Quote:
Originally Posted by Paddy1951
I watched a documentary tonight about bluesman Mississippi Fred McDowell.
His playing style was somewhat unusual. Thumb pick and his index finger. No other fingers. Other blues artists were also shown and their fingerstyles were kind of all over the place.
I know Elizabeth Cotten's playing style was ridiculed at one point. She was also a two finger player.
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Well the main thing that made her unusual was playing the guitar upside down! Bass strings on the bottom, played with the index, thumb for the melodies. That's
really unconventional. (Although only an idiot would ridicule her for it.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paddy1951
This has me wondering.... Do any of you fingerstyle players routinely play with an unconventioal approach?
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What's a "conventional" approach? You mean classical p-i-m-a orthodoxy? You would use that if you were taught it.
Otherwise, self-taught players will each go with what feels natural. It's pretty intuitive to play the bass strings with your thumb and the others with at least one finger. How many fingers you use would depend (a) on how many notes you need to play at any one time, and (b) on whether you find it quicker to alternate fingers or play everything with just one.
IOW, common practices among self-taught fingerpickers will gravitate to certain obvious techniques (practical, ergonomic), but with plenty of personal variation within those.
The great Merle Travis, e.g., only used thumb and index. Middle ring and pinky were anchored on the scratchplate all the time.
I suspect most of us (like most of those old blues players) mostly use thumb index and middle, maybe with ring (or even pinky) as a spare.
Personally, my main fingers are thumb, middle and ring, with index as spare. I started out that way because, when resting my wrist by the bridge, my middle and ring fingers reached the strings more easily than my index.