My guitar finger-style. Just finger & Thumb?
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- Опубліковано 1 лют 2024
- I saw a thread on an acoustic guitar forum started by someone who only uses his thumb and index finger. He was encouraged to train himself to use all fingers. This is my response.
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Rev Gary Davis ... A great two finger style guitarist playing a J200 jumbo guitar.
Yes, he did. Dunno why, but whatever works for you.
I am left handed as well but play conventionally. As a young man I played classical style guitars and used my thumb and three, sometimes four fingers. After many decades, the best I can is thumb + two fingers in my fingerpicking style. Concession to arthritis. Pinky and ring finger nails are trimmed short now to prevent scratches
Very good video. Thank you
Well done! actually I think us lefties have a secret advantage over the normals!
I like watching what others do and see if their styles suit me. However, I prefer developing my own style that suits the way I play instead of copying someone elses playing. To me being your own guitarist makes you stand out.
Which is exactly what I did, as I believe I said in the video, but over the years, I've discovered more about technique, and as a teacher/mentor, I have found many who have developed individual styles that hold them back, and with a little advice and guidance can improve considerably.
Or make them unique 🪕
This is one of the best pieces of guitar opinion I have ever heard. Also, thanks for explaining the scratch plate. It never made sense to me. Although, if you were wearing finger picks and resting on the guitar, those would also dig in. Fantastic info! Thanks so much :)
Hi Wendy, thanks for your kind comment. It is always heartening to hear that my videos have proved helpful.
I taught myself guitar about 60+ (!) years ago, playing Peter, Paul, and Mary albums at 16rpm. (I didn't realize at the time that there were two guitars playing.) I also didn't know such things as thumbpicks existed, so I learned to finger pick holding a flatpack in my thumb and index finger, picking the upper strings with my middle and ring fingers. I eventually learned standard two and three finger picking, but songs I learned to fingerpick decades age I still use the thumb, middle, and ring fingers. (BTW, Peter Yarrow of PP&M always picked his 12-fret Martin with two fingers.)
Hi, I think that many of us develop our own styles rather than copy others. Well done.
LOL! Yes P P & M used 2 guitars, and I tried to play both parts at the same time.
Yes, that's also the way I was taught via Mel Bay books - hybrid picking - about 50 years ago. i then moved to finger picking with all fingers including pinky at times. After about 30 years of not playing (life and bad right middle finger arthritis), I'm trying to again train myself to fingerpick with index/middle since the middle finger overlaps the ring finger considerably.
I tried for a long time to master hybrid picking... Holding the plectrum between the thumb and index finger, and picking with the middle and ring fingers. Try as I might my right hand simply won't stretch to do it.
My favourite acoustic finger pickers are Mississippi John Hurt and John Fahey, and they managed to do some incredible stuff with just the thumb and two fingers. So that's what I set out to master.
I've been doing it long enough at this point that it's pretty much second nature, and it's comfortable enough that I can drive everyone mad by playing 'Spike Driver Blues' for hours on end.
Good for you!
i play fingerstyle, with all the fingers on my right hand, and have no fingernails to speak of (i suppose i should say they are there, just recessed). I always hated 'scratch' guards and had it removed from my recently purchased 00 Martin. Thus no worries of marking up my top, but i think you are right about the use of that little piece of plastic - i often rest two or three fingers there and suddenly realize how a player with nails could cause damage! Anyway you helped me believe i chose the right guitar for my style - your insights make me look into my own playing often and i appreciate that my friend, silly moustache!
Hi Mark, thank you! The whole point of my doing these videos is to help and encourage folk. I'm heartened that feel it helped.
Interesting subject, and I love your playing and laid-back style. Your reference to "uncontrolled frailing" had me chuckling because it's another way of describing what I call "the crazy swinging arm technique" of strumming from the elbow with a rigid wrist. It seems to me to be the method of choice for some notable guitar tutors here on UA-cam (do we call them "influencers"?) and it's nonsense of course. I suspect it derives from watching all those daft young rock-stars sporting low-slung Fenders. The finger/thumb technique misses out on any possibility of simultaneous syncopated picking but there's no denying the likes of Merle Travis, Chet Atkins and Doc Watson were fabulous guitar players. It's nonsense for folks to call finger style playing "Travis-picking" though as there were loads of pickers playing full finger style (using 3 fingers and including alternate bass/treble) long before Merle Travis. Let's face it, "Cotten-Picking" pre-dated Travis by some way, and she played her guitar upside down!!
We are in accord sir! Although I think I said "fLailing, rather than FRailing which of course requires considerably more technique. Thanks so much for watching and your comments.
@@SillyMoustache Yes you did, and I certainly meant to spell out "flailing" and didn't want to give that crazy method any credibility at all. I have a banjo, and would love to be able to play it frailing style!
