Gypsy Picking

2011-01-28T03:53:00.000-08:00

I'd like to start off by sharing with you the basics of Gypsy Picking, which relies on two golden rules:

1) Angle your wrist and arm so that you don't rest your hand on the bridge, this will let the guitar ring and help you achieve maximum volume by letting gravity work for you as you do rest strokes.

2) Do a reststroke whenever you change strings. This will enable you to get the right phrase dynamics. In (almost) every other case just alternate between reststrokes and upstrokes. This picking can be tricky on descending arpeggios or when you have a odd number notes per string.

Below is my video explaining this in detail and that also focuses on other aspects

Starting Off

2011-01-27T06:19:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody! I am starting this blog in gypsy jazz guitar for the genre fans worldwide! I have been playing guitar for the past 20 years in Portugal, and although i have always been interested in Django's work, only in the past 5 years I've taken it more seriously with the acquisition of two gypsy guitars and studying his style and the style of contemporary Gypsy Jazz players such as Stochelo, Bireli, Joscho, among others. I intend to post or forward instructional videos on technique (from beginner to advanced) and theory, news and other useful links. Comments and requests are welcome! Long live Gypsy Jazz!!

Gypsy jazz - L'Esprit Manouche

Gypsy Picking

Starting Off