Re: picking up/down symbols in flatpicking guitar

[Thomas Morley]

2013/6/13 Rachael Thomas Carlson <address@hidden>:
> On Thu, 2013-06-13 at 00:48 +0200, David Kastrup wrote:
>> Thomas Morley <address@hidden> writes:
>>
>> > Well, in classical Guitar-scores the strike-direction is _always_
>> > related to the pitches.
>
> What does that mean?
>>
>> Even for 0-14-14-13-0-0 ?

Ok, my wording was not very good.
I should have written: from the sixth string _up_ to the first

>>
>> > ↑ means from bottom-pitch up to top-pitch. Always. I'm not aware of
>> > any exception.
> Up-arrow, as indicated above, is a strum, or pluck with a plectrum,
> towards the floor.

This is a better description.
Though the opposite of what Federico mentioned, afaics.

>> >
>> > In notated Flamenco-guitar-music the same.
>> >
>> > Only in guitar-music to be played with a pick it's the opposite.
>> > This inconsistency is disturbing.
>>
>> To be fair: with a pick you can play a single string in either direction
>> and pitches are no longer a help for figuring stroke direction.  When
>> playing classical guitar, you don't play a single string with the back
>> of a finger.  A tremolo is done by alternating fingers, not by reversing
>> the stroke direction.

I was refering mainly to so called rasgueados.

> In Flamenco as well as in fingerstyle guitar there are instances where one 
> produces a tremelo by rapid strumming with the index-finger of the right hand.

Not only with the index-finger, it's common to use all or selected
fingers of the right hand.
http://lsr.dsi.unimi.it/LSR/Item?id=409
shows only some possibilities.

See also the attached png
This is an excerpt from a piece by Paco de Lucia, played entirely with
the thumb (apart from the so called "remate")
This technique is called "alzapua".

> Another instance, in classical guitar, would be in the first movement of 
> Kazuhito Yamashita's transcription of Dvorak's Ninth Symphony.  I don't have 
> a copy of that readily available.  But it is a quick succession of the index 
> finger back and forth across the strings.

Well, there are several other examples.
Though, in scores for the classical guitar the rasgueados are very
often not indicated exactly, more hinted. Leaving it's exact execution
to the player.

> I do have examples in fingerstyle guitar (Leo Kottke) where strike direction 
> is indicated by arrows within the tablature.  An ^ up-arrow indicates a strum 
> towards the floor.
>
> Rachael
> source: degree in guitar performance

-Harm

alzapua.png
Description: PNG image