Is this a bad idea or not?

[johnny196775]

I want to develop my right hand picking thumb.

Here is my question.

Is it bad practice to play picking patterns only using the thumb?

What would be the pros and cons of doing so?

Thank you.

[kats45]

You can work the thumb with the 4th, 5th, and 6th strings. There are exercise, which you can probably find online, that will work the thumb. I know there are in Frederick Noad's book for classical music.

Here are a few exercises:
http://fingerstyleblues.com/lesson-7...nce-exercises/

[Kerbie]

Maybe I'm not exactly sure what you mean by developing your picking thumb. I agree with Kats... you may want to concentrate on patterns or exercises with your thumb on the 4th, 5th and 6th strings.

I would be more interested in developing the independence of the thumb... how to keep the thumb working while your 1st, 2nd and 3rd fingers are playing melodies on the treble strings.

I don't know how experienced you are, but what about working on the Travis picking patterns? That will help you learn alternating bass. Kats' link is an excellent one for that. Good luck...

[JonPR]

The thumb has to work with the fingers, one way or another, so I don't see much advantage in picking with thumb only.

In classical technique the thumb is relatively equal to the fingers - it controls the 3 bass strings (usually), but doesn't normally play much more than each finger does.
Typical classical arpeggio exercises (such as Noad's) are good for coordinating thumb and 3 fingers.

In Travis picking (aka alternating bass) it's very different, and the thumb leads, playing every beat and often more than any of the fingers. (Merle Travis himself only used thumb and index, but most folk-blues players use thumb and 2 or 3 fingers.)

But even if it's the latter style you want to develop, focussing on thumb only may not be the best idea. I used to teach the style that way (as in the exercises in kats45's link), beginning with thumb exercises, no fingers, but it never worked very well. As soon as students started using a finger, the thumb would get thrown off the beat. So although it seemed the thumb exercises were establishing a regular beat, it didn't "take".
Now I believe the best method is to take a basic Travis pattern and work on it beat by beat, very slowly; thumb and finger(s) together.
On any one beat, there are only 2 possibilities:
1: thumb only
2: thumb and 1 finger
In between the beats, there will sometimes be a finger only (same or different finger), but not between every beat.
Almost any Travis pattern can be broken down that way, and as long as you work with a steady beat (ideally with a metronome), so the thumb never strays from the beat and only fingers pick between the beats (on the "and"s), that's the way to build it up.

Eventually the thumb will become automatic this way, allowing fingers to be more creative.

IOW, it's a little misleading (IMO) to say the thumb is "independent" of the fingers. Yes, it needs to do its job holding the beat, regardless of what the fingers are doing, but I don't think the best way to get to that point is to train the thumb on its own. Include a finger from the start, but do it very slowly.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by johnny196775

I...Is it bad practice to play picking patterns only using the thumb?

Hi johnny...

As a teacher I say 'Of course it's not wrong to practice patterns only with the thumb.' I'd also encourage you to play patterns other than just with the thumb too.

Perhaps including some exercises just with the fingers, and some with thumb and fingers together too.

[johnny196775]

[QUOTE=JonPR;3408969]The thumb has to work with the fingers, one way or another, so I don't see much advantage in picking with thumb only.

This sounds like good advice.



All i do is travis pick. Pretty much.

Thank you all for your replies.

[Grenade]

Five fingers and six strings. Something has to do double duty.