Quote:
Originally Posted by fazool
Originally, the term was for songs specifically where the vocal melody was played simultaneously over the harmony or traditional musical backing.
By that definition, a person cannot sing while playing a fingerstyle song as the point of fingerstyle is to replace the voice with single guitar notes, while also playing the guitar backing part.
As well a song merely plucked with your fingers is not true "fingerstyle" because it is not playing the voice part of the song.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fazool
No.
Fingerstyle is a very specific musical composition type.
fingerpicking is picking with your fingers.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fazool
You make a good point....originally I wrote "In my use of the word.......then wrote that" then I erased it to claim it more definitively.
After reading your rebuttal, I questioned my conviction and searched. I can't find many credible references to the etymology of the word but it first appeared in the 1930's and did, in fact, mean just finger-plucking.
hmmmmm......
The ironic thing is I often say I play fingerstyle but then amend that to say fingerpicking. I even wrote that originally.
Whenever I see a fingerstyle solo artist or song they "always" seem to be the way I wrote it (my definition in my own head). Partly because there were different words (finger-pick, finger-pluck, finger-style) so it made sense to me that they should (must?) have different meanings.
I surrender the point and am switching sides. I agree with the majority now that fingerstyle can mean just fingerpicking/plucking/playing.
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faz, you may have thought about it more and adjusted your thinking, but your initial perspective is the first and best I’ve read of a potential distinction between fingerpicking and fingerstyle and I will tend to think of it this way from now on. I’m a hybrid strummer/fingerpicker who sings and if my fingerpicking can be considered as fingerstyle, then I’m so far off from those I consider as REAL fingerstylists (and never before considered a distinction that they are also playing the vocal melody because they don’t sing), and will never be, nor do I care to be...I appreciate the technical ability, but the styling is not personally appealing to me for more that a short time. Usually, I want to hear singing as well.