Strumming and Other technique

[tippin4342]

Hi Mr. Seaton,

I have a question about some solo techniques that would help me for playing free music and at the end of standards. For strumming, charlie haden is probably my favorite bass player. I love his playing on the Hamburg 72 Keith Jarrett Album. How should I go about practicing this? When ever i do try strumming, its very quiet, inarticulate, and I can't get it as rhythmically even.


My next question is about a technique Ive seen Reggie Workman, and Scott Colley do live and I've seen Christian McBride do it on YT:


It Looks like he's alternating all of his fingers in a circular motion. What is this called? Who did it come from and who were the first players to start using it? How should I work on this?

I just discovered this 'Ask a Pro' thread so I have so many other questions to ask. Maybe I should have started with stuff about bass lines and time (the stuff that actually gets me gigs or not lol), but I can't find anything at all about this stuff on the web. I'd really appreciate your help

 

[Lynn Seaton]

Hello tippin4342,
The technique is called rasqueado and comes from flamenco guitar. Here are a couple of video links to explain it.
1 Master Pepe Romero demonstrating the rolling rasqueado to a student:
2 This one is a link to a web page page with a video on it with another variation which involves the thumb (held like Haden, but not back and forth), but also has the fingers. Learn to master the Flamenco Rasgueado Technique | Guitar Pro Blog – Arobas Music
3 Here is a nice video of flamenco legend Sabicas back in the 60's. He uses many techniques that are applicable to extended bass technique.