Thile lesson

[Marvino]

Thank you for posting the video Chris W.
I think you posted it because you enjoyed it and wanted to share so others could enjoy it.

For a simple quick fun free video...........(which Im sure Thile and cameraman had fun making,and were looking forward to releasing to a to the mandolin community)............ it is too bad it turned into a video being broke apart and analyzed to an extent equal to the Kennedy Assassination video.

I bet they wont take any more time out of their busy schedules to make anymore free videos. I wouldnt.

This thread is embarrassing.

[Bertram Henze]

it is too bad it turned into a video being broke apart and analyzed to an extent equal to the Kennedy Assassination video.

The common feature of both videos is that they leave open questions, which leads to speculation and discussion. It's natural. Maybe we nitpickers just missed the real artistic point, but that's how we are. It's curiosity, not ill will.

If I had to do an instruction video and wanted the audience just to plainly understand the content, I'd stick to exactly the classic presentation style everybody is used to, thus eliminating any chance of distraction.

[Pete Jenner]

The common feature of both videos is that they leave open questions, which leads to speculation and discussion. It's natural. Maybe we nitpickers just missed the real artistic point, but that's how we are. It's curiosity, not ill will.

If I had to do an instruction video and wanted the audience just to plainly understand the content, I'd stick to exactly the classic presentation style everybody is used to, thus eliminating any chance of distraction.

Hear hear!

[Marvino]

This is the core dichotomy which must be observed to maintain clarity in this discussion. Good content deserves good delivery. We should honor the first and may explicitly wish for the latter (and maybe get our wish granted in future videos to come; this forum is being observed).

yes this forum is being observed......which leads to my embarrasment of the thread.

[rubydubyr]

This forum has quite a few people whose apparent expertise is indirectly proportionate to their depth of playing experience

Seriously..... DUDE..... you would think someone spit out your grandmother's cooking and made a bad face..... I don't think anyone is belittling the gentleman himself, or his talent on the mandolin or his obvious technical knowledge about playing on the mandolin. But to belittle other's abilities and "depth of playing experience" here on the cafe goes far beyond any lack of taste of any of the prior posters who were simply interjecting a bit of humor into a discussion about a lesson that many found was almost unbearable to watch. Should we be bigger people and overlook all the obvious distractions and learn from the lesson he presents? Very likely. But nothing that was said was a personal attack of the man himself, his musical talent, or his accomplished musical performances. And personally, I dont' think any of it was done in a "mean-spirited" or "shameful" way.

[Pete Jenner]

yes this forum is being observed......which leads to my embarrasment of the thread.

Why are you embarrassed? Did you shoot the video?

[SpencerMando]

I don't get the embarrassment thing either. CT isn't a saint, when it comes down to it he is just another guy like the rest of us. I don't think we owe it to him to enjoy content that is flawed solely on the basis that he was the creator of that content.

[Pete Summers]

I'll also echo a previous comment about how horribly unnatural the Mike Marshall/CT pick-hold method felt to me at first. But I stuck with it, and now it feels like the only possible way to hold a pick. And when I returned to guitar, I was surprised and very happy to find that the benefit carried over there too. It's a good habit to get into.

Thile makes a point of noting that anatomy will influence pick hold. It certainly does. The "between thumb and curled index finger" hold may be the "right" way to do it, but certainly not the only way. Since I have a frozen knuckle on my pick hand I can't curl the index finger and the pick is unstable if I try to hold it that way. I'm obliged to hold it with three fingers (thumb, index and middle, all straight). It is with considerable satisfaction that I notice that Pat Metheny and the late Stevie Ray Vaughn use three fingers also and don't curl the index finger. You do what you have to do and if it ain't right, you just make it right.

[talladam]

How many of you guys worry about the "pinky flying up" thing? I had a guitar teacher who was all about that. It tenses up my hand terribly to try to keep the pinky close to the frets, and I eventually stopped worrying about it on the guitar. Is it worth the frustration of concentrating on it?

[rubydubyr]

Well after 4 weeks of playing, and all sorts of other issues to deal with due to the "newbiness" of myself to playing a mandolin, I personally am so unconcerned with the pickiness of a pinky (love the alliteration there) that I have absolutely no idea if I even have a flying pinky......

[stevedenver]

sometimes you just don't know what you saying until you say it............

[Bertram Henze]

How many of you guys worry about the "pinky flying up" thing? I had a guitar teacher who was all about that. It tenses up my hand terribly to try to keep the pinky close to the frets, and I eventually stopped worrying about it on the guitar. Is it worth the frustration of concentrating on it?

My fingers are all over the place when I play. But they are where they need to be when it's time. When you play an OM (or a guitar, yes), you get used to having body parts in constant motion. No problem so far (which is 30+ years in my case).

[dang]

... it is too bad it turned into a video being broke apart and analyzed to an extent equal to the Kennedy Assassination video.

I bet they wont take any more time out of their busy schedules to make anymore free videos. I wouldnt.

This thread is embarrassing.

Thile is in show business, I doubt he cares what anyone here said - but he might be surprised this thread has reached 4 pages!!!

Is this substantially different to discussing light-sabre grip on a Star Wars fan page? (i.e. Does anyone really care?)

[rubydubyr]

sometimes you just don't know what you saying until you say it............

Probably more so in some people's case than others.......