Fingerstyle: How to Get Good Tone

[Paikon]

Originally Posted by kats45

Actually I've had my first lesson via skype with fingerstyle player/teacher Kevin Craine. It went really well and I now have some of these questions to address with him at my next lesson.

dont be impatient
dont try to learn everything at once
its a common mistake people do: they try to understand theoretically stuff that dont have an experience with
listen to your teacher ,study and most of your questions will be answered by your own effort!
i m saying this because you are new at this and maybe the advises of experienced players for a good tone maybe its a bit too early for you.
happy studying!

[kats45]

Davis, This is a great post. You bring out some things I thought of, and now they're pressed into my mind. The point about volume control is excellent. I will incorporate this into my practice, as well as aligning my fingers to the string. I started to record a bit of what I was doing, and it doesn't sound too smooth, so I have my work/play cut out for me. Thank you for the depth and insight of your post. I thank everyone for taking the time to read and post. Keep 'em coming.

[kats45]

Originally Posted by Paikon

dont be impatient
dont try to learn everything at once
its a common mistake people do: they try to understand theoretically stuff that dont have an experience with
listen to your teacher ,study and most of your questions will be answered by your own effort!
i m saying this because you are new at this and maybe the advises of experienced players for a good tone maybe its a bit too early for you.
happy studying!

I'm kinda new at this, but I have reading background in technique and theory. It helps in applying this. I think it's important to think about these things at the beginning so I don't learn bad habits.

[kats45]

Originally Posted by MrBJones

Hi Kats
Definitely something that frustrated me for a while, and that I continue to try improving upon.

I get my best tone using a combination of flesh and nail. Nail gives the clarity and zing, while flesh mutes the click that can come from nail alone; the string contacts both simulatneously. It's not anything you think about; it just happens and comes with time. Nail-length is important: too long and you'll feel constricted, also long nails can get hung up on the strings. But too short and they won't do anything. Personally, I like maybe a millimeter beyond the tips of my fingers as seen from palm side, and file alittle every day. For me, they all need to be the same; if one is shorter than the others it'll have a tendency to produce weak picks (or even miss the string occasionally). Also, guess it goes without saying to pick as perpendicular to the strigs as possible; nail or flesh will both sound funny when picked partially along strings, especially the wound ones.

I will just have to experiment with what works best for me, whether it's nail or flesh or a combo of the two. I know when I start to use the nail, I have a tendency to go back to the flesh, but consistency of tone is a problem. Patience...I guess.

[Doug Young]

The best essay I've seen on guitar tone, from Michael Chapdelaine, for his students at UNM. If I recall, his 1st year students are graded based on how much improvement in tone they achieve during the year. This is what they're supposed to do to get there:

http://www.michaelchapdelaine.com/great_tone.html

This was also a very good article in Acoustic Guitar a few years back, but you need to be a subscriber to see it:

30 Ways to Improve Your Tone

[kats45]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

The best essay I've seen on guitar tone, from Michael Chapdelaine, for his students at UNM. If I recall, his 1st year students are graded based on how much improvement in tone they achieve during the year. This is what they're supposed to do to get there:

http://www.michaelchapdelaine.com/great_tone.html

This was also a very good article in Acoustic Guitar a few years back, but you need to be a subscriber to see it:

30 Ways to Improve Your Tone

That's a great article by Michael Chapdelaine. Very methodical. I'm going to implement his step by step process. I couldn't access the ACMag article b/c I'm not a subscriber at this time. Is the article worth subscribing too? I ask this b/c money is tight. Thanks so much for contributing to this topic.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by kats45

That's a great article by Michael Chapdelaine. Very methodical. I'm going to implement his step by step process. I couldn't access the ACMag article b/c I'm not a subscriber at this time. Is the article worth subscribing too? I ask this b/c money is tight. Thanks so much for contributing to this topic.

I thought it was one of the better efforts AG has done (and I had nothing to do with it). Teja Gerken, Scott Nygaard, and Sean McGowen talking about and demonstrating everything from the effect of fingerstyle hand position on tone to how to get the best sound from a pick, all with video demos.

[kats45]

Sounds very good.

[kats45]

I subscribed to the AG magazine, and am in the process of reading. I like the video; it compliments the teaching.

