Finger pickers.

  • Thread starter Thread starter 64Firebird
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Aaron Cheney said:
IMO you ain't heard fingerstyle until you've heard Laurence Juber. I've seen him twice and was absolutely floored both times. In fact, after I saw him the first time I stopped playing electric completely for about a year just so I could learn to play acoustic fingerstyle.
His use of altered tunings and his songwriting and composition skills are amazing. I'm sure the years he spent at McCartney's side didn't hurt in that department.

Aaron
http://www.voodoovibe.com
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Good call on Juber. His Beatles versions are kick ass. He doesn't floor me like some other players do, but his arrangements and compositions are definitely worth learning.
 
JR#97 said:


Well, Travis picking can give you a pretty good foundation for doing just about everything else. It doesn't haven't to be country or bluegrass. I do a delta slide piece that uses a few hints of travis picking. Anywho, the point was that those tunes based on travis picking help in giving you a solid thumb and the ability to work around a bass line. Maybe check out some Stefan Grossman instructional materials.
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Stefen Grossman? I haven't heard that name before, I'll look into it. I think I saw a video about playing in Robert Johnson style at GC that I was thinking about getting, but that is some HARD stuff. Sometimes he'd play in two different tempos at the same time and sing too! It's like he had three brains or something. I don't think the classical players have anything on Robert Johnson.
 
I just fingerpick. Travis, psuedo classical, hybrids, and stuff I don't even know what it is. Speed is the toughest part for me. Leo Kottke or Harvey Reid I am not.
 
Hey 64,

Robert Johnson did not have three brains - he had a great teacher from Alabama and then he went to the crossroads and made a deal with the Devil (or was it Robert Stigwood :rolleyes:? )

Some classical stuff will take your head off, too.
Try playing Caprichio Arabe, or even Asturias will ruin your day.

But it sure is fun trying to learn, though.

foo
 
Never gave it much thought but I've always played in what's now called fingerstyle. I use a thumbpick that's sawed off with a hole in it to a Fender medium flatpick with a hole drilled in it also and they are bonded by solder crimped with pliers. That way you've got a flatpick sound off your thumb with four fingers left over to do other stuff.

This set up works pretty well for most anything till I attempt classical or flamenco music, then it sounds like shit to me.......yet people seem to like it.
 
Do any of you guys pick with your fingernails? I sort of prefer the pop sound I can get with the tips of my fingers, but it doesn't seem to matter how short I cut my nails once in a while one of them snags on a string.
 
Kind of a combination of fingertip and a little bit of nail. A frind of mine when I lived in Michigan who was a classical guitarist played with his fingernails. i'd rip 'em off my fingertips if I tried to play that way.
 
Use my nails and flesh depending on what I'm doing. I try not to let my nails get any longer than "barely scratch" length. You can also try those Alaska Piks that fit over your finger and just under the nail. Fingerstyle extrodinair, Chris Proctor, uses them with pretty good results.
 
JR#97 said:
Use my nails and flesh depending on what I'm doing. I try not to let my nails get any longer than "barely scratch" length. You can also try those Alaska Piks that fit over your finger and just under the nail. Fingerstyle extrodinair, Chris Proctor, uses them with pretty good results.
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I tried some finger picks, but I wasn't able to pop the strings with them on.
 
I use old National metal fingerpicks for Dobro and banjo and fingernails for everything else. Dry winter days can make them break and when my index fingernail goes, it's a catastrophe, so I keep crazy glue around and 'weld' it back together with toilet paper.
 
64Firebird said:


I tried some finger picks, but I wasn't able to pop the strings with them on.
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Alaska Piks are different. They kinda work like fake nails do, ie... they go over the top of your finger nail. You can trim them to whatever length you need. I've tried them and you can get a better pop than a real nail because they're more rigid.
 
JR#97 said:


Alaska Piks are different. They kinda work like fake nails do, ie... they go over the top of your finger nail. You can trim them to whatever length you need. I've tried them and you can get a better pop than a real nail because they're more rigid.
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Thanx JR, I'll look into those picks.
 
as far as what style of finger picking I could not really tell you. I guess you can say it is kinda like the Fleetwood Mac guitarist/singer.

