Hi "Wide",
Can you believe it, the first reply come from Switzerland...(so far away...)
Yes, I know Brent's technique quite well. I saw him "live" a few times and once he even sent me a letter, describing to me a few importants points about his way of playing and thinking the music. The amazing side about his technique comes from his right hand. You are right, he use a thumb pick, of course mixed with others fingers but not in the same way like for classical guitar style. About 80% of his phrases are played as follows: T-2-T-3-T-2-T-3 and so on.. He may use sometimes his 1st finger but only to get this tipycal poping sound that you can ear in some country licks. For him, the choise of using 2nd and 3rd finger alternativly with the thumb came naturally. He will sometimes alterate this sequence of fingers but amazingly not so often. The idea of using the thumb every two notes produces a kind of rotating motion of the wrist which give a better rythme precision like when you use the alternate picking pattern (with normal pick) to emphases the downstroke on the beat. Well, I stop here not to become boring.. but I could spend time writing and writing about his way of playing, I like it so much.... Hope that I didn't make to many mistake in english... and also that my words could help you a little.... Don't hesitate to contact me if you want to know more... Denis - Switzerland
