Posted by Mike Joyce on April 28, 19102 at 11:01:57:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: earl's GUITAR three finger style picking posted by Tom on April 27, 19102 at 21:59:57:
Hi Tom,
Please look in the NOTES section of the Little Rosewood Casket (Reunion) that I transcribed and have in TablEdit format at http://olms-music.com/tab_conGO.htm#Joyce .
I transcribed Earl's accompaniment of the dobro, but I used it to accompany his lead work. In the NOTES section I explain how he gets that strumming sound:
He uses fingerpicks. When he plays the Maybelle Carter lick (melody in the bass), on the 2nd and 4th beat of 4/4 tunes and 2nd and 3rd of 3/4 tunes, he rakes the first finger down the strings and back up. Actually, most of the time on the upbeat, he only gets the first and sometimes the second string. If there is a melody note on that beat sometimes he plays the brush and sometimes not.
The fingerpicking, or thumbpicking, or thumblick as some folks may know it, is just playing the om-pah with the thumb while picking the melody with the fingers. Unlike Merle Travis and Chet Atkins, he seldom mutes the bass strings with the heal of his right hand, but the style is very similar. He also uses a three note roll, that some folks refer to as a banjo roll (which I think is quite appropriate!)
Earl practically always preceeds a bass run with a note usually the third string, played by his first finger. Bass runs he sometimes plays alternating the thumb and first finger.
Within the next two weeks, I'll transcribe "You Are My Flower" and release in on the above mentioned site, along with Earl's version of the Wildwood Flower from the Carnegie Hall CD. I'm going to use the version from the Vanderbilt recording as it was longer and had more licks in it than the 45 rpm single release had.
I hope this helps you. I've loved Earl's playing for 45 years or more and it's great to find others that love it as much as I do!
Best regards,
Mike