I have listened to some incredible examples that everyone has shared it this thread! Keep up the good work and hopefully I can get off my lazy rump and finish some recording projects.
 
64Firebird said:
Stefen Grossman? I haven't heard that name before, I'll look into it. I think I saw a video about playing in Robert Johnson style at GC that I was thinking about getting, but that is some HARD stuff. Sometimes he'd play in two different tempos at the same time and sing too! It's like he had three brains or something. I don't think the classical players have anything on Robert Johnson.
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Definitely check Stefan Grossman out. And if you're really into finger-picked guitar, check out John Renbourn, Bert Jansch, and Pentangle. Pentangle was Renbourn and Jansch's group, and Renbourn has collaborated with Grossman and several other great players.

Oh, and don't forget Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. He's another fine finger-picking guitarist.
 
I live for fingerpicking. I can't handle a flatpick to save my life. Some players who really inpsire me:

Steve Baughman
Martin Simpson
Pat Kirtley
Pierre Bensusan
Will Ackerman
Tommy Emmanuel (so blindingly fast it's obscene)
Leo Kottke
Lindsey Buckingham (had a Travis picking background before Fleetwood Mac)
John Renbourn
Duck Baker
 
When I was in high school,I was learning Leo Kotke and John Fahey style picking with metal fingerpicks.Particularly the song "Bicycle" from Leo's 6 and 12 album was giving me fits and I practiced incessantly.
One day I came and sat down at the dinner table and didn't even notice that I was still wearing my metal fingerpicks untill someone pointed it out to me.That's where you have to get to,untill they feel like part of your hand.
Leo Kotke had to give up using metal fingerpicks because of tendinitis some years ago.But flesh and nails alone just doesn't have the volume or power you get from fingerpicks.
 
mocharock said:
You know what is funny the guy who I orinionally took lessions from did nothing but finger picking. I am still learning the trade, and a pick was a new thing to me
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One. What part of GA. are you from. Two. Who did you take from. The reason I ask. The guy I used to Take from also does nothing but finger picking and I live in Georgia.
I have been finger picking off and on for about three and a half years and it is still not the easiest thing. I fingerpick mostly classical like some bach and such. Anyway, Post later, Matt
 
JR#97 said:
Alaska Piks are different. They kinda work like fake nails do, ie... they go over the top of your finger nail. You can trim them to whatever length you need. I've tried them and you can get a better pop than a real nail because they're more rigid.
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Sweet tip.

I took classical at the Milwaukee Conservatory for two years, but was more into sweep picking, etc., so my fingerpicking development stagnated. :rolleyes:

Now, I'm exploring it more from a chicken pickin standpoint. While I prefer my thumb, I'm trying to use a flatpick to make it easier to switch between finger and flatpick. Also, like Firebird, I prefer the sound of fingertips to nails. However, sometimes my band may want to practice a fingerpicking tune repetitively. Thus, I have to keep my nails long to prevent fingertip pain.

Point being, thanks for the Alaska Pik recommendation. Long nails are annoying (for me). The Alaska Piks may allow me to keep my nails short, but also allow for many fingerpicking practices without pain.
 
I actually learned fingerpicking from John Fahey, in California in 1968 or there bouts,..... he played my Martin while I watched in total awe,...... anyway, it got me to a travis pick after some trying, and I been doin it ever since,.....

Sound is pretty awesome when it's all clickin.....

No picks just the fingers, gotta 'feel' what the strings are doin.......
Sorta fahey/kottke/Pat Donohue style I guess,.....

Posted some stuff at nowhere last year, under No Name Band I think.....

Turnin Green has progressed quite nicely ...;)
 
Sense I started this thread back in Oct my finger picking has come along very well. I still don't Travis pick, but that wasn't the sound I wanted anyway. I use a flat pick and my middle and ring fingers.

It really is like riding a bicycle, one day you can just do it. So, keep practicing!
 
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