The tune you played sounded better with your fingers. You play very well and I enjoyed listening. 😊
Thanks David,
Thank you
You're welcome! Thanks for watching.
You have 4 fingers and a thumb, I find it's better to use the thumb and three fingers, especially for faster pieces that have arpeggios or intricate melodies...or for James Taylor or other singer songwriter stuff. Do what works for you!
And that is fine. There are no rules for steel string guitar.
I actually have 4 thumbs and a finger, what do i do with that?
@@Blues40 Use em'!!!
@@WysteriaGuitar haha yessir ! 😊
I have played with my thumb and index finger for around 64 years. I can't get on with a plectrum (UK again), so if I strum, it's either with my thumb only or the index finger nail, back for down and inner edge for up strokes. Self-taught, badly i suppose. I can use a couple of my other fingers but only if I concentrate.
As you may haw observed I do both and as I tend to do a lot of the melody lines in the bass registers, my fingerstyle and flat pick style sound pretty similar. Thanks for watching.
I use thumb and three fingers for right hand technique. This gives me the full range for chording and single string work. I tend to use thumb-index alternation or thumb-middle alternation for eighth note passages. I am trying to use index middle and middle index alternation a la classical players for some eighth note things particularly for Brazilian tunes. After many years of playing I have found that whatever is comfortable and allows one to play what one hears is acceptable. I think strict adherence to rules is often counter-productive. Just my 0.02$...
Yeah Joel, there are rules for classical, and possibly flamenco, but not for steel string acoustic. I think that we are free to develop our own styles. Thanks as always, best to both, Andy.
Always good t hear from you. Best to you and Jane!
Wonderful video. I play classical each morning. The markings on the staff require a thumb and three fingers. Afternoons, I play steel, pick mostly, but like the sound of classical repertoire on steel, for that I use fingers, and also for a written out version of Freight Train. The steel strings, though, tear up my fingernails so I must sand them smooth after each finger style session. What I prefer about picks, and I have a bowl of different sizes and thicknesses, is how easily you can change your sound. And your video suggesting a triangle Dunlop Primetone led me to my current favorite. It is the best to practice alternate picking. So a big belated thanks.
Adding a note about a thumb and three fingers: it allows one to pluck a four part chord. When you use a pick, a chord is like a quick arpeggio. With plucking, the chord sounds out quite nicely all on the beat.
Ahh, so you play from notation. I am in no way so disciplined. Thanks for watching, Andy.
Interesting topic... I also taught myself to play finger style guitar using only my index finger and thumb. I rarely meet anyone else who finger picks that way.
I mostly play blues and blues rock on electric guitar with a heavy pick. But when I play finger style acoustic guitar it's thumb and index finger only. That's just what works for me. John Prine played that way also. I don't do it that way because of anyone else. I do it because that's what feels most comfortable for me.
I also don't use my fingernails. I think you get a brighter tone which is also a bit louder with your nails, but my nails are naturally thin and prone to cracking. I keep them cut shorter that my finger tips.
Yes, I know there are things you can to to avoid breaking nails, but after about 50 years of doing anything a certain way, if it wasn't working I think I would have known it by now.
Hi, Whatever works for you! Thanks for watching.
Thanks, Andy. I sort of learned Mother Maybelle Carter version ( thumb picks a line and keep the other fingers picking like crazy). Hand surgery modified things. I finger pick with thumb and 1, 2, or 3 fingers, sometimes 4. It depends on the song. When I started, I used a pick a lot. Now, only on some songs.
Hi Tex, I think that we all take from the many to develop our own styles.
@@SillyMoustache hand modification, although unwanted and not my fault, contributes also. It caused me to learn alternate tunings.
@@texhaines9957 Yeah, I think i understand.
There's all kinds of examples of people playing guitar "wrong" recently Rick Beato has made several videos with Matteo Mancuso who has a very unique style of finger picking. Yesterday he posted a Short of Matteo attempting to use a pick. He was reasonably fast but when he put it down he was lightning.
Unless you're going for a grade in a guitar class, I say play how you want. Whatever makes you happy. If we forced everyone into using a specific method eventually all music would be homogenized and sound the same.
I heard this recently about Bluegrass getting homogenized due to the Internet. I think it was Marcel on his channel. He said 20 years ago if you went to a jam everyone would have a unique version of a tune. Today there will be three versions based on who you learned it from.
I've been jamming on my fiddle I'm a beginner to Traditional music, often being told I'm doing something wrong by other beginners... You do you, I'll play what I want...
Totally agree with you Joe, I think it is often due to people learning tunes via tablature, rather than by ear. To some tablature, like notation is "the law". To me it turns musicians into "instrument operators" rather than artists.
