Fingerstyle guitar

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Fingerstyle guitar
Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar by plucking the strings
directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed
to flatpicking (plucking individual notes with a single plectrum, commonly called a
"pick"). The term "fingerstyle" is something of a misnomer, since it is present in
several different genres and styles of music�but mostly, because it involves a
completely different technique, not just a "style" of playing, especially for the
guitarist's picking/plucking hand. The term is often used synonymously with
fingerpicking, although fingerpicking can also refer to a specific tradition of
folk, blues and country guitar playing in the US. See below.

Music arranged for fingerstyle playing can include chords, arpeggios (the notes of
a chord played one after the other, as opposed to simultaneously) and other
elements such as artificial harmonics, hammering on and pulling off notes with the
fretting hand, using the body of the guitar percussively (by tapping rhythms on the
body), and many other techniques. Often, the guitarist will play the melody notes,
interspersed with the melody's accompanying chords and the deep bassline (or bass
notes) simultaneously. Some fingerpicking guitarists also intersperse percussive
tapping along with the melody, chords and bassline. This enables a single guitarist
to provide all of these important song elements. This enables singer-guitarists to
accompany themselves, and it enables smaller groups which have only a single
guitarist to use one guitarist to provide all of these musical elements.
Fingerpicking is a standard technique on the classical or nylon string guitar, but
is considered more of a specialized technique on steel string guitars.
Fingerpicking is less common on electric guitars, except in the heavy metal music
virtuoso style of lead guitar playing known as shred guitar.

Contents [hide]
1 Technique
2 Advantages and disadvantages
3 Nylon string guitar styles
3.1 Classical guitar fingerstyle
3.1.1 Notation
3.1.2 Alternation
3.1.3 Tone production
3.2 Flamenco guitar fingerstyle
3.3 Bossa nova
4 North American tradition
4.1 Ragtime guitar
4.2 Carter Family picking
4.3 Travis picking
4.4 Clawhammer and frailing
4.5 American primitive guitar
5 Other acoustic styles
5.1 Folk baroque
5.2 "New Age" approach
5.3 Percussive approach
5.4 Funky approaches
5.5 African fingerstyle
6 Slide, steel and slack-key guitar
6.1 Slide guitar
6.2 Slack-key guitar
7 Electric guitar
7.1 Fingerstyle jazz guitar
7.2 Electric blues and rock
8 Notes
9 References
Technique[edit]
Because individual digits play notes on the guitar rather than the hand working as
a single unit (which is the case when a guitarist is holding a single pick), a
guitarist playing fingerstyle can perform several musical elements simultaneously.
One definition of the technique has been put forward by the Toronto (Canada)
Fingerstyle Guitar Association:

Physically, "Fingerstyle" refers to using each of the right hand fingers

independently to play the multiple parts of a musical arrangement that would
normally be played by several band members. Deep bass notes, harmonic accompaniment
(the chord progression), melody, and percussion can all be played simultaneously
when playing Fingerstyle.[1]

Many fingerstyle guitarists have adopted a combination of acrylic nails and a

thumbpick to improve tone and decrease nail wear and chance of breaking or
chipping. Notable guitarists to adopt this hardware are Doyle Dykes and Canadian
guitarist Don Ross.

Advantages and disadvantages[edit]

Players do not have to carry a plectrum; but fingernails may have to be maintained
at the right length and in good condition.
It is possible to play multiple non-adjacent strings at exactly the same time.[2]
This enables the guitarist to play a very low bass note and a high treble note at
the same time. This enables the guitarist to play double stops, such as an octave,
a fifth, a sixth, or other intervals that suit the harmony.
It is more suitable for playing polyphonically, with separate, independent musical
lines, or separate melody, harmony and bass parts, and therefore more suitable to
unaccompanied solo playing, or to very small ensembles, like duos in which a
guitarist accompanies a singer. Fingerstyle players have up to four (or five)
surfaces (fingernails or picks) striking the strings and/or other parts of the
guitar independently; that does not equate to four plectrums, since plectrums can
strike strings on both up and a downstroke easily, while fingers can only achieve
alternation with hard practice.[3] (an exception to this may be found in the
flamenco technique of rasgueado.
It is easy to play arpeggios; but the techniques for tremolo (rapid repetition of a
note) and melody playing are more complex than with plectrum playing.
It is possible to play chords without any arpeggiation, because up to five strings
can be plucked simultaneously.
There is less need for fretting hand damping (muting) in playing chords, since only
the strings that are required can be plucked.
A greater variation in strokes is possible, allowing greater expressiveness in
timbre and dynamics.
A wide variety of strums and rasgueados are possible.
Less energy is generally imparted to strings than with plectrum playing, leading to
lower volume when playing acoustically.
Playing on heavier gauge strings can damage nails: fingerstyle is more suited to
nylon strings or lighter gauge steel strings (but this does not apply to
fingerpicks, or when the flesh of the fingers is used rather than the nail, as is
the case with the lute.)
Nylon string guitar styles[edit]
Nylon string guitars are most frequently played fingerstyle[dubious � discuss]
[citation needed].

Classical guitar fingerstyle[edit]

John Williams
Main article: Classical guitar technique
The term "Classical guitar music" can refer to any kind of art music played on a
nylon string guitar, or more narrowly to music of the classical period, as opposed
to baroque or romantic music. The major feature of classical fingerstyle technique
is that it enables solo rendition of harmony and polyphonic music in much the same
manner as the piano can. The technique is intended to maximise the degree of
control over the musical dynamics, texture, volume and timbral characteristics of
the guitar. Careful attention is paid to the physical posture of the player. Thumb,
index, middle and ring fingers are all employed for plucking. Chords are often
plucked, with strums being reserved for emphasis. The repertoire varies in terms of
keys, modes, rhythms and cultural influences. Altered tunings are rarely employed,
with the exception of dropped D.

Notation[edit]
Fingerings for both hands are often given in detail in classical guitar music
notation, although players are also free to add to or depart from them as part of
their own interpretation. Fretting hand fingers are given as numbers, plucking hand
fingers are given as letters

Finger Notation Finger Notation

Thumb T Thumb p
Index 1 Index i
Middle 2 Middle m
Ring 3 Ring a
Little 4 Little c or x or e
In guitar scores, the five fingers of the right-hand (which pluck the strings) are
designated by the first letter of their Spanish names namely p = thumb (pulgar), i
= index finger (�ndice), m = major finger (mayor), a = ring finger (anular), c =
little finger or pinky (chiquito).[4]

The four fingers of the left hand (which stop the strings) are designated 1 =
index, 2 = major, 3 = ring finger, 4 = little finger; 0 designates an open string,
that is a string that is not stopped by a finger of the left hand and whose full
length thus vibrates when plucked. On the classical guitar thumb of the left hand
is never used to stop strings from above (as is done on the electric guitar): the
neck of a classical guitar is too wide and the normal position of the thumb used in
classical guitar technique do not make that possible. Scores (contrary to
tablatures) do not systematically indicate the string to be plucked (although in
most cases the choice is obvious). When an indication of the string is required the
strings are designated 1 to 6 (from the 1st the high E to the 6th the low E) with
figures 1 to 6 inside circles.

The positions (that is where on the fretboard the first finger of the left hand is
placed) are also not systematically indicated, but when they are (mostly in the
case of the execution of barr�s) these are indicated with Roman numerals from the
position I (index finger of the left hand placed on the 1st fret: F�B?�E?�A?�C�F)
to the position XII (the index finger of the left hand placed on the 12th fret:
E�A�D�G�B�E; the 12th fret is placed where the body begins) or higher up to
position XIX (the classical guitar most often having 19 frets, with the 19th fret
being most often split and not being usable to fret the 3rd and 4th strings).

Alternation[edit]
To achieve tremolo effects and rapid, fluent scale passages, and varied arpeggios
the player must practice alternation, that is, never plucking a string with the
same finger twice. Common alternation patterns include:

i�m�i�m: Basic melody line on the treble strings. Has the appearance of "walking
along the strings".
i�m�a�i�m�a: Tremolo pattern with a triplet feel (i.e. the same note is repeated
three times)
p�a�m�i�p�a�m�i: Another tremolo pattern.
p�m�p�m: A way of playing a melody line on the lower strings.
Tone production[edit]
Classical guitarists have a lot of freedom within the mechanics of playing the
instrument. Often these decisions with influence on tone and timbre � factors
include:

At what position along the string the finger plucks the string (This is changed by
guitarists throughout a song, since it is an effective way of changing the sound
(timbre) from "soft" (dolce) plucking the string near its middle, to "hard"
(ponticelo) plucking the string near its end).
Use of the nail or not: Modern classical guitar playing uses a technique in which
both the nail and the fingertip contact the string during normal playing. (Andr�s
Segovia is often credited with popularizing this technique.) Playing with either
fingertips alone (dita punta) or fingernails alone (dita unghis) are considered
special techniques for timbral variation.
Concert guitarists must keep their fingernails smoothly filed and carefully
shaped[5] to employ this technique, which produces a better-controlled sound than
either nails or fingertips alone. Playing parameters include:

Which finger to use

What angle of attack to hold the wrist and fingers at with respect to the strings.
Rest-stroke apoyando; the finger that plucks a string rests on the next
string�traditionally used in single melody lines�versus free-stroke tirando
(plucking the string without coming to a rest on the next string).
Flamenco guitar fingerstyle[edit]
Main article: Flamenco guitar

Paco Pe�a
Flamenco technique is related to classical technique, but with more emphasis on
rhythmic drive and volume, and less on dynamic contrast and tone production.
Flamenco guitarists prefer keys such as A and E that allow the use of open strings,
and typically employ capos where a departure is required. They often strengthen
their fingernails artificially.[citation needed]

Some specialized techniques include:

Picado: Single-line scale passages performed apoyando but with more attack and
articulation.
Rasgueado: Strumming frequently done by bunching all the right hand fingers and
then flicking them out in quick succession to get four superimposed strums
(although there are a great many variations on this). The rasgueado or "rolling"
strum is particularly characteristic of the genre.
Alzapua: A thumb technique with roots in oud plectrum technique. The right hand
thumb is used for both single-line notes and strummed across a number of strings.
Both are combined in quick succession to give it a unique sound.
Tremolo: Done somewhat differently from the conventional classical guitar tremolo,
it is very commonly played with the right hand pattern p�i�a�m�i.
Bossa nova[edit]
Bossa nova is most commonly performed on the nylon-string classical guitar, played
with the fingers rather than with a pick. Its purest form could be considered
unaccompanied guitar with vocals, as exemplified by Jo�o Gilberto. Even in larger,
jazz-like arrangements for groups, there is almost always a guitar that plays the
underlying rhythm. Gilberto basically took one of the several rhythmic layers from
a samba ensemble, specifically the tamborim, and applied it to the picking hand.

North American tradition[edit]

Guitarist Lindsey Buckingham playing an amplified acoustic guitar using

fingerpicking technique

Mark Knopfler, performing with his band Dire Straits in 1981, demonstrates his
fingerpicking style on a Fender Stratocaster solid-body guitar
Fingerpicking (also called thumb picking, alternating bass, or pattern picking) is
a term that is used to describe both a playing style and a genre of music. It falls
under the "fingerstyle" heading because it is plucked by the fingers, but it is
generally used to play a specific type of folk, country-jazz and/or blues music. In
this technique, the thumb maintains a steady rhythm, usually playing "alternating
bass" patterns on the lower three strings, while the index, or index and middle
fingers pick out melody and fill-in notes on the high strings. The style originated
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as southern blues guitarists tried to
imitate the popular ragtime piano music of the day, with the guitarist's thumb
functioning as the pianist's left hand, and the other fingers functioning as the
right hand. The first recorded examples were by players such as Blind Blake, Big
Bill Broonzy, Memphis Minnie and Mississippi John Hurt. Some early blues players
such as Blind Willie Johnson and Tampa Red added slide guitar techniques.

Fingerpicking was soon taken up by country and Western artists such as Sam McGee,
Ike Everly (father of The Everly Brothers), Merle Travis and "Thumbs" Carllile.
Later Chet Atkins further developed the style and in modern music musicians such as
Jose Gonzalez, Eddie Vedder (on his song Guaranteed) and David Knowles[6] have
utilized the style. Most fingerpickers use acoustic guitars, but some, including
Merle Travis played on hollow-body electric guitars,[7] while some modern rock
musicians, such as Derek Trucks and Mark Knopfler, employ traditional North
American fingerpicking techniques on solid-body electric guitars such as the Gibson
Les Paul or the Fender Stratocaster.

Ragtime guitar[edit]

Blind Blake.
As mentioned above, fingerpicking has similar roots to and may have been inspired
by ragtime piano[citation needed]. An early master of ragtime guitar was Blind
Blake, a popular recording artist of the late 1920s and early 1930s. In the 1960s,
a new generation of guitarists returned to these roots and began to transcribe
piano tunes for solo guitar. One of the best known and most talented of these
players was Dave Van Ronk, who arranged St. Louis Tickle for solo guitar. In 1971,
guitarists David Laibman and Eric Schoenberg arranged and recorded Scott Joplin
rags and other complex piano arrangements for the LP The New Ragtime Guitar on
Folkways Records. This was followed by a Stefan Grossman method book with the same
title. A year later Grossman and ED Denson founded Kicking Mule Records, a company
that recorded scores of LPs of solo ragtime guitar by artists including Grossman,
Ton van Bergeyk, Leo Wijnkamp, Duck Baker, Peter Finger, Lasse Johansson, Tom Ball
and Dale Miller. Meanwhile, Reverend Gary Davis was active in New York City, where
he mentored many aspiring finger-pickers.[8] He has subsequently influenced
numerous other artists in the United States and internationally.

Carter Family picking[edit]

Carter Family picking, also known as "'thumb brush' technique or the 'Carter lick,'
and also the 'church lick' and the 'Carter scratch'",[9] is a style of fingerstyle
guitar named for Maybelle Carter of the Carter Family's distinctive style of rhythm
guitar in which the melody is played on the bass strings, usually low E, A, and D
while rhythm strumming continues above, on the treble strings, G, B, and high E.
This often occurs during the break.[10]

Travis picking[edit]
This style is commonly played on steel string acoustic guitars. Pattern picking is
the use of "preset right-hand pattern[s]" while fingerpicking, with the left hand
fingering standard chords.[11] The most common pattern, sometimes broadly (and
incorrectly[citation needed]) referred to as Travis picking after Merle Travis, and
popularized by Chet Atkins, Marcel Dadi, James Taylor[12] and Tommy Emmanuel, is as
follows:

Middle | X X - | X X - |
Index | X X - | X X - |
Thumb | X X X X - | X X X X - |
The thumb (T) alternates between bass notes, often on two different strings, while
the index (I) and middle (M) fingers alternate between two treble notes, usually on
two different strings, most often the second and first. Using this pattern on a C
major chord is as follows in notation and tablature:

Travis picking.[13] About this sound Play (help�info)

However, Travis' own playing was often much more complicated than this example. He
often referred to his style of playing as "thumb picking", possibly because the
only pick he used when playing was a banjo thumb pick, or "Muhlenberg picking",
after his native Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, where he learned this approach to
playing from Mose Rager and Ike Everly. Travis' style did not involve a defined,
alternating bass string pattern; it was more of an alternating "bass strum"
pattern, resulting in an accompanying rhythm reminiscent of ragtime piano.

Clawhammer and frailing[edit]

Clawhammer and frailing are primarily banjo techniques that are sometimes applied
to the guitar.[14] Jody Stecher and Alec Stone Sweet are exponents of guitar
clawhammer. Fingerstyle guitarist Steve Baughman distinguishes between frailing and
clawhammer as follows. In frailing, the index fingertip is used for up-picking
melody, and the middle fingernail is used for rhythmic downward brushing. In
clawhammer, only downstrokes are used, and they are typically played with one
fingernail as is the usual technique on the banjo.[15]

American primitive guitar[edit]

Main article: American Primitivism

John Fahey
American primitive guitar, or American Primitivism, is a subset of fingerstyle
guitar. It originated with John Fahey, whose recordings from the late 1950s to the
mid 1960s inspired many guitarists such as Leo Kottke, who made his debut recording
of 6- and 12-String Guitar on Fahey's Takoma label in 1969. American primitive
guitar can be characterized by the use of folk music or folk-like material, driving
alternating-bass fingerpicking with a good deal of ostinato patterns, and the use
of alternative tunings (scordatura) such as open D, open G, drop D and open C. The
application or "cross-contamination" of traditional forms of music within the style
of American Primitivism is also very common. Examples of traditions that John Fahey
and Robbie Basho would employ in their compositions include, but are not limited
to, the extended Raga of Indian classical music, the Japanese Koto, and the early
ragtime-based country blues music of Mississippi John Hurt or Blind Blake.

Other acoustic styles[edit]

Folk baroque[edit]
Main article: Folk baroque
A distinctive style to emerge from Britain in the early 1960s, which combined
elements of American folk, blues, jazz and ragtime with British traditional music,
was what became known as 'folk baroque'. Pioneered by musicians of the Second
British folk revival began their careers in the short-lived skiffle craze of the
later 1950s and often used American blues, folk and jazz styles, occasionally using
open D and G tunings.[16] However, performers like Davy Graham and Martin Carthy
attempted to apply these styles to the playing of traditional English modal music.
They were soon followed by artists such as Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, who
further defined the style.[17] The style these artists developed was particularly
notable for the adoption of D�A�D�G�A�D (from lowest to highest), which gave a form
of suspended-fourth D chord, neither major nor minor, which could be employed as
the basis for modal based folk songs.[18] This was combined with a fingerstyle
based on Travis picking and a focus on melody, that made it suitable as an
accompaniment.[18] Denselow, who coined the phrase 'folk baroque,' singled out
Graham's recording of traditional English folk song 'Seven Gypsys' on Folk, Blues
and Beyond (1964) as the beginning of the style.[19] Graham mixed this with Indian,
African, American, Celtic, and modern and traditional American influences, while
Carthy in particular used the tuning to replicate the drone common in medieval and
folk music played by the thumb on the two lowest strings. The style was further
developed by Jansch, who brought a more forceful style of picking and, indirectly,
influences from Jazz and Ragtime, leading particularly to more complex basslines.
Renbourn built on all these trends and was the artist whose repertoire was most
influenced by medieval music.[20]

In the early 1970s the next generation of British artists added new tunings and
techniques, reflected in the work of artists like Nick Drake, Tim Buckley and
particularly John Martyn, whose Solid Air (1972) set the bar for subsequent British
acoustic guitarists.[21] Perhaps the most prominent exponent of recent years has
been Martin Simpson, whose complex mix of traditional English and American
material, together with innovative arrangements and techniques like the use of
guitar slides, represents a deliberate attempt to create a unique and personal
style.[22] Martin Carthy passed on his guitar style to French guitarist Pierre
Bensusan.[23] It was taken up in Scotland by Dick Gaughan, and by Irish musicians
like Paul Brady, D�nal Lunny and Mick Moloney.[24] Carthy also influenced Paul
Simon, particularly evident on Scarborough Fair, which he probably taught to Simon,
and a recording of Davy's Anji that appears on Sounds of Silence, and as a result
was copied by many subsequent folk guitarists.[18] By the 1970s Americans such as
Duck Baker and Eric Schoenberg were arranging solo guitar versions of Celtic dance
tunes, slow airs, bagpipe music, and harp pieces by Turlough O'Carolan and earlier
harper-composers. Renbourn and Jansch's complex sounds were also highly influential
on Mike Oldfield's early music.[25] The style also had an impact within British
folk rock, where particularly Richard Thompson, used the D�A�D�G�A�D tuning, though
with a hybrid picking style to produce a similar but distinctive effect.[24]

"New Age" approach[edit]

In 1976, William Ackerman started Windham Hill Records, which carried on the Takoma
tradition of original compositions on solo steel string guitar. However, instead of
the folk and blues oriented music of Takoma, including Fahey's American primitive
guitar, the early Windham Hill artists (and others influenced by them) abandoned
the steady alternating or monotonic bass in favor of sweet flowing arpeggios and
flamenco-inspired percussive techniques. The label's best selling artist George
Winston and others used a similar approach on piano. This music was generally
pacific, accessible and expressionistic. Eventually, this music acquired the label
of "New Age", given its widespread use as background music at bookstores, spas and
other New Age businesses. The designation has stuck, though it wasn't a term coined
by the company itself.