Picking technique vs guitar parts.

[Artie]

Over the last few months, I've been using just my thumb to pick with, rather than a pick. As I'm getting more proficient at it, I've noticed a few things. I can manipulate my tone just as much, if not more, by my technique, than the guitar and/or its pups seem to make. I can catch just the right amount of nail and skin and get a nice attack control. I can pick near the bridge or near the neck and get either country twang or Benson-ish smooth jazz.

It doesn't seem to matter which guitar/pup combo I use. My overall speed is slower, but I know the potential is there. (Just watch Jeff Beck or Danny Gatton.)

I believe there just may be something to this "its in the fingers" rap.

Artie

 

[Voxman]

Re: Picking technique vs guitar parts.

i think Mark knophler knows a thing or two about that

 

[Artie]

Re: Picking technique vs guitar parts.

Yeah . . . him too.

This is just fun. I'm getting textures and tones that I haven't before. I love it when my fingers learn something new.

 

[Blue Calx]

Re: Picking technique vs guitar parts.

I hear ya! If I'm playing clean, 90% of the time, it's with my fingers. Not only are you and the guitar that much more intimately connected, but it just sounds... rounder? warmer? more natural? with hoisin sauce?

 

[mind_transplant]

Re: Picking technique vs guitar parts.

Couldn't agree more. Spending some time with string players and classical guitarists convinced me very quickly that tone is in the fingers - with them there was nowhere else it could be coming from...

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Picking technique vs guitar parts.

Where you pick along the bridge or towards the neck pickup,how hard or soft you pick,and whether you use pick or fingers or "hybrid" picking,all makes an overall difference in what you hear coming out of your amp...You can bet your bottom dollar buddy,that your hands play a significant part in your tone and character as a player!

It helps to have great gear,but if Jeff Beck played through any given amp,you'd still know it was him playing...Not only tonality,but his overall style and how he approaches the instrument.

Your overall touch on your fretting hand is every bit as important also.

 

[Erlend_G]

Re: Picking technique vs guitar parts.

Very true.

Personally, i never think about how i pick the string and such... it just comes naturally. One of my biggest strenghts in guitar playing is making the guitar "sing"... think Satriani

Also, i think gear is way overrated. A good player doesnt need the very best and most expensive equipment to sound good . As my uncle use to say: "The weakest link in the signal chain is usually the player"

 

[Artie]

Re: Picking technique vs guitar parts.

Your overall touch on your fretting hand is every bit as important also.

Yeah, that parts coming slower to me, but its there. I've been doing some one-step hammer-ons, and they sound cool. (I think thats the term.) It adds a little more complexity to the note.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Picking technique vs guitar parts.

Robben Ford have also used his fingers alot, I remember back somewhere in the 80's where I saw a concert with him, he palmed his pick and went for some wicked fingers stuff, had a defenite JB feel to it, and the sound was just great as the playing, have seen Landau do it as well.

 

[daemon barbeque]

Re: Picking technique vs guitar parts.

Jeff Beck!!!do i need more to say?

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Picking technique vs guitar parts.

Also, i think gear is way overrated. A good player doesnt need the very best and most expensive equipment to sound good . As my uncle use to say: "The weakest link in the signal chain is usually the player"

Your uncle is a very smart man!

 

[fingerace]

Re: Picking technique vs guitar parts.

Fingers is where IT is! There are emotions you can't get with a pick, and there are emotions which you can't get while fingerpicking...

 

[JohnnyGuitar]

Re: Picking technique vs guitar parts.

There are a few tones and sounds you can't get with a pick, for example:
That snap when you pull the string hard with your fingers, a la Albert Collins (I love AC )
Harp (touch) harmonics (There are finger style players who combine these sort of stuff into finger picking rhythm playing- really hard thing to do).
Country finger rolls.

However- you usually need a pick for a screaming pinch harmony or for some rock n roll/boogie two string rhythm.

Learning to use both techniques is great. If your style lets you live with knowing only one technique it's also not too bad...

 

[Artie]

Re: Picking technique vs guitar parts.

However- you usually need a pick for a screaming pinch harmony . . .

Not exactly. I've gotten my best pinch harmonics with my thumb. The trouble is, they were by accident. If I could figure out what I did to get that beautiful "ringing", I'd be famous.

 

[tone4days]

Re: Picking technique vs guitar parts.

ever try a thumb pick ? i couldnt get over how quickly i adapted and how much i dug it - worth some pocket change to try it

have fun
t4d

 

[Guitarist]

Re: Picking technique vs guitar parts.

A beautiful thing, indeed, that you can manipulate the character of your intsrument's voice by what seems like such an insignificant approach. You're right, IT IS FUN!

Play on...

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Picking technique vs guitar parts.

ever try a thumb pick ? i couldnt get over how quickly i adapted and how much i dug it - worth some pocket change to try it

I really dig putting one of those metal finger picks on my middle finger for hybrid picking.... it balances out the volume between the pick & finger. It's also cool for making noise, like scraping sounds and such.