Going Bck To My Fingers!

[KDRR]

I`ve been playing guitar for a long time. But I didn`t learn with a Pick I learned with my fingers. A Pick has always been foreign to me. Over the years I`ve had trouble with strumming pick sizes...ect. So now at 59 I think I`m going to stay with my fingers. Some thing I have to break out a pick for.

A question I have is playing live just using my fingers. I thought I`d ask some of you about that. Do you cahnge the volume on your amp , do you get the same response , dynamics? Your thoughts. KDR

[Kimbabig]

I`ve been playing guitar for a long time. But I didn`t learn with a Pick I learned with my fingers. A Pick has always been foreign to me. Over the years I`ve had trouble with strumming pick sizes...ect. So now at 59 I think I`m going to stay with my fingers. Some thing I have to break out a pick for.

A question I have is playing live just using my fingers. I thought I`d ask some of you about that. Do you cahnge the volume on your amp , do you get the same response , dynamics? Your thoughts. KDR

 

 

Depends what style your using, is it a Jeff Beck style, or more Flamenco? How distorted do you play? what kind of music do you play?

[KDRR]

Depends what style your using, is it a Jeff Beck style, or more Flamenco? How distorted do you play? what kind of music do you play?

 

 

I like Jeff Beck but I like the Jeff Beck 40yrs ago , I don`t care for what he does now. But I know Jeff uses his fingers but I don`t play with all those effects. I`m distorted but I don`t play with alot of distortion. K

[stein]

i know what you mean. i am like the worst of both, i do not use a pick, i use my fingernail, but yet, i am not much of a finger picker and cannot do a banjo roll to save my life. all of my live playing is, no, was, blues. umm..understand we are talking electric here, and while i do sometimes get the thumb thing thumping, or maybe thumb and finger chords, it is mostly strumming.

now, the reason i do not use a pick is because it does not give me the control i want. it is harder to control volume, harder to control tone and harder to control slight variations in rythm. i always run the amp higher than i will need it, and back off the volume so i have an up when i need it, and to be honest the volume knob gets a lot of use, like maybe every other measure as things happen. its easy. i like my volume perfect with the mix i guess. playing with fingers makes it way easy to back off the volume or play louder depending on how hard i play it, where with a pick there is none. of corse i palm mute at times. if i want to lay into it, of corse the fingernail. i guess what i am saying is the amp settings become LESS important, because playing with the fingers and not having the pick in the way gives far more control of the tone.

there are drawbacks. with the fingernail, i cannot do a fast statacco on a single string very easy. and if i tear my nail off then i have no pick. one thing i would do when i played often is get a glue on nail. another thing i would do sometimes is get a thumbpick, and sand it down to the shape of a traditional flatpick so it could stay attached and have both a pick and some fleshy finger action, but somehow, i would end up tossing the pick cause it would get in the way. i wouldn't think my right hand technique is something i would encourage to others, as there is lots i can't do, but i have very excellent control over the dynamics, rythm, tone, volume, without having to switch techniques.

one guy around here tho worth considering, terry robb, he uses nothing but the fleshy of his fingers, and has his amp set very bright and clear to compensate. he is a master fingerpicker. and what he does when he plays electric blues is use the same fingering technique when he plays single notes, which, this may be hard to picture, sinse he is using both his thumb and fingers for that, can play single notes faster than you can imagine, as well as combos of notes with the same kind of single note tone as the rest of use regular type guys. add to that pull offs with the left hand and what you have is 4 notes as fast as what we can do with one. he holds his hands in a very old style fingerpicker fashion, and applies these movements to more standard fretbaord patterns and scales. again, bright amp setting with fleshy fingers (but he DOES attack the string with verousity and snap).

[Versatile]

I initially learnt to play fingerstyle

 

But have never been able to perform successfully in that style

 

Probably due to the styles of music

 

Particularly with electric guitar

 

I need the attack and brightness of plectrum style.....

 

V

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KDRR]

i know what you mean. i am like the worst of both, i do not use a pick, i use my fingernail, but yet, i am not much of a finger picker and cannot do a banjo roll to save my life. all of my live playing is, no, was, blues. umm..understand we are talking electric here, and while i do sometimes get the thumb thing thumping, or maybe thumb and finger chords, it is mostly strumming.

now, the reason i do not use a pick is because it does not give me the control i want. it is harder to control volume, harder to control tone and harder to control slight variations in rythm. i always run the amp higher than i will need it, and back off the volume so i have an up when i need it, and to be honest the volume knob gets a lot of use, like maybe every other measure as things happen. its easy. i like my volume perfect with the mix i guess. playing with fingers makes it way easy to back off the volume or play louder depending on how hard i play it, where with a pick there is none. of corse i palm mute at times. if i want to lay into it, of corse the fingernail. i guess what i am saying is the amp settings become LESS important, because playing with the fingers and not having the pick in the way gives far more control of the tone.

there are drawbacks. with the fingernail, i cannot do a fast statacco on a single string very easy. and if i tear my nail off then i have no pick. one thing i would do when i played often is get a glue on nail. another thing i would do sometimes is get a thumbpick, and sand it down to the shape of a traditional flatpick so it could stay attached and have both a pick and some fleshy finger action, but somehow, i would end up tossing the pick cause it would get in the way. i wouldn't think my right hand technique is something i would encourage to others, as there is lots i can't do, but i have very excellent control over the dynamics, rythm, tone, volume, without having to switch techniques.

one guy around here tho worth considering, terry robb, he uses nothing but the fleshy of his fingers, and has his amp set very bright and clear to compensate. he is a master fingerpicker. and what he does when he plays electric blues is use the same fingering technique when he plays single notes, which, this may be hard to picture, sinse he is using both his thumb and fingers for that, can play single notes faster than you can imagine, as well as combos of notes with the same kind of single note tone as the rest of use regular type guys. add to that pull offs with the left hand and what you have is 4 notes as fast as what we can do with one. he holds his hands in a very old style fingerpicker fashion, and applies these movements to more standard fretbaord patterns and scales. again, bright amp setting with fleshy fingers (but he DOES attack the string with verousity and snap).

 

Thanks for that. Thats what I was looking for. KDR