more scrittles

In playing melodies on the nylon-string, I almost always use rest strokes in an a-m-i pattern. In fact, my first breakthrough on playing was about three years ago when I stopped trying to make the more common i-m-a work for me; it just always felt entirely weird though I'd been told that's what I should be doing. I tried the reverse and instantly it felt comfortable. The rest strokes are from flamenco, and the desire to really punch the notes out.

There are still a lot of things that aren't so natural with this technique; fast string-skipping is pretty laborious, for example. Many years ago I played pick-style on the nylon-string, a la John McLaughlin (I laugh, I laugh), and a few times I've been tempted to work that in again. But it feels all wrong after getting used to the touch of actual fingers on the strings, and some part of me still wanted to try to make things work in the more traditional method.

But tradition is only so useful. When I hit on the idea of pinching my index finger as if it were a pick, I knew I'd found my answer to this particular quandary. Provided my nail is decent length - which it has to be to do anything - I can use it just like a pick, with up- and down-strokes coming out easily. It feels almost sinful, but it works great and it's already become an important part of my approach, especially when doing something like melodic improvisation (i.e., jazz). Sometimes the thick thump of the rest strokes is called for, but very often the more incisive and clean bite of the index pick is perfect.