playing steel too. Paul got into his seat and pulled out a plastic bag that must have contained 30 to 40 finger picks, and made sure that Eddie's son got a good fitting pair. Really a special moment to witness.

Jim Hollingsworth · From: Way out West

Firstly - only Paul himself can best describe his technique. That said two things I can share:

Paul said to PRACTICE playing hard. Not necessarily play hard all the time.

Second - Since I am a hard core guitar tone junky I can share a technique I copped from Eric Johnson (the King of Guitar Tone!) - he doesn't pick across the string - the typical method of most guitarists). He slides the pick upward along the string.(Like sliding upward away from the pick guard). The effect is almost like bowing the string instead of deflecting it. It prevents the "clicking" sound one hears when playing fast at high gain. I have modified my steel technique to do the same thing - I bury the picks deep into the strings and pull upward (away from the neck). The strings are put in motion with less scratching or clicking noise. This method also coincides with good pick blocking technique.

I strive to get a smooth sweet sound - almost like the Hawaiian steel players of yore. There is no question that Buddy E & Lloyd Green were influenced by them. I imagine Paul grew up with it too. So I listen to Buddy & Lloyd for smoothness lessons & Paul Jr for his amazing take on what steel guitar can do in modern music.

Many many thanks to all three of them for their contributions & inspirations.

Jim

Bobby Boggs · From: Upstate SC.

Ben, maybe Paul will stop by. I hope so. But I really don't expect him to teach if he does. But maybe we'll get lucky.

Till then. study Travis's right hand on this video. He had't been playing steel all that long when he made this. But it's still very good. It's the best example I can think of right off hand. There may be some youtubes that have close ups of Paul's right hand.Which would of course would be even better.

But till then. Here's your link. Note, not much hand movement. Let the fingers do the picking. I've never taught nor had a teacher. So forgive my fumbling to explain this. But I think of it as plucking the strings(Pulling UP) and of course letting the picks fall back to block.

As for fast playing or any kind of playing. You must be able to think it. Before you can play it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEkDavGXah8

Brint Hannay · From: Maryland, USA

Bobby Boggs · From: Upstate SC.

Thanks Brit, That was fun to watch.I'm thinking he's refined his hand stance since those days. But I've been wrong before. Maybe he'll stop by and share his thoughts.

Tom Stolaski · From: Huntsville, AL, USA

I thought I was the only one that did not bend the finger picks around the tip of the finger. I leave them almost completely straight. I have noticed my old finger picks that I used for a long time were worn on the side of the pick. I guess I pick the string with the side of the pick instead of the tip. I am not sure if this makes a less noisy sound or not.

Georg Sørtun · From: Mandal, Agder, Norway

Bent Romnes · From: London,Ontario, Canada

Watching this video should answer your question about straight or curved picks. Close-ups of Paul's right hand should tell you. Very Happy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cixiEyfeJSg
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Georg Sørtun · From: Mandal, Agder, Norway

John McClung · From: Olympia WA, USA

I believe Paul is teaching 2 seminars at the 2012 Dallas show. I attended his seminar this year, eager to catch every insight I could into his amazing technique and knowledge. He did discuss his pick blocking technique at length.

So go to Dallas and study with the master, even in just a single day you'll learn a ton. Paul is a great and generous teacher.
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Quentin Hickey · From: Nova Scotia, Canada

It looks to me like he is using th JF picks (my favs too). At 2:46, it looks like they are pretty close to how JF comfort picks come stock. Maybe straightened out 1/16th or so.
Man that tone he has gets me everytime Crying or Very sad

.

Dave Magram · From: San Jose, California, USA

I was curious as to what was meant by "straight" picks in some of the comments above. I took a couple of screenshots of the Time Jumpers video right around 2:48 showing closeups of Paul Franklin's hands and fingerpicks. (BTW, one can see the diamond-shaped holes of JF fingerpicks.)

I printed out the screenshots, and measured with a protractor the angle of the end of the pick-blade to the pick-band. It appeared to me that the playing end of the pick-blade of Paul's fingerpicks are angled between about 28 and 32 degrees, which is fairly close to how most fingerpicks come "out of the box".

A 90-degree angle would be a blade that was perpendicular to the pick-band and parallel with the fingernail, and 0-degrees would be a pick-blade completely wrapped around the fingertip.

At 28 to 32 degrees, Paul's are angled nowhere near 90 degrees. So it would seem that when some people are using the term "straight" to describe fingerpick blade angle, they mean "straight out of the box", not "perpendicular" to the fingerpick band. Cool

- Dave

Georg Sørtun · From: Mandal, Agder, Norway

Dave Magram · From: San Jose, California, USA

Georg,

I would agree that the angle you are using for the pick-blades is the straightest I've ever seen, about 90 degrees from pick-blade to pick-band.

Since the topic of this thread is about Paul Franklin, here is one of the screenshots I used to come up with my estimates of about 28 and 32 degrees between the playing end of Paul's pick-blade to the pick-band.

- Dave

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