Picado Question...

I'll come back to you when I've found out what a "picado" is (could it be related to a matado?). I'll just check my Beate Uhse catalogue, see if there's one in there (does it need batteries?). 8)

I handle mine very carefully, usually when nobody is looking.

How do you guys handle your picado (i,m) ?

1) Do you have relatively straight fingers or bent fingers when "walking"

2) Do you keep your thumb on the e-string?

3) When moving from low to high string up to the top e-string, do you move your hand up like a rake or slightly curl your fingers while keeping the hand relatively still?

This applies to rest strokes not free strokes

I don't play flamenco, but I have played fingerstyle scales on my classical guitar, as well as playing bass guitar.

1. My fingers are slightly bent as if I were using my fingers to 'walk' across the table top.

2. When I play fingerstyle scales, I don't have my thumb on the 6th string. I think I've seen flamenco guys doing that though. For me it's a habit from playing bass, where the anchor is on the pickup and not the string.

3. I think the shape of the hand remains constant and you move the whole thing as you go up or down, sorta moving the forearm/hand with the elbow as the pivot.

You might see if you can get some videos or DVDs on flameco styles; when I looked up 'picado' on google, there were many hits on various flamenco tapes and DVDs. Sometimes a picture is really worth a thousand words. :)