How to Pick Grace Notes Guitar And Mandolin Guide

A careful experiment will show that the succession of strokes, down-up, can be done more quickly and, with less effort than up-down, since the latter seems to require two efforts instead of one. There is a certain rebound in the hand after the down stroke (especially if the pick strikes against the next string), which seems to bring it back with scarcely an effort. That this rebound is a natural motion is proven by the down beat, or accent of the baton, in the conductor's hand, when it seems to come back up almost before it is down. This method will of course bring the accented note on the up stroke, but a vigorous up stroke will give sufficient accent for all practical purposes in such cases. The principe of playing these grace notes is exactly like that employed in connection with the tremolo, the single impulse being used, on the beat, so that the fraction of time required (too small to be represented by notes) is taken from the following note.

These of the "snap" or descending slur, the grace note being picked with the down stroke and the finger making this note immediately pulled or snapped off the string, thus actually picking or vibrating the principal note. This method can sometimes be effectively employed in very soft passages where but little volume or accent is required. The finger required for the principal note must be firmly placed on the note before the grace note is played.

Method 3 is actually a reversed method from the above, that is, the principal note is made by dropping the proper finger on the string with great force, thus causing the note to sound, or, in a case like the EO - F in the second measure, by sliding the finger from one fret to another with a very quick and vigorous motion. This is only effective in softer passages, since accents made in this manner would ordinarily be too weak to balance the tone produced with the pick.

Another method only applied in conditions under which the grace note should be taken with an up stroke, with some very rare exceptions when the speed of a passage might require it. There must be but one impulse for the two notes and better results will be obtained in this case if the pick is not raised as high as usual after the up stroke, in order to enable it to get back quicker. It should be added that the little slur connecting the grace note with the principal note is merely to indicate the close connection or binding of the two notes.

Method 5 may be called "the reverse" and is applied with the finger sounding he string by dropping with force, instead of being pulled off. It may be called a very dangerous method of playing, since it reverses the natural order of things. The up stroke must be used with great care here, since it will not be inclined to stop with the D string, through a great desire to play the G. While occasionally met with, this is an unusual example. The grace notes must slightly anticipate or precede the principal note, although this is to he reached in the quickest possible time. The third finger must leave the D string as soon as the pick does, to avoid sounding the note beyond its proper length.

By Alan Bond Mandolin Professor in Berkeley New York

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