@@SillyMoustache I'm a classically trained violin and trumpet player, where I played in bands and orchestras and only followed the written notes. To the point where notes didn't have names, but became fingerings and positions. Now jamming on my fiddle I have a difficult time knowing the fingerboard and finding notes, but I'm learning...
To your point, I was more of a "player" than "performer" and a far cry from an Artist. Artists create things. I guess I'm an artist, I create noise 🤣😂
Andy, I play fingerstyle nearly exclusively. As you, I am left-handed and play right. My nails are almost there now but I often trim way down on a whim. My right index fingernail was sliced while shaving several years ago and does not grow properly.
Depending on the song and tempo,I will use three fingers and a thumb or ring finger and thumb it the speed picks up. Always ring on the skinny string (I think that is because I have played 3 string cigar box guitar for a while now, too).
I never anchor unless palm muting.
A week of warmer weather here. I hope your flooding has subsided.
I think the flooding has receded for now. Today I'll be driving along a road that was flooded and where my Luthier pal Dave destroyed his newly acquired BMW in the waters. Our roads and water management in my area and in the UK in general are a national disgrace. They are building houses on arable greenfields with inadequate drainage and infrastructure. Farmers are selling off good growing land because they can't get the seasonal workers from the EU any more.
@SillyMoustache ...and some call it progress.
Sad to hear about Dave's BMW and the rest. It is much the same song here, but with different lyrics. My wife drove me past the school where she teaches in our small "city" just south of Kansas City, Missouri. New signage has been added to give a uniform look to the exteriors of all buildings, yet the roof and ceilings remain in need of repair.
She called it, "lipstick on a pig"
Good fortune on your adventures.
I’ve always wanted to use thumb and three finger style but it never worked for me. Thumb and index works better for me. Really, though, I use pick and middle sometimes also. Mostly, I use a flat pick like in your first example.
Fair enough! Thanks for watching.
Me and Charlie Parr are two finger players. But we're also banjo players.
Well Kit, we won't hold it against you! (Joking) personal style is what makes us all artists rather than "instrument operators".
Tee hee! I live in France and almost every muso plays guitar. Apart from a few accordionists that is. I agree with you wholeheartedly about personal style and, by the way, I am the proud wearer of a silly moustache too. Thank you for really great and informative series of vids. @@SillyMoustache
Like @seancoxe1094 I fell in love with the AG through PP&M - the song that absolutely hooked me for folk over rock was the Spring Hill Mining Disaster - and Don't Think Twice. Imagine my surprise on discovering some PP&M tunes were covers of Dylan stuff. It's a miracle I stuck with it because years of lessons with the Mel Bay / Alfred method bored me to tears and I wanted to quit. Until Dad met a young man at Boeing name of Joe Matt who put himself through college playing AG folk at bars and lounges. Joe taught me a basic thumb and index 4/4 and 3/4 pattern. I didn't add the middle and ring finger(s) until a few years later. To my ears, the thumb and index only makes for a stronger bass line and less frilly treble stuff. With thumb plus 3 fingers, I tend to pick the high E string too much and sometimes roll through the strings.
Note I'm also a lefty who plays right. I figure that influenced choosing folky fingerstyle over rock because my fretting hand was so doggone strong - I could play rhythm all day long - but stunk at lead. My right hand can pick the dickens out of 6 strings - while my left holds down the chords, does hammers and pull offs, etc. I was 6 years into lessons when the teacher found out I was a lefty - watching me fill out a blank check my parents sent with me to pay for lessons. ;^) He wanted to turn me around and start over - I told Dad - who about the same time met Joe Matt and changed teachers.
Hi , I think you have it! Whether playing with a pick (plectrum) or fingerstyle, the bass lines need to have the prominence, with the trebles/rhythm are essentially fillers.
Whatever, there are no rules with steel string guitars so, "take what you need and leave the rest" (and which song was that from?) All the best. Andy
You really can play very well in both styles!
😮👍👍
And did i hear right!?! You are playing „mit“ fingernails? 😅😃👍
Thank you and "Ya, mit Fingernägeln!" That was really the point of the video.
I also play like that
Just thumb and one finger.Never thought about it too much.Its just comfortable for me that way.I do use a thumbpick though.
Hi, it is a matter of developing our personal style, and also learning from others, whilst not copying. Thanks for watching.
I play a different style, but you are very good... I use thumb and finger picks
Whatever works Rod ! Thanks for watching.
I'm like you, I'm a lefty that learned to play guitar right handed. I bought my first guitar at a garage sale before i ever started lessons, and the subject never came up. It's about the only thing i can do right handed. I finger pick with thumb and index finger for the most part. I feel i don't have the coordination in my right hand to use all my fingers very well.
Yup,same here, but as no-one taught me anything about right hand style, I just developed that method.
I believe do what works for you. What comes natural
Yes David, I don't tell people what they should/shouldn't do, I just show what I do, hoping it might help.
