Comments on: John Mayer youTube on Acoustic Guitar

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:13:04 +0000

slaps keep you in beat
as to why more guitarist don’t use it? dunno seen clapton use it, but overall its a very hard thing to do while singing maybe alot of guitarist can’tt actually do it at the same time

By: Rod M

Rod M — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:12:42 +0000

Agree the comment re Bert Jansch, and John Renbourne as well. eg. “Lucky 13″

By: acousticguitarist

acousticguitarist — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 01:40:20 +0000

Interesting point about slapping. A lot of players use it in quiet subtle manner, I guess the bottom line is whether it works or not and the volume really needs to be according to the needs of the song. The Brazilians use it to some degree. I’m not sure whether people would really disregard a technique because of plectrum being louder. Michael Hedges played brilliant fingerstyle.

Plectrum guitar can be much stronger, I find in the one song I’ll often use both pick and fingers, often fingers for rhythm and pick for lead. Although OI remember times when I’ve been playing I’d forgotten that I use a pick in a particular song… someones called 1 2 ..1234 the songs started and at about bar 20 I’ve gone ‘oh that’s right I do this with a pick’…and then the trick was t forget that I was supposed to use a pick.

John Martyn used to do that style beautifully, and Bert Jansch had an unusual version of it.

I think it’s good to be versatile and play multiple styles and techniques.

By: Mike G

Mike G — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:27:50 +0000

I liked that more than I thought I would. His slap picking is quiet even with amplification – must be why more acoustic guitarists don’t use that style. A pick is just louder and stronger.