Michael Stadler and David Thiessen presented workshops before the 5th Sunday Jam on October 29 at the Sebastopol Grange. There was a great turn-out and lots of smiling faces. Their focus was on how to make jams more cohesive and how to make individual performances stronger and better heard. Look for more of these in the future!
Here are some of the hand-outs from Michael. We are in the process of building a music share space on our website for tutorials.
This from Michael Stadler
When you closely observe the right hand technique of some of the best mandolin players a pattern seems to emerge. It seems that most of them play with slightly to very opened hand
and they drag the tips of their pinky and ring fingers on the pickguard or the top of the mandolin.
Bill Monroe – loosely closed fist, heel of palm and wrist touched strings behind bridge
David Grisman – moderately open hand, curled under fingers touching the pickguard
Tim O’Brien – Open hand, fingers barely touching the top of the mando, no pickguard
Ed Neff – Open hand, fingers touching the top of the mando, no pickguard
Ronnie McCoury – Open hand, fingers barely touching the top of the mando, no pickguard
Simon Mayor – Open hand, fingers touching the top of the mando, no pickguard
Chris Thile – loosely closed fist, palm and wrist touch strings behind bridge
Tom Rozum – Moderately open hand, changes pick slant angle to suit desired effect.
John Reichmann – “backwards” slant on pick. I don’t recall how open his hand is.
Mike Compton – moderately open hand, fingertips touching pickguard
Ricky Skaggs – Open hand, fingers touching the top of the mando, no pickguard
Sam Bush – Open hand, fingers touching the top of the mando, no pickguard (from his
early days)
Dana Rath – Moderately open hand, fingers brush the top of the mando, no pickguard
Joe Carr – loosely closed fist, heel of palm and wrist touch strings behind bridge
Butch Waller – “backwards” slant on pick. Hand is quite closed, I believe.
Hershel Sizemore – Open hand, fingers touching the top of the mando, no pickguard
Norman Blake – Open hand, fingers touching the top of the mando, no pickguard
Nancy Blake – Open hand, fingers touching the top of the mando, no pickguard
Jack Tuttle – Wild card! It’s completely dependent on what tone he seeks.
Butch Baldassari – moderately open hand, fingertips touching pickguard, posts pinky to
tremolo
The Nashville Mandolin Ensemble – all but two touch down with finger tips on pickguard
or top