Make it your own!
Yup, absolutely! and if it is good maybe soon you'll hear people learning "Arnold picking" ! Best, Andy
Don't forget the great Reverend Gary Davis was a thumb and one finger man many years before Merle and Doc.
Seems I'm in good company ! Thanks for watching.
With all your different guitars do you try to keep to the same nut width?
Yes I do! With three exceptions all have 1 & 13/16" nut widths. I have one 00 (handmade) with 1 & 7/8" one with 1 &3/4" (waterloo) as are my archtops. My 12 strings are 1 & 7/8" (Martin) and my Harmony - 2". That's what drove me to 12 fretters.
👍
Hey Andy, interesting video. Personally, I keep my nails trimmed short on both hands. I got tired of accidentally bending a nail back if it had grown out a bit..I fingerpick with thumb, index and middle finger but also use only thumb and index occasionally..Maca style..seems to satisfy my noodling..
Hi Ken, this is a very personal matter, and in my dotage, I seem to have developed fingernails like buffalo horns. I'm unsure as to what "maca" means???
@@SillyMoustache Maca I'd short for McCartney..as in Paul..
How wide is that nut? I love wide fingerboards but 45mm is the widest I can find in my budget range.
That guitar has my preferred nut width of 1 & 13/16" which is, I think 46 m/m ? Eastman make "0" and a "00" size guitars in the same width, it is pretty standard for 12 fretters.
Same has me. One finger and thumb. What more do you need.?.
Well , if you can more fingers offers more options, I guess.
Silly M, hi! Loved your video, it said a lot to me. I’m very right handed and I had an accident and amputated the first joint of left index finger. Doctor used bone graft and fused next joint. Don’t fret I mean really, it’s stiff. I’m now trying to learn left handed but it’s awkward. Ca a person play barre chords only with such a left hand as mine and sound ok, maybe finger style? Got a bunch of left hand guitars. 😢 I’m Randy btw.
Hi Randy, In my experience, I believe that if you really want to, you will find a way to make it work. Actually, if you watch some of my videos, you'll see that I very rarely use barre chords. and you might be able to use the thumb over method ? like this : ua-cam.com/video/aXHa4jb3T70/v-deo.html
My unsolicited thoughts are as follows: I am lefthanded but play right-handed. I rarely use a plectrum (or pick).I often use 3 fingers and a thumb, but I also play with a single finger and thumb. I tend to use the ring finger. You could most likely hold a pick between thumb and middle finger. I think that this would be more productive than switching to left-handed guitar.
A recording artist named Sam Baker survived a terrorist bomb on a train which severely damaged his left hand and left him nearly deaf...before he had recorded a song. He plays left-hand guitar now. You can figure out what works for you. Persevere!
Having read this again, I think playing left-handed does make sense.
I have an old friend who is right-handed. Years ago his guitar instructor suggested that he switch to left-handed on guitar to make him a better player (at least I have heard him say that). If the desire is there, you will find a way.
Thanks for all the replys, much appreciated. If you guys can play thumb/index for finger style I can do it with middle finger. maybe 😊
hi I use finger and thumb/thumb pick and finger I'm no merle Travis but it does for me!!
Same here John !
How I learned too. Tried to add some fingers, but it didn't take.
Well Merle Travis and Doc Watson coped.
Paul plays lefty… and finger picks your way. Must be ok to do both. He’s pretty good.
Paul?
@@SillyMoustache Yes! THE Sir Paul McCartney ! ! !
Oh! I forgot to subscribe to you, Sorry. I know couple things about Guitars and can play one pretty well, or so I’m told.
Wrote a sound about… goes like this: ((Oooooh… I know a thing or two about working on Guitars and I can play one pretty well or so I’m tooooold))
((Oooooh yeeaaahhhhh))🤣😂🤣😂✨
The other 3 fingers only complivate mstters for me.
We must all find our own way. It has been suggested that I can only use one finger because I am left handed, so my picking hand is less nimble than my left.
Looks like your thumb likes to taste just about all of the strings 👍😊
It does! yes, I guess its a pick stuck on my hand. Reminiscent of Carter style.
John Mayer only uses thumb and index finger as well when he plays fingerstyle
Really, didn't know that but haven't seen him playing much. I'll check him out.
Yes, but how successful is he really? 😂😂😂
Just like John Prine… RIP
I did not know that. JP had the same throat cancer as me - him in '98, me in 2017. Levon Helm too. It is a pretty "popular" cancer!
You know you can also pick and pluck… hybrid picking that is…
Some can, I can't do hybrid, but that's OK.
Nothing is wrong or right.Does it sound good to you is the criteria surely.
Yup, no "rules" for modern playing.
@@SillyMoustache you may have deduced from my comment that I am of the one finger,one thumb keep moving brigade🪕