flat picking ala bluegrass vs fingerpicking ala jazz/soft rock

[Ricker]

went to a show yesterday and briefly listened to three different sets.

1st was three gents playing bluegrass style with dreds, jumbos. lots of individual note riffs with the pick.

2nd and third were fingerstylists par excellence. georgeous music, but way different.

I must have a split personality because one side of me loves bluegrass, e.g. Block and Tyminski and countless other greats.

Another side loves fingerstyle picking from Paul Simon to Mark Hanson, Doug Smith and Michael Dowdle.

I'm guessing the greats, the super accomplished naturals can play anything anyway they want. But what about a beginner. do you sort of have to choose how you're going to go for the first 3-4 years.

[jseth]

Rick, I think you answered your own question! If you like several styles of music, then just go ahead and start learning tunes from all of 'em... absolutely no harm in variety!

What you will find is a strong similarity between many of the various stylistic approaches... certainly between bluegrass, swing, bebop and (fast) blues.

I started out with basic folk songs, over 50 years ago... then learned some surf music and rock and roll... then more into alt country (Gram Parsons, etc...) and then into more jazzy stuff and bebop/standards...writing original songs along the way!

All along the way, I picked up different techniques, just as a matter of course. I learned how to do a basic fingerpicking motif, way back when; then graduated to Travis picking. But I always enjoyed playing single-note lines with a pick, too. Over the years, I dropped my thumbpick and now just use a flat pick and the rest of my fingers... Besides using a pick to strum, I'll get downstrums with the backs of my nails, use fingers/pick simultaneously, to get clusters or 2, 3 and 4 note voicings.

So, my stule has "morphed" into something that works for all the different types of music I love to play... and it kinda happened naturally, as I progressed and became more fluent in this language of music.

Go ahead and just... BEGIN! ...and keep going and learning. The only boundaries are ones which you place on yourself...

play on................................................ ....>

John Seth Sherman

[mr. beaumont]

Yeah, this is the time, as a beginner, to get comfortable with both the pick and fingerstyle playing.

It's actually a good thing that everything feels new and clumsy. If you spend all your time on one style, learning the other further down the road can be quite frustrating (not impossible, just tough)

[Bikewer]

I started out pretty much from day one doing both. That was back in the mid-70s... I'm still quite proficient with both... No reason not to spend a bit of time working on both in your practice sessions.
Besides, being able to flatpick well is nice if you break a nail....

[Ricker]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Yeah, this is the time, as a beginner, to get comfortable with both the pick and fingerstyle playing.

It's actually a good thing that everything feels new and clumsy. If you spend all your time on one style, learning the other further down the road can be quite frustrating (not impossible, just tough)

Years ago I flew small planes for skydivers and towing gliders. I learned and got all my tickets in tricycle gear aircraft, but not too far into working at it a company had two taildraggers. i checked out in those, but it was hard to convert landing techniques. later I've been told by countless pilots that learning in a taildragger first is much better. i think it'd been better if I'd started out in both.

i guess the comparison is soft, but still I like the advice to vary technique early. you see, if i was 25 or even 45 i might not have the same sense of urgency about how i put in the time. my goal has two parts: first and foremost to enjoy and learn the language. but not far behind is a strong desire to be able to play with other folks and experience just a little of that obvious joy that sometimes happens.

i too started with folk songs about 45 years ago and played for 10 years off and on, but never focused enough to get beyond pretty good strumming and rhythm guitar. then i got distracted. darn. oh well.

in any case, i see my instructor next time i'm going to visit the issue with him and see what he says too. i'm only about 8-9 months into being back and now i am focused. so we'll see.

thanks for the thoughts.