Today is 5 days in and I started playing with rolls trying to get that lovely lilting transition between notes. Every video I see online has the pros doing rolls by sort of ‘pushing’ the finger forwards and across the whistle as it is lifted (i.e. if a finger on the right hand does the roll, the finger moves toward the left, straightening out a little).
However I’ve discovered I can control the roll more effectively by ‘pulling’ the rolling finger in toward the palm instead. Is this an awful habit that will get me into much future trouble and for which I should be immediately spanked, or is it a case of ‘whatever works, works’?
Ah, maybe I’ve got the wrong name for the movement, sorry. The aural effect I’m talking about is when you move from a low note to a higher one, but you blend the transition between the two. On a guitar is would be called a bend. I thought it was a roll but I might be mixing it up with something else.
Push, pull … I’ve seen both. But pushing is generally smoother. If you’re playing properly with the fleshy pads of the fingers, pushing gives you the length of the finger joint and past the knuckle to control the transition. Whereas pulling gives you only the short distance to the fingertip. And if you have fingernails on one hand for guitar, they’ll get in the way. It’s also easier and more efficient to angle the entire finger up to push it up and away, rather than have to curl the finger toward the hand. But for short slides or rising graces, pulling may give the desired effect.
I suppose you can also ‘roll’ your finger off the lower note to reveal the higher one hence your use of the word perhaps.
I’m not sure it matters which way you gradually get your finger off the hole as long as it sounds nice.
I’ve been working on this ornament a lot lately as it sounds really good and adds colour.
I think I push mine away and thinking about it this leaves the fingers in the best position to continue playing i.e. over the top of the holes. Pulling back means your fingers (all of them potnetially moving in sympathy) will be moving the wrong direction to get back to the holes. I’ll have to go home and try it!
I do the slides the same way! It’s easier, I think, because it’s more natural to strech the finger than to bow it while the other fingers stay straight.
I’m a newbie myself, too.
