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Thumb Rolls
Q Can you explain the
fingerstyle guitar technique known as the "thumb roll"?
Bill Kimbrell
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
A The thumb roll is a fingerpicking
technique most commonly used in conjunction with alternating bass–style
picking. In straight alternating bass picking, the thumb plays four
beats per measure. The first and third beats are usually the lower
bass notes, while the second and fourth beats involve a higher bass
note or chord partial. When playing a thumb roll, insert a still
lower bass note that anticipates one or more of these beats, generally
the "on" beats (count: a-one, two, a-three, four, etc.). Simply
roll your thumb over two adjacent bass strings to get this effect.
Good examples can be heard in the playing of ragtime/blues guitarist
Blind Blake (for example, in the opening bars of his classic "Diddie
Wah Diddie"). Demonstrations are included in my video Blues/Roots
Guitar (Homespun Tapes) and in my new book for String Letter
Publishing, Roots
and Blues Fingerstyle Guitar.
—Steve James
Nylon-String
Pickups
Q What is the best pickup
to use with a nylon-string guitar?
John Willis II
Tucson, Arizona
A With the exception of
magnetic soundhole pickups, nylon-string players have the same options
as steel-stringers when it comes to choosing pickups. Pickups that
use a continuous strip to sense the strings’ vibrations (such as
the B-Band, L.R. Baggs Ribbon Transducer, Fishman Acoustic Matrix,
and Highlander) don’t pose any problems specific to the nylon-string
guitar. If you intend to use a pickup with individual piezo elements
for each string (such as the L.R. Baggs LB6 or the Fishman AG 125),
you need to make sure that you get a model that aligns properly
with your guitar’s string spacing, which is probably wider than
that of a steel-string.
If you generally don’t need to be very loud, you might find that
you can get satisfying results by using a soundboard transducer.
This kind of pickup makes use of piezo elements stuck to the guitar’s
top, either permanently installed on the inside or temporarily placed
on the outside. Available models include Fishman’s passive SBT as
well as active offerings such as Seymour Duncan’s SA-2 and K&K
Sound’s Ultrapure system.
Internal mics are another option. They’re generally most effective
when used in conjunction with an under-saddle pickup. I find that
I’m able to use a higher percentage of mic signal (versus pickup
signal) on my nylon-string than on my steel-string before feedback
rears its ugly head. It will probably take a little experimenting
to find the setup that’s ideal for you.
—Teja Gerken
Smelly Guitar
Case
Q I recently purchased
a 1973 Guild F-30 guitar. It must have been sitting in its case
in a damp environment for a long time. Both the guitar and the case
smell musty. What can I do to get rid of the smell?
Rick Huber
Sandwich, MA
A You probably have mold
spores inside the guitar and permeating the case. First I would
spray the inside of the case with a product like Lysol, which has
fungicidal properties. Then try leaving it outside and open on sunny
days to get it thoroughly dried out. The guitar poses a more difficult
problem. You might try wetting a guitar humidifier (such as a Dampit)
with Lysol and putting it in the guitar. Hopefully the fumes will
do their work on the mold spores and kill odor as well. The real
problem here could be mold attacking the glue with which the guitar
was assembled. This could lead to failed glue joints, especially
where the braces are glued to the top and back. Remember that to
be truly active, the molds need moisture, so the most important
thing is to keep the guitar fairly dry—between about 40 and 60 percent
relative humidity is ideal.
—Rick Turner
Tip
Sheet
Got any great guitar tips or discoveries that you’d like to
share? Send them to Tip Sheet, Acoustic Guitar, PO Box 767,
San Anselmo, CA 94979. If we print your tip, we’ll give you a year’s
free subscription, gift subscription, or subscription renewal.
Here is this issue’s winner, submitted by Bruce Petrie of Schaumburg,
Illinois.
I’ve got a favorite guitar strap on my acoustic, but the hole in
the strap for the endpin is a bit worn and is now larger than the
endpin itself. My local music shop had no strap locks suitable for
an acoustic endpin, and I was constantly worried about the strap
falling off. One day I was making a sandwich, and the idea to use
the plastic bread bag closer came to me. I slipped the strap and
then the plastic clip over the endpin and it worked perfectly. It’s
plastic so it won’t harm the guitar’s finish, it holds the strap
on good and tight, and best of all, it’s free!
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