We invite Masters in Mechanics subscribers and purchasers of Andy’s interview downloads to join us with your questions for Andy.
These can pertain to the live workshop earlier in the day…or anything else you’d like to know!
We invite Masters in Mechanics subscribers and purchasers of Andy’s interview downloads to join us with your questions for Andy.
These can pertain to the live workshop earlier in the day…or anything else you’d like to know!
What makes a great musical performance? Blazing speed? Perfect accuracy? Andy’s acoustic performances in his latest Masters in Mechanics interview were recored separately and without a click. We never planned to play them together, and yet, when you do, they lock up almost perfectly. Andy has a concept for these pieces that takes us on a journey, and that, more so than the face melting chops, is why he’s such a great musician.
An instructional gem from 1992, this 18-minute investigation of fast picking technique may seem hopelessly simple upon first viewing. Three kinds of picking: “Regular”, “Speed”, and “Hyper”? That sounds less like a description of musical movements, and more like a list of unlockable vehicle upgrades in Mario Kart. But the idea that superficially similar movements of the elbow or wrist may actually trigger distinctly different methods of muscle actuation at different speeds is consistent with research on the subject conducted decades later.
So in a sense, this short exploration of hyper-fast picking technique is a couple decades ahead of its time. The discussion also casually alludes to Cracking the Code-friendly concepts like the “plane of the strings”. So fire up your virtual VHS for a trip back to the grunge era, and prepare to be inspired by the prospect of unlocking 20-note-per-second salvos in your picking hand.