[kats45]

I read and watched the videos from the Acoustic Guitar Magazine. I've been paying attention to my right and left hand. I keep the right hand as relaxed as possible over the soundhole, and I notice as I plant my finger on the string, it tends to slide back a bit toward the bridge before I pluck the string (as I pluck in slow motion), and I get really good tone. I'm using mostly nail as far as I can see. If I keep doing this I might have to visit the salon. Since I'm a lady that's no problem.

The left hand is too tense, so I'm focusing on relaxing. I think progress is being made though.

[PhillipT]

Originally Posted by Paikon

i have too many things to say about tone but a good start for good tone consistently is playing scales
with scales your fingers will remember the amount of power you need to have an equal tone all over the fretboard
play them with index- middle,index- ring and middle ring fingers
of course play slow,focused and with a metronome
you dont have to over do it
good luck

This is VERY helpful. I'm challenged right now with the B and high E string. This sounds like a nice way to learn to get past that. I'm switching back to steel string now, I wandered into classical/nylon to learn some techniques that might help push my finger-style playing to a new arc... it worked, but now my fingers are having trouble adjusting to steel - especially that high E string! I sometimes loose at least and eighth note of time with my finger getting stuck on that darn string!

Videos I've seen make it look like the good steel string finger-stylists are barely touching the strings at all. What are people's thoughts on that?

[rick-slo]

The best tone you can get on a single note is probably with a flat pick.


Using fingernails you can come close to the above but the nails need the right shape and level of polishing. Great nail maintenance with natural nails is not easy, and sometimes impossible.


Play around with different picking distances from the bridge. The closer to the bridge the brighter the tone.


At least know about using rest strokes, even if you don't use full rest strokes.


Don't buzz the strings on the frets – sometimes it's just a subtle zing.


For fast tempo tunes minimal picking hand movement helps to control consistent tone.


Generally, regardless of your technique, you will get a fuller, rounder, tone (on a reasonably decent guitar with reasonable sustain) on slow pieces with longer duration notes as the tone rounds itself out with time even if a bit harsh on initial attack.


For uptempo tunes sustain can get in the way of clean note separation and you may need to pay more attention to note dampening to control that.


Recordings (videos) you listen to are just that, recordings. Beware of trying to get a live sound that matches a recording. You can of course record your own playing, but then the output is a combination of you, the guitar, and the recording techniques and tweaks.

[PhillipT]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

The best tone you can get on a single note is probably with a flat pick.


Using fingernails you can come close to the above but the nails need the right shape and level of polishing. Great nail maintenance with natural nails is not easy, and sometimes impossible.

I won't argue with you - not experienced/good enough, nor am I opposed to picking.

But I just LOVE fingerstyle playing!

C'mon, don't you think James Taylor is cool... even just a little?

Given, I'm not going to grow out my fingernails on my right hand, because - well... I'm not going to grow out my fingernails... tried it - Nah!

But there's some really good players without the nails... there's got to be good tips for attacking those steel strings...

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by PhillipT

C'mon, don't you think James Taylor is cool... even just a little?

rick-slo plays fingerstyle, I'm pretty sure he's not suggesting becoming a flatpicker :-)

I also play fingerstyle, but I agree with his comment. I often use a flatpick as a model for working on tone. Play single notes with a good pick, then see if you can achieve the same power, fatness, etc with your fingers. Work on hand position, attack, nails, and so on to try to get close to the same tone. There are going to be differences and there are different mechanical considerations, but it's nice to have a reference point to work for.

[Faust]

I find nail care to be such a huge factor playing steel string, nylon strings are much more forgiving and you can get away with nails that aren't glass level polished.

Whereas with steel string the wound strings aren't as fine and have much more pronounced grooves which cause friction with the nail. Only when I buff my nails up for 4min with a relatively new (max 10 day old) Revlon buff and shine can I get them smooth enough to eliminate all the clicks and scratches that come with playing with nails.

But when I do I've been able to get heavenly tone where there's no distinction between nail and flesh and near zero attack noise, all that's left is pure unadulterated tone. Although it takes only 10min of playing to wear them back down a bit and have the clicks and scratches return.