Next month, I will probably pick up a Kanile'a GL6 guitarlele. The instrument combines a number of different aspects that I like (tenor/baritone-sized body, four GCEA strings plus two bass strings, 16 frets to the body, koa sound, access to six-string techniques), so it's something I want to explore.
Oddly, I have no particular interest in regular guitars, not from the perspectives of size nor sound texture. I see myself as a ukulele player (no intention of abandoning the four-stringers, either), and the guitarlele as a ukulele with two more strings. But it's really all the same, it's certainly a small guitar also.
One of my concerns is how I'll get along with six strings. For fingerpicking on the ukulele (mostly tenor and baritone), I originally used thumb, middle and index finger (PIM), but over the past few months trained myself to using thumb, middle, index and ring finger (PIMA). It was a bit slow going at first, but once the ring finger gained dexterity, it felt quite natural and effective.
In preparation for the guitalele, I read up on fingerstyle approaches on the guitar. Classical guitarists traditionally seem to use PIMA also, with the thumb generally covering the three bass strings. Coming from four strings that I play with the same number of digits, that seems a little limiting. I did some further reading and learned of a technique where all five fingers are used. Charles Postlewate seems to have done some pioneering work in that field, and from what he writes, others have attempted this also (interesting read, may buy the book).
Do any of you have personal experience with this approach? And if so, how did it go?
I figure that since six-strings will be completely new to me, I won't have to unlearn anything, so I might as well pick an approach that may offer the greatest benefit in the long run. I don't know if this is the best approach, though, it may just make things more complicated without any real advantage, but I feel it is something I should decide right at the start.
Oddly, I have no particular interest in regular guitars, not from the perspectives of size nor sound texture. I see myself as a ukulele player (no intention of abandoning the four-stringers, either), and the guitarlele as a ukulele with two more strings. But it's really all the same, it's certainly a small guitar also.
One of my concerns is how I'll get along with six strings. For fingerpicking on the ukulele (mostly tenor and baritone), I originally used thumb, middle and index finger (PIM), but over the past few months trained myself to using thumb, middle, index and ring finger (PIMA). It was a bit slow going at first, but once the ring finger gained dexterity, it felt quite natural and effective.
In preparation for the guitalele, I read up on fingerstyle approaches on the guitar. Classical guitarists traditionally seem to use PIMA also, with the thumb generally covering the three bass strings. Coming from four strings that I play with the same number of digits, that seems a little limiting. I did some further reading and learned of a technique where all five fingers are used. Charles Postlewate seems to have done some pioneering work in that field, and from what he writes, others have attempted this also (interesting read, may buy the book).
Do any of you have personal experience with this approach? And if so, how did it go?
I figure that since six-strings will be completely new to me, I won't have to unlearn anything, so I might as well pick an approach that may offer the greatest benefit in the long run. I don't know if this is the best approach, though, it may just make things more complicated without any real advantage, but I feel it is something I should decide right at the start.