right hand technique (or left, if you're a lefty)

[Merlemantel]

What one piece of advice would you give to enhance right hand finger picking technique? (or left, if you're a lefty)

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Merlemantel

What one piece of advice would you give to enhance right hand finger picking technique? (or left, if you're a lefty)

It's going to come down to 1 thing in the end.

Slow and precise repetition.

Generally the thumb handles the 6th, 5th and 4th and the index (i), middle (m) and ring finger (a) are more or less assigned in order to the trebles as i 3rd, m 2nd, a 1st, but it depends on the music being played. You try not to use the same finger twice on a trebles string for speed and flow purposes.

I have found that learning simple classical etudes has really helped my overall right hand skills.

Also, Guiliani's 120 right hand exercises are excellent and can be found in notation with tab versions on the internet. I have only practiced the 1st 12 or so of the exercises.

Lastly, find a finger style tune you want to learn to play, something a bit over your head and hammer at it.

I use Stephen Wake's music to punish myself

[Merlemantel]

Originally Posted by TBman

It's going to come down to 1 thing in the end.

Slow and precise repetition.

Generally the thumb handles the 6th, 5th and 4th and the index (i), middle (m) and ring finger (a) are more or less assigned in order to the trebles as i 3rd, m 2nd, a 1st, but it depends on the music being played. You try not to use the same finger twice on a trebles string for speed and flow purposes.

I have found that learning simple classical etudes has really helped my overall right hand skills.

Also, Guiliani's 120 right hand exercises are excellent and can be found in notation with tab versions on the internet. I have only practiced the 1st 12 or so of the exercises.

Lastly, find a finger style tune you want to learn to play, something a bit over your head and hammer at it.


I use Stephen Wake's music to punish myself

This is so helpful to me. Thank you - I am hammering away at some tunes that are just ahead of my current skill set, this finger assignment info is very useful

[abn556]

I am not a great finger picker. The guys who I see who are really great at it, like the classically trained players, all use a bent wrist so their fingers are at a near perfect 90 degrees to the strings.

+

[MrDB]

Barry being the classical style player has good advice for finger assignment. I travis pick with thumb and 2 fingers and rarely venture into instrumental stuff any more.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by MrDB

Barry being the classical style player has good advice for finger assignment. I travis pick with thumb and 2 fingers and rarely venture into instrumental stuff any more.

It's more like "Barry, TRYING to be a classical style player",

[Bluenose]

Depends on what type of fingerpicking that your interested in playing. I like old blues and ragtime myself and a big step in playing that music is learning to keep a steady quarter note type bass while the melody notes are played with your other fingers.

After that is mastered, learning to add syncopated bass notes on the off beat is the next challenge.

Most of the old time ragtime songwriters like Scott Joplin wrote on the piano and the guitar arrangements for these generally have a moving bass line played with the thumb while the other fingers play the melody.

It's going to take a lot of practice to do this and there is no way to get around it if that's your goal.

[RodB]

Originally Posted by Merlemantel

What one piece of advice would you give to enhance right hand finger picking technique? (or left, if you're a lefty)

If I had to give one piece of advice related to the picking hand to a player who had mastered the basics it would be:

Play it like you really mean it, with conviction and with something to say.

[Silly Moustache]

I do believe that one Doc Watson only used thumb and index finger.

And perhaps as I'm a lefty playing righty the pinky,ring and middle fingers of my right hand serve only as counterweights.
For classical there are classical "rules."
For blues, country, folk etc., THERE ARE NO RULES.

[jseth]

Originally Posted by RodB

If I had to give one piece of advice related to the picking hand to a player who had mastered the basics it would be:

Play it like you really mean it, with conviction and with something to say.

This is very close to what I am going to offer... playing with INTENT is SO important!

Also, work on getting an even tone and volume from each string that is plucked; whether bare fingers, nails or fingerpicks, balancing volume and tone is paramount to the overall sound...

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

I do believe that one Doc Watson only used thumb and index finger.

And perhaps as I'm a lefty playing righty the pinky,ring and middle fingers of my right hand serve only as counterweights.
For classical there are classical "rules."
For blues, country, folk etc., THERE ARE NO RULES.

I think Julia Lange uses thumb, index, middle and ring. We all have different views of what a really good player is and the techniques they use.

[Merlemantel]

Originally Posted by TBman

I think Julia Lange uses thumb, index, middle and ring. We all have different views of what a really good player is and the techniques they use.

Wow, there is no arguing with the result of what she is doing. This is beautiful playing.

[Merlemantel]

The thing I see, and notice in my own playing, is the huge difference it makes when the right hand is tight, tense. When the fingers move without muscular tension, the sound warms up, when the hand is tense, you can hear it in the sound. I am trying to figure out what this is all about. Why is the difference in the sound so huge? What is happening in terms of how the string is set in motion?

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Merlemantel

What one piece of advice would you give to enhance right hand finger picking technique? (or left, if you're a lefty)

Hi Merlemantle…

If you were a student (I taught fingerstyle guitar for 40 years) I'd put you in a regimen to increase your vocabulary of, and precise use of, systematic patterns - both plucking and picking - involving the picking hand…anywhere on the fingerboard, and using spaced as well as adjacent patterns…so they remain precise and become language. When I was in kindergarten I could not read much, but I spoke fluently. Then I learned to read/write and it improved my communication but I never forgot how to tell stories and chat.

My piece of advice would be to understand realistic assessment that it would take several months/years to go from square one to a proficient level. When I started playing/singing folk music in the 60s and telling stories, then later built the skills to improve what I was sharing, it came together more organically. It also connected with others better and became a basis for interaction.

The formal classical training I had for 18 years was not learning to speak first and then spell, but trying to do both at the same time (with heavy emphasis on how perfectly our music was spelled rather than how it communicated and how well it was shared, understood and appreciated by listeners).

Proficiency for me means to be at a level somewhere between 'I-can-play-patterns-NOW' for patterns already learned, and 'if-I-think-it-NOW-I-can-play-it-SOON' when you encounter new applications and opportunities. And proficient players tend to play very free and relaxed. The music just flows from the brain-through-the-hands (or the mouth in the case of those who play and sing).

Despite fingerstyle being my main skill, there are still situations I play in (especially playing backing guitar in ensemble situations) that I need a minute/day to either adapt or build into my fingers/brain the new patterns I'm needing NOW.

Hope that made sense…

[Charlie Bernstein]

Neon Leon Fullerton's three rules of instrument mastery: Woodshed, woodshed, and woodshed.

Though it's morbid and insensitive, I enjoyed Coronageddon. Just sat around for hours buildig my Delta- and Travis-style playing, especially my right thumb prowess. Time well spent!