Fingerstyle vs. Flatpicking vs. Strumming

[Todd Tipton]

Originally Posted by OilSooner

Is fingerstyle the pinnacle of guitar playing?

All techniques should be taken on their own terms. Each technique has particular uses. Attempting to use one technique to substitute for another almost always yields poor results. There are many fine players that use these techniques in a most musical manner, and many who seem to push the limits of the instrument.

However, I can certainly understand your boss to fingerstyle or classical technique. Make no mistake; each technique has to be continually refined and mastered in order to play the most complex and challenging music many styles of music brings. On the other hand, I DO feel that fingerstyle brings into play more opportunities for inferior technique. There are more mechanics involved in even the most modest of fingerstyle techniques.

What I mean is for example, all of my students begin learning fingerstyle immediately. For those cross trainers who are interested, the use of a pick congress into play soon after with little difficulty. Experience has shown me it usually doesn't work the other way around: myself included. If someone stays with a pick, learning fingerstyle doesn't seem to gain much benefit from the picking, and a new skill has to start from the beginning. At least that has been my experience.

In no way should anything I wrote suggest that one technique is better or anything like that. All the techniques are used in their own ways to make great music. It is worth noting that for 98% of us, it would take a lifetime to master only some of the amazing achievements that have been made in flat picking, Travis, etc.

[Johan Madsen]

Originally Posted by OilSooner

I'd like to discuss these three popular ways of playing the guitar. In my mind (and knowing everyone's ear is different) fingerstyle is by far the most beautiful sounding way to play the guitar. And, in my experience, it is the most difficult way to play it.

Flatpicking seems to be the next level down (and where I am myself), and also makes the guitar sound beautiful, but just not at the level of the fingerstyle.

Stumming seems to be a beginner to intermediate style of playing that makes the guitar sound nice, but also very basic. There are little to no embellishments on the chord formation, and rarely are the more difficult chords used which require "awkward" fingerings, or really anything that an onlooker may think of as "fancy" playing.

So, the question is:

Is fingerstyle the pinnacle of guitar playing? Does everyone aspire to fingerstyle? If not, do you beleive that flatpicking sounds better than fingerstyle? Are there people that are content with stumming, and have no need to seek a flatpicking style?

Personally, I hope to eventually be able to fingerpick well, but I am currently struggling with some of the techniques (then again I struggled with G/C/D when I first started, as most of us did). But, I dont know that I am in the majority with my quest to fingerpick, as it seems there are more flatpickers out there than fingerstyle pickers. So, I thought I'd query the thoughts of the AGF for clarity.

As always, thanks in advance.

Dave

Personnaly I don’t think there’s any supremacy of fingerstyle above strumming or flat picking. Strumming doesn’t necessary have to be poor, I love all 3 but strumming definitely provides me much joy when the rhythm is a bit complex and syncopated, there’s strumming and strumming , just as there’s fingerstyle and fingerstyle
And there’s no reason you couldn’t enlight chords while strumming, or mix some lead runs in it. Many tunes rely on poor strumming for sure, but it’s up to you to make the strumming part sound interesting , strumming can be pretty hot (I have found myself struggling more with some of Franck Vignola’s gypsy kind of strumming patterns than with some of Tommy Emmanuel’s fingerstyle tunes for example)

Here’s a few examples of what I would call hot strumming

[Orfeas]

Artists change a person's feelings with music. The techniques are plenty, and plenty the styles. Some styles are easy to learn while other styles require tons of practice and knowledge. Pinnacle is the art itself when the piece can affect a single soul. The style comes second.

[JerryM]

https://youtu.be/_Vjftx4X2D4 When you can flat pick like this who needs fingers?? LOL

[Geof S.]

I went through the progression noted by the OP: started out strumming, went on to flatpicking, and now play mostly fingerstyle. However, I can't agree with his premise.

Many of my favorite guitarists are flatpickers. However, flatpicking at a high level is really hard, and there are all sorts of skills that need to be mastered. At least for me, it is easier to sound reasonably good playing fingerstyle than flatpicking - that is, it requires less skill.

If I could pick one style to be great at, it would be flatpicking. But I started playing guitar too late and I don't put enough time into it, and I will never be more than a mediocre guitarist at best. For me, fingerstyle is a way to sound pretty good at a mediocre skill level. (I don't mean this as an insult to really accomplished fingerstyle players, who are in a different league entirely.)

[Mr Picky]

I've played since I was 7, I'm 45 now. I'm a proficient fingerstyle player and can play some complex stuff. However, I'm also utterly hopeless at all forms of strumming and can't hold down even a basic groove to save my life.

I look enviously at people who can lead a sing-along of three-chord songs, it's not something I'm good at and never will be.

Complex guitar playing is not necessarily good guitar playing, and it's almost always not what people want to hear. I only choose solo fingerstyle because I'm rubbish at everything else!

[Mr. Jelly]

I don't know. I started out just wanting to play guitar. Then I wanted more playing when I played guitar. Then I learned flat picking, slide, tunings, and finger picking and theory. (it took awhile ;-) Then I wanted somebody to know I was playing guitar. Then I started singing and performing. Now I just want to play guitar. So I do.

[JeffreyAK]

My take is,

Flatpicking: Better for fast runs on a single and nearby strings, better for palm mutes, many picking techniques available to change the tone of individual notes and chords, only viable way to make pinch harmonics though I suppose it's possible to do this with two fingers. Most electric and many acoustic players use this.

Fingerpicking: Better for complex chords especially involving widely spaced strings and more than a couple strings, better for fast sections involving multiple strings, also many picking techniques to change the tone, including various techniques using harmonics. Many acoustic and some electric players use this.

Hybrid picking (flat plus a couple fingers): All the advantages of flatpicking combined with some (but only some) of the advantages of fingerpicking. Some electric and acoustic players use this, I do too.

Strumming: Can use flat pick or fingers, mostly used to accompany voice by a solo singer/player.

Best technique: Whatever you like the best!