Fingerstyle guitar

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Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar or bass 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 except in classical guitar circles, although fingerpicking can also refer to a specific tradition of folk, blues and country guitar playing in the US. The terms "fingerstyle" and "fingerpicking" are also applied to similar string instruments such as the banjo.

Music arranged for fingerstyle playing can include

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.^[2]

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 Ani DiFranco, Doyle Dykes, Don Ross, and Richard Smith.

Advantages and disadvantages

• Players do not have to carry a plectrum, but fingernails may have to be maintained at the right length and in good condition if the player has a preference to use fingernails over their skin.
• It is possible to play multiple non-adjacent strings at exactly the same time.^[3] 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 than using a plectrum, 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.
• 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 common with the lute.)

Nylon string guitar styles

Nylon string guitars are most frequently played fingerstyle.

Classical guitar fingerstyle

The term "

Notation

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

In guitar scores, the five fingers of the right-hand (which pluck the strings, for right-handers) are designated by the first letter of their Spanish names namely p = thumb (pulgar), i = index finger (índice), m = middle finger (medio), a = ring finger (anular), and when used, often c = little finger or pinky (chiquito).^[5]{{efn|The little finger, whose use is not completely standardized in classical guitar technique, can also be found designated by e, x or q.^[5] There are several words in Spanish for the little finger: most commonly dedo meñique, but also dedo pequeño or dedo auricular; however, their initials conflict with the initials of the other fingers; c is said to be the first half of the initial letter ch of dedo chiquito,^[5] which is not the most common name (meñique) for the little finger;^[6] the origin of e, x and q is not certain but is said to perhaps be from extremo, Spanish for last or final, for the e and x, and meñique or pequeño for q.^[5]

The four fingers of the left hand (which stop the strings, for left-handers) 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 the 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 often 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

Alternation

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".
• a–m–i–a–m–i: 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–i–p–i or p–m–p–m: A way of playing a melody line on the lower strings.

Tone production

Classical guitarists have a large degree of freedom within the mechanics of playing the instrument. Often these decisions influence 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. (Andrés 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^[7] 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

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.

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

American primitive guitar 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 primitive guitar 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.

Country music

Fingerpicking was soon taken up by

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.^[11] He has subsequently influenced numerous other artists in the United States and internationally.

Carter Family picking

Carter Family picking, also known as "'thumb brush' technique or the 'Carter lick,' and also the 'church lick' and the 'Carter scratch'",^[12] 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.^[13]

Travis picking

Travis picking derives its name from Merle Travis. The foundation of Travis picking revolves around the combination of alternate-bass fingerpicking and syncopