Bare-handed Electric, anyone?

[Rudy4]

Here's a fun little thing to contemplate for all of us who have used a plectrum basically forever. There are very few players who I've seen who play fluently without using a pick, and I'm aware that it very much keys into the style of music being played.
With that in mind, I'd submit Trixie Whitley as a premier example of using the bare hand to pull emotion from an electric guitar. Sure, she had a great teacher in that her father Chris wrote and played some excellent examples of being the pinnacle of his craft. There is a great scene in "Dust Radio" (the documentary is available free to view on Youtube) with a 7 or 8 year old Trixie singing with her father. The influence he had on her, including his playing style, is pretty obvious from that single scene.
None of that detracts from Trixie, who is equally adept at guitar, bass, piano, drums, and a few other things I'm forgetting.

Without further adieu, Trixie Whitley:

[Puddleglum]

The great blues player Jimmie Vaughan often plays sans pick. It's pretty amazing the sounds he gets as he works the tone/volume knobs on his Strat and plays with his fingers.

[thefsb]

Matteo Mancuso



Let the amp do the work.

I don't especially enjoy what he plays but there's no arguing with the technique.

Notice that he mutes the open strings with a wrapper while doing stunts on higher frets.

My teacher has a controversial opinion about this: finger nails aren't strong enough for steel strings and if you want to use them then use them on nylon strings. I think he has a good point. On the other hand a lot of people use finger nails on steel string acoustic guitars. Doesn't this disprove his assertion? And if it does, on an instrument that requires harder plucking, because no amp, then surely nails are even more compatible with electric than with steel string acoustic because you can turn up the amp.

[leew3]

Early in their work together, Hubert Sumlin was fired by Howlin' Wolf because he used a pick. He did some wood shedding without one and was rehired later that week. All to say, you're in good company!

[Bob Womack]

I play electric bare-handed probably more than half the time that I play. If I need speed, I grab a pick. On slower stuff you can get some really nice articulation that way.

Then, of course, there are Mark Knopfler, who plays bare-handed all the time, and David Gilmour, who plays his vintage Gretsch that way.

Bob

[edward993]

Never heard "bare handed" in my life! Rock guitar played with fingers only is all over the place! Picks dominate, to be sure, but no scarcity of players sans pick who are fluid, "tasty" players.

Edward

[J Patrick]

One of my favorite bare hand electric guitar players is Howard Emerson who posts here occasionally….

[jseth]

Well, playing without a pick has certainly worked out very well for the likes of Wes Montgomery, Jim Messina and Stephen Stills!!!

I mess around with it, from time to time, and I like the results... but the one aspect that I can't seem to manage while playing without a pick is any sort of speed and facility with brisk single-note lines...

[fpuhan]

I don't think OP has been living a cloistered life, but like many others, picks (plectrums) hate me. Every time I've tried playing with one (and I've been playing nearly 60 years), it seems to develop a mind of its own and ultimately jumps out of my hand. I find that different parts of my hand also can yield dramatically different tones that I've never found a pick capable of doing.

Oh, here's a little known guy playing without a pick:

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by edward993

Never heard "bare handed" in my life! Rock guitar played with fingers only is all over the place! Picks dominate, to be sure, but no scarcity of players sans pick who are fluid, "tasty" players.

Edward

Got your attention, though!

Fingers only? I thought most might use the thumb, too.

Here's clarification directly from the National Institutes Of Health:

"Although in some languages, including the Icelandic and Russian, the thumb is referred to as “the big finger”, in other languages, including the English, it is considered as a special digit, a non-finger. There are anatomical and physiological reasons to separate the thumb from the fingers."

In any case, as pointed out, there's a wealth of players who like to ride bareback.

[ghostnote]

I’m not going to argue over what is it isn’t a finger, but one of my favorite players never uses a pick: Lindsey Buckingham. I’ve seen him live many times, both with Fleetwood Mac and with his own band, and he is fabulous.

[maxtheaxe]

Jeff Beck. Full stop.

[edward993]

OK, ride bareback, now we're going in yet another different direction!

Edward

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by edward993

OK, ride bareback, now we're going in yet another different direction!

Edward

All floating in the same stream, just a different euphemism!

[29er]

Mark Knopfler.