I have tickets to see Jackson Browne and James Taylor in October. Its been postponed twice. I'll watch his technique carefully and report back.
How's James Taylor playing this?
- Thread starter Axegrinder77
- Start date
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rand z
Poster Extraordinaire
It's an OLSON GUITAR from Jim Olson in Circle Pines, MN.
I've played one and it truly does ring!
It's a small body; but deeper than most.
There is a James Taylor signature model.
Standard models start at $12,500.
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billy logan
Tele-Afflicted
I believe this to be a photo of a carefully shaped fraction of a ping pong ball superglued [correction: Krazy Glue] under a classical guitar player's right thumbnail. Internet-search for reddit r/classicalguitar Jason Vieaux
There is internet discussion among classical guitarists as to whether the ping pong ball fragment goes ON or UNDER the thumbnail. Jason Vieaux seems to be saying UNDER:
jason-vieauxs-manicure-mishap
No, I don't play classical. I am HOWEVER interested in the possibility of an enhanced right thumbnail for back-and-forth picking. I envision (in my impractical mind) a superglued*, permanent "anchor" on the surface of the thumbnail to which a removable thumbpick can be attached, snaps into place.
You know, like when you do flat picking with the thumbpick? And you have to squeeze your pick hand unnaturally? But
IF the tip of the thumb pick was exactly where the tip of a flat pick would be
THEN you wouldn't get that "fixin' to cramp up" feeling in your pick hand
AND an anchored thumb pick could have the unusual shape required, AND be stable enough to enable up-and-down picking, even with the thumb alone.
[*edit:make that Krazy glued. Read the link for the reason]
There is internet discussion among classical guitarists as to whether the ping pong ball fragment goes ON or UNDER the thumbnail. Jason Vieaux seems to be saying UNDER:
jason-vieauxs-manicure-mishap
No, I don't play classical. I am HOWEVER interested in the possibility of an enhanced right thumbnail for back-and-forth picking. I envision (in my impractical mind) a superglued*, permanent "anchor" on the surface of the thumbnail to which a removable thumbpick can be attached, snaps into place.
You know, like when you do flat picking with the thumbpick? And you have to squeeze your pick hand unnaturally? But
IF the tip of the thumb pick was exactly where the tip of a flat pick would be
THEN you wouldn't get that "fixin' to cramp up" feeling in your pick hand
AND an anchored thumb pick could have the unusual shape required, AND be stable enough to enable up-and-down picking, even with the thumb alone.
[*edit:make that Krazy glued. Read the link for the reason]
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He's not using picks. He's playing bare-fingered. You can't see a thumbpick, and you would if he were wearing one. Lots of players use a thumbpick with no fingerpicks, but no one uses fingerpicks with no thumbpick. So though we can't see his fingers, it's a safe bet he's not wearing 'em.
Nails versus fingertips: Doesn't look like he's using his thumbnail. There's no telling whether he's using his fingernails or fingertips. Audio reproduction deceives. That's part of the fun of it!*
I wear 'em for finger picking, not for strumming. They make the guitar louder, so taking 'em off to strum all six strings helps levels the sonic playing field.
The sound is different than bare fingers — fast attack, loud, twangy, long sustain, big dynamic range. It takes some finesse, but for my style it was worth getting the hang of. Didn't take long.
Just try it. Use 'em for a few weeks to get used to 'em. If it's not for you, you haven't invested a lot in the little rascals, right? (For what it's worth, Leo Kottke doesn't like 'em. But how many of us are Leo Kottke?)
Most fingerpick fans use Dunlop's metal finger picks and plastic thumb picks. They work. I prefer Fred Kelly's delrin plastic thumb picks (low friction) and Acri's brass finger picks (snug, less string entanglement). Www.banjobenclark.com has both, plus lots of other choices. Best pick selection I've found.
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* There was a big argument here a few years ago about whether Grady Martin's lead guitar on Marty Robbins' "El Paso" was steel strings or nylon. It went on page after page, with every Tele know-it-all taking a stand and defending it to the death.
Then one guy chimed in to say that his dad worked in the studio where it was recorded, knew all the gear there, and knew for a fact which guitar Grady used when he recorded there.
And one guy still kept on arguing.
I love TDPRI!
Nails versus fingertips: Doesn't look like he's using his thumbnail. There's no telling whether he's using his fingernails or fingertips. Audio reproduction deceives. That's part of the fun of it!*
I wear 'em for finger picking, not for strumming. They make the guitar louder, so taking 'em off to strum all six strings helps levels the sonic playing field.
