switching between picking and tapping

[mrINFINITY]

I had a warr earlier this summer but I decided to sell it because I am mostly a fingerpicker and I got to thinking that all that wasted practice was for nothing if i wanted to start playing touchstyle which required me to cut my nails.
I recently purchased an 8-string guitar (not a warr) with a guitar scale length 25.5". I am either gonna tune it AEADGCEA or F#BEADGBE. I'm ordering some .007's to try out the high A.
I really enjoyed playing touchstyle very much but i liked the tone of fingerpicking more so i'd like to do that more often. And with short nails i can do alright tapping the notes.
My question is if there is anyway to switch between the to. Like maybe some kind of damper that can be put on and taken off easier than having to intertwine something in and out of the first fret. Also, i know the strings are usually very loose on touchstyle instruments (at least the ones i've played). I generally like to use strings that are a little more on the heavier side. How would it be if i tuned down a whole step and put a damper on to tap on it, and then tuned it back up and took it off when i wanted to pick on it?

[BCroad]

Hey Man,

I'm a nobody in the mighty Tapland or anywhere for that matter, but what works for me when I switch between fingerstyle, pick, and tap. Use a rubber band behind the nut, or if you want to spend money use a girls hair scrunchy or whatever they call them to put their hair in pony tail. When you need it just pull it over the nut and tap, when you're done push it back over. This sounds so obvious but it really works, and like most musicians this will fit your budget. If not (I play and eight too) just mute between both hands and occasionally your bicep from your picking arm. Hope this helps.

Later,

Bryan

[vsteele]

I used to tap on two basses and used the hair tie technique and found that it worked very well. It is very easy to slide your hand up the neck to move the hair tie into position on the fly. At a concert, I noticed that Victor Wooten uses this technique as well.

V:D

[mrINFINITY]

That really helped, thanks guy. I have another question for you two, probobly more for bryan. I have my nails out a bit so i can fingerpick, but it can make it kind of hard to tap, do you have this problem or do you just play without nails when you fingerpick? Thanks.

-Alan

[BCroad]

Alan,

No nails here for these reasons: First, I don't like depending on anything. The day of gig (especially classical or jazz) knowing my luck, I'd break a nail. And, I like the flesh sound of finger picking without nails, that's ONLY my opinion. It just happens to work well for the reason of no nails that I can switch between ANY technique easily and it's very smooth sounding for each, no change in dynamics unless I want to alter them. Also for me, depending on the song, I have to use all three (fingerstyle, pick and tap) techniques at one time or another sometimes all within the same song. If I were to have nails I would tap as I do now, and that's keeping my wrists aligned straight like when you play piano but just over the fret board so there's no strain on the wrist and it's all fingerwork (this should feel increadibly easy on the hands), if you play classical you should have a leg up on having strong fingers, (I use both thumbs on the neck too when I play). I hope I'm not coming across as though I think I'm an authoritarian on anything, I know I'm not. I hope my jibber jabber helps, let me know if not. M'Kaaayyy?

Bryan

[rjgoos]

I, too, am a long-time fingerpicker, and I would trim my fingernails on both hands. Perhaps I lost something with regards to punch, but at least the sound was predictable.

One time (back in the early 70s) I went to hear a very young Leo Kottke in Sioux Falls. Half way though a song, a fingernail ripped or something. Let's just say that he said some words I can't reprint here...

Tap/Touch style appeals VERY much to me as a fingerpicker. I won't say that one is necessarily better, but it is a heady experience, after playing the guitar for a long time (I think I had my first gig with a little rock band in 1966) to have new tonal possibilities available to me. It's like getting a new woman without having to divorce the first, from a musical point of view, of course...


RJ

[mrINFINITY]

It's not just the punch i'm worried about losing, i'd also like to be able to maintain my speed (how can i play rondo alla turka without nails!). If i keep my nails very short I can sorta tap ok, maybe if I work at it enough i can get to the point where i can find a medium length that will let me tap and fingerpick. I think it may be possible that I can keep my nails very short and still fingerpick well if i practice enough.
Bryan, btw, the 8 string that i purchased is a conklin like yours. Well, like yours in the sense that it has 8 strings :). Mine has 3 active single coils, a melted top, and in the shape of a telecaster. I will post some pictures when It arrives (it may be getting here tomorrow hopefully).
Have you guys seen those clips of Adam Fulara? the whole movies that he posted on his webpage; he rocks. Makes me wish i would have gotten a doubleneck touchguitar with a standard guitar scale length instead of my warr back when I did. It sounds so much better in my opinion the way he plays it.

[BCroad]

You can play anything or play as fast as you want, it's just a case of a few steps back to get one step ahead (in reality it could be more like ten steps back, or starting over in it's own right) especially going from nail to no nail. I know this feeling too well. I can do the single note soloing thing picking with my fingers as fast as with a pick. It has taken much work but it is possible, I remember when I first started with this technique I thought I was seriously wasting time. Just take it slow, keep pushing the envelope slowly but surely and never stop your routine for atleast a year. For me I noticed the big improvements in year increments. I never wanted to be caught in a situation where if I dropped my pick in a middle of a solo that I couldn't keep going and even the musicians couldn't tell other than the tone of my fingers. A long, long, long road for me but worth every bit the years. Let me know how you like your new Conklin.
By the way from the last post with the musical comparison of getting a new woman and not having to divorce the first, I about fell off of my chair.

Bryan

[mrINFINITY]

Bryan,

I think I have decided to keep my nails because there is no way I will have the tone/flexibility without them. At least I don't think so. Do you have any recordings of yourself available? Or can you recommend someone else that fingerpicks without nails that I can give a listen to?
There is another post somewhere on here that sais wolfgang daiss scalloped the guitar side of his fretboard on his tapping instrument so that he could play with nails. If I had a cheaper instrument I might be willing to try that.
I have a couple questions a little bit off that topic though for you Bryan. I have that little blue joe pass book, and a very nice al dimeola book that i'm memorizing chord shapes out of, should I just memorize scale shapes all over the neck also? My improvising skills are WAY below par. Also, do you have any advice on ear training? I can identify intervals decently (that is to say i get them right 9/10 times) if there are only two notes, it doesn't exceed an octave, and they're diatonic. I can also identify certain chords like major/minor/dim/aug, but I'm not that great at identifying chords like Cmaj9 and stuff. I have a friend who can listen to a chord and tell what type it is, like Maj9(b5), how can I get to a point where I can do that? Coming from a classical background I never worked too much on ear training. Do you have any suggestions that you can offer me? Maybe I can start learning to sightsing notes better with the chromatic solfege or something?

-Alan

[mrINFINITY]

Oh yah, and about my conklin, I love it :) Despite the scale length only being 25.5" the low end actual has pretty close to the tone of a bass. I love everything about it except for the low F# not intonating past the 3rd or 4th fret, but that's ok, i just won't use it any higher up than that for now. Maybe after I learn to play this one well I can go custom order one with a fanned fretboard!

[rockola]

Originally posted by mrINFINITY
There is another post somewhere on here that sais wolfgang daiss scalloped the guitar side of his fretboard on his tapping instrument so that he could play with nails.

Wolfgang scalloped all of his Stick, not just the "guitar" side. Likewise with the 14-string.