We talk a lot about the importance of good tone here. Unlike a bowed or blown instrument, the plectrum musician has one swing at starting good tone. It's like a baseball player striking a bat at a ball, one strike to bunt it down the line or a healthy slap at the stitches that knocks it out of the park. Five years ago we published a helpful exercise in the June Mandolin Sessions addressing how you could beef up your pick stroke in our Thinking Good Tone series.

Give yourself about ten minutes a day to work on this aspect of your playing and you'll notice better pick control, and ultimately robust tone. Isolating this with this small investment of time will pay you back royally in maturing your sound.

Read article: Using the picking hand to start Good Tone
Accompanying Exercise: Clean Sweep

Posted by Ted at June 4, 2012 5:48 AM