The sound is different than bare fingers — fast attack, loud, twangy, long sustain, big dynamic range. It takes some finesse, but for my style it was worth getting the hang of. Didn't take long.
Just try it. Use 'em for a few weeks to get used to 'em. If it's not for you, you haven't invested a lot in the little rascals, right? (For what it's worth, Leo Kottke doesn't like 'em. But how many of us are Leo Kottke?)
Most fingerpick fans use Dunlop's metal finger picks and plastic thumb picks. They work. I prefer Fred Kelly's delrin plastic thumb picks (low friction) and Acri's brass finger picks (snug, less string entanglement). Www.banjobenclark.com has both, plus lots of other choices. Best pick selection I've found.
-------------------
* There was a big argument here a few years ago about whether Grady Martin's lead guitar on Marty Robbins' "El Paso" was steel strings or nylon. It went on page after page, with every Tele know-it-all taking a stand and defending it to the death.
Then one guy chimed in to say that his dad worked in the studio where it was recorded, knew all the gear there, and knew for a fact which guitar Grady used when he recorded there.
And one guy still kept on arguing.
I love TDPRI!
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Really? Looks and sounds like folk-style to me!
Hm. I'm not a music teacher, and I'm strictly an acoustic folk and an acoustic and electric blues player.* You could be right. But I dunno. He's not even sitting in classical posture or holding the guitar in classical position. And I'm not hearing or seeing classical technique.
I do the same things you're describing,** and I don't know the first thing about classical. (Which, I know, doesn't prove anything.)
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* Folk used to include acoustic blues, but blues has been culled out of the genre, for some reason that probably involves marketing. Doesn't everything?
** To be exact, three fingers when my fingers are bare and two when I wear finger picks. Forty-five degrees is pretty typical for guitarists, isn't it? It's mandolin players who pick and finger off-center. (I don't. I pick mando the same way I pick guitar. And will burn in hell for it.)
I doubt he went through any nail hassle at all. That was 1970, not long after folkies had even discovered guitar cases. Acrylic treatments and ping pong balls hadn't come into vogue yet.
My nail hassle just consists of trimming them so they don't interfere. My left hand needs more attention than my right.
Heh heh. This is no country for grammar cops. It's a music site, not a grammar site.
But here I go anyhow: A double negative would have been "I've never heard nobody . . . say he sounded bad."
Couldn't see that. I'll have to look again.
Or you could get a cowboy shirt snap implanted in your thumb subcutinously, with the other half of the snap installed in a pick.
It'll last a lifetime if you don't lose the pick.
billy logan
Tele-Afflicted
El Paso: Steel strings or nylon? Asking out of genuine interest
The circular nature of the cowboy shirt snap might allow unwanted rotation of the pick's position.
IF the connecting, detachable-enabling bits were square, hmmm, or triangular, though ... ... ...
genuine thanks for that new angle on the snap-on thumb pick!
yes, a prototype version 1.0 might well result from a western shirt missing a pearl snap!
The circular nature of the cowboy shirt snap might allow unwanted rotation of the pick's position.
IF the connecting, detachable-enabling bits were square, hmmm, or triangular, though ... ... ...
genuine thanks for that new angle on the snap-on thumb pick!
yes, a prototype version 1.0 might well result from a western shirt missing a pearl snap!
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Read post 26 to get my reply to your comment in this two year old thread. I was quite clear in explaining my comments were in regards to his fundamental right hand technique, not his overall technique, and of course had nothing to do with the music itself. And IIRC, I don't believe I said he is seen using strictly classical guitar right hand technique – just that what he's doing is basically the same thing at its root.
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Yes, indeed! Good point. In fact, most guitar finger styles are basically the same thing at their root. All I meant was that this folkie's right-hand approach is a lot like James's.
Two years old? Dang, they got me again. I'll never learn.
58Bassman
Friend of Leo's
Might as well keep this one going-
He has played these for decades, but the original video has a different guitar-
THE JAMES TAYLOR MODELS – James A. Olson Guitars
olsonguitars.com 
Tommy Biggs
Friend of Leo's
Those Olsons always sound great (when JT plays ‘em anyway).
I’ve tried to pooch some of his techniques and voicings, some of those wonderful melodic passing notes. Makes me feel more of a musical accompanist than my usual.
I’ve tried to pooch some of his techniques and voicings, some of those wonderful melodic passing notes. Makes me feel more of a musical accompanist than my usual.
