April 2025 Challenge Response – Mike D

[Mike D]

My challenge was switching between pick and fingers and playing over a track I normally wouldn’t

Live on planet Earth ? You got the blues.

[sunjamr]

Great idea, Mike. Plenty of good phrasing, and I love those upper fret licks.

BTW: Run! Your house is on fire!

Sunjamr Steve

[Alan L]

That’s really rocking. Tricky changes, you played some great stuff over that.

[Bill]

Cool track, very jam-bandish. Different for you for sure. Great tone and phrasing!!

[John H]

Nicley played Mike… love the quack, feel and groove.

John

[AndréM]

You the switch no problem.
Lots of chord in that backtrack.
Well done.

AndréM

AndréM

[Stacey]

Great innovative playing to keep the melody interesting over the Reggae style track. Nice guitar tone as well. You succeeded in alternating fingerstyle with plectrum seamlessly. Not particularly easy to do gracefully for me but you managed well.

Stacey

[JoLa]

Wow, that was pretty cool, Mike! I always envy the players who can so seamlessly switch between fingers and pick without skipping a beat AND holding the pick between the knuckles! You also had plenty of interesting licks in there, that was a good listen!

🎸JoLa

[Laurel C]

That did seem different to your standard palette. The backing track went very well together with your playing over it and alternating pick with finger style. Hybrid picking? Really enjoyed your mix of riffs and phrasing and keeping it varied too.

[Guido]

Liked the original backing track and your very original soloing over it! An unusual reggae rhythm with some very strange but very cool chord progressions! For sure something very refreshing and different from the usual country or blues and I enjoyed very much to listen to it. Excellent choice and amazing rendition!

Guido

[James B]

Fingers or pick it all sounds great, Mike. Your phrasing and timing are excellent. You be jamin’ mon. 😀

James

[JoeD1]

Really cool Mike. Way to meet the challenge.

Joe

The sight of a touch, or the scent of a sound,
Or the strength of an Oak with roots deep in the ground.
--Graeme Edge

[Mike W]

Very cool submission, Mike. Great picking and hitting the chord changes – sounded good.

[Andy N]

Nifty idea for the challenge and some nifty switching between fingers and pick too.
Certainly a different genre for you but you looked very comfortable and had plenty of cool phrases in the bag.

[Michael L]

Wow, fun times Mike! Sounds great, and some good changes to work through on this one.

[Manfred M]

Your limitation was probably to make it as uncomfortable as possible for you, Mike. It’s amazing what comfortable, melodious music came out of it. Great backing track with a great rhythm. Challenging to play it adequately. In any case, you passed the challenge with flying colors.

Take the chance to meet your AM friends on Zoom
The next Meetup is expected to take place in November 2025

There will be a detailed announcement here in the forum in good time.

I look forward to meet you.
Manfred

[KT]

Enjoyed listening to your presentation. You did a great job switching between finger picking and picks.

[Dieter]

Wonderful performance, great playing.

Dieter

[Martin W]

That’s a cool trick Mike switching from pick to fingers , it gives a subtle dynamic .
Nice improv over the backing track you didn’t look like you were outside your comfort zone .
Martin

[Tremelow]

That was fantastic. You pulled great licks out of your hat and not for a second was anything repetitive. I neither saw nor heard the change between fingers and plectrum – very nimble.

[Alan O]

Mike, this sounded very cool and I didn’t even notice you switching between pick and fingers. Great submission!

Alan

[Jennifer D]

Great idea sounds really cool!

[Author]

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