necrobump because i didn't want to start a new thread. but i was watching a video of sam jones with oscar peterson (a segment of which was posted earlier in the thread but it no longer available) and noticed i THINK he's only using one finger at about 320 bpm. by transitive property, i also know on a few records i have of sam he maintains this for as much as ten minutes if not more (on at least one donald byrd album). hell even in this video he plays up a lot (as one does with oscar peterson).
so i've been trying to get my one finger chops up to 320 if not beyond. the thing is i wonder how much of it has to do with sam's set up. he's playing guts (i'm almost positive) and i'm wondering if his ability to play and rebound that fast with one finger has to do with the elasticity and general thickness of gut strings. or is it simply the mechanics of what he's doing with his arm and where he's pulling from (which i really can't tell that part either).
oscar peterson trio bobby durham sam jones - YouTube (around 3:20 is when his walking solo start and you get a good shot of him playing. coincidentally, 320 is also roughly the tempo i think). i know he could play just as quick on steel strings in the 70s from the records i have, but i don't know if his technique for doing so changed at all.
TL;DR -- playing with two fingers on uptempo tunes makes me feel like a punk when sam jones can play that fast one fingered like it was nothing. do gut strings and their characteristics have anything to do with it?
EDIT: i also want to add, this isn't simply a matter of pride. i don't know if it's real or perceived, but reading different things and subsequently really listening to myself has led me to believe alternating fingers may provide the ability to easily play up to 400 or so, but it also takes away from the percussive "oomph" of the line. so i dunno. thoughts?
