#16
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It's probably easier to get adequate on fingerstyle than flatpick. Getting to a very high level of flatpicking is much more difficult. I can name 50-60 topnotch fingerstyle players and less than 20 top level flatpickers.
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#17
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Maybe there's just more instrumental fingerstyle players (who tend to play solo) than instrumental flatpickers (who tend to play with backup musicians) and it has nothing to do with difficulty. Maybe it's interest and not ability that makes is lopsided. Just a thought.
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#18
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As far as which is easier (I don't know what "better" means), I think it depends on what you do with it. To play at a high level with fingerstyle, to be a Peter Finger or a Pierre Bensusan or a Christopher Parkening takes a lifetime, to do a little folk fingerpicking can be learned in a few weeks or months of practice. Same for being Dan Crary or Tony Rice vs someone who can strum a few chords with a pick. It's all what you put into it.
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Music: Spotify, Bandcamp Videos: You Tube Channel Books: Hymns for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), Christmas Carols for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), A DADGAD Christmas, Alternate Tunings book Online Course: Alternate Tunings for Fingerstyle Guitar |
#19
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I corrected the typographical error but am quite sure you knew what I meant. Quote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7jjO5is-nE Last edited by Herb Hunter; 05-01-2009 at 06:27 AM. |
#20
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I started off playing fingerstyle and switched to using a pick just because it goes with my sound better but I still like to incorporate fingerstyle in some of my songs.
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My Guitars Taylor 914ce L7 2000 Taylor 914c Gibson Dove Custom Epiphone Acoustic Fender 12 String |
#21
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There are some fingerpickers that seem to be able to play blindingly fast single note lead lines by combining downstrokes with the thumb and upstrokes with the finger. I'm always blown away when I see this because, as a flatpicker mainly, I tend to think of this as the domain of the flatpicker (e.g. Bryan Sutton).
I do think fingerpickers have an edge for solo instrumental performances, although using techniques like crosspicking, flatpickers can get a fairly full, complex sound as well. For me, one big benefit of flatpicking is the ability to alternate between single note lead lines and strumming. I find that I have much more versatility for strumming when I use the flatpick.
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Steve |
#22
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My opinion: Most people believe that what they do and/or like is "best." Most people also believe that what they do is the most difficult. I believe that while there are differences in what can be accomplished, it just comes down to personal preference. I played almost exclusively fingerstyle for more years than I care to think about, using a flat pick only to strum when that was appropriate. About 5 years ago, I started transitioning to flatpicking, as I became interested in bluegrass and traditional country, but also wanted to keep playing restaurant music. I have found that people enjoy my flatpicked versions of Classical Gas and Summer of '42 as much as they did the fingerpicked versions I did for years. It is, however, impossible for a guitar to fulfill it's role in a bluegrass band without a flatpick. Quote:
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I don't believe there is a black and white answer to your question ... there are many gray areas, starting with definition. I find the flatpick a much more versatile tool than fingers, and I am sure that many find the opposite to be true. But is sure is funny to watch even an accomplished fingerstyle player try to come into a bluegrass jam and take a break on "Old Home Place" or "Clinch Mountain Backstep." |
#23
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Bigred51,
I pretty much agree with most of what you said. They are different styles and spending time in one doesn't make you likely to be any further ahead in the other. I started out with a flat pick and learned "Wildwood Flower", "Walk Don't Run", "Jimmy Brown the Newsboy", etc. and how to chunk out rhythm. Then I started playing fingerstyle and have pretty much played it exclusively for many years. I can still use a flatpick, but I haven't moved beyond what I learned at the beginning, technique wise. I see what the best can do, and am totally humbled by their skills. A couple of noted pros who can hold their own either fingerpicking or flatpicking. Wayne Henderson plays fingerstyle and mostly bluegrass/old timey stuff and is hard to beat. Tony McManus is a monster with both a flatpick and fingerstyle as well as a great mandolin player. Ledward Kaapana can handle anything from fingerstyle slack key to blues, rock, and bluegrass with a pick. Laurence Juber excels at both styles. Doc Watson does okay with both, too. I'm sure there's a bunch more. But generally, the rest of us are just human. It's one or the other, mostly. |
#24
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And let's not forget Lester Flatt as a fingerpickin' bluegrasser!
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Bill Vencil http://www.billvencil.com http://billvencil.bandcamp.com http://cdbaby.com/cd/bvencil http://www.facebook.com/billvencilmusic |
#25
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And on a related note, I recently heard some of the fastest guitar I've ever heard in my life, and it was indeed a classical player running scales, "fingerpicking". As fast as any shredder I've heard, let alone "flatpickers". Just a choice of tools and what you want to do.
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Music: Spotify, Bandcamp Videos: You Tube Channel Books: Hymns for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), Christmas Carols for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), A DADGAD Christmas, Alternate Tunings book Online Course: Alternate Tunings for Fingerstyle Guitar |
#26
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It's interesting that bluegrass guitar seems to mean flatpicking, while bluegrass banjo means fingerstyle. So it's not like fingerstyle techniques aren't used in bluegrass.
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Music: Spotify, Bandcamp Videos: You Tube Channel Books: Hymns for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), Christmas Carols for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), A DADGAD Christmas, Alternate Tunings book Online Course: Alternate Tunings for Fingerstyle Guitar |
#27
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The two styles do not exclude each other. I started with a pick, went through some years and some electric and some acoustic guitars, then pick with fingers, then fingerstyle. I still use a pick from time to time. I do think playing with a pick and yes, even playing electric with a pick has added some things to the way I play without a pick. Nails and the sides of fingers can sometimes get a pick like quality.
Go for both if you have time and the inclination. Sometimes a pick is the thing that gets a certain sound from a certain guitar and I believe has its place for fingerstyle players if just for the fun aspect. I you do not think playing with a pick can be fun, then you are right for yourself RW |
#28
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I don't understand the .vs. in the thread title. Both styles, (not to mention any number of other styles) bring things to the party so what is the "either/or" connotation?
I pick & do fingerstyle, use harmonics, tap, and anything else I can think of in a single song and it always seems like the more I learn, the more I like to use these things. |
#29
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I use a combination of flat picking and fingers...hybrid, employing the pick on bass strings (held in thumb and index) while picking the trebles with middle, ring and pinky fingers. I readily can switch from powerful flat-pick strumming to light fingering and back. I can't imagine one without the other...it's all part of playing guitar!
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#30
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And let us not forget the possibility of using banjo-style fingerpicks on the guitar. The great Eddie Adcock is known as a banjo player but I much more enjoy hearing him on guitar. He uses a combination of banjo-type three finger rolls, what he calls "double thumb" with consecutive notes thumb picked and a pseudo-flatpicking style with the up and down strokes done by two fingers with fingerpicks.
Speed out the wazoo and a lot of rhythmic and dynamic flexibility. What's the old Shakespeare line? "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, then are dreamt of in your philosophy" It's impossible to make broad characterisations of what is and isn't possible with or without a flatpick in your hand. Music is art and art is not reducible to specific governing rules and fundamental principles. And then there's guys like Clarence White and Pierre Bensusan, some times I can't figure out what they heck they are doing.
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Grabbed his jacket Put on his walking shoes Last seen, six feet under Singing the I've Wasted My Whole Life Blues ---Warren Malone "Whole Life Blues" Last edited by Brent Hutto; 05-04-2009 at 09:13 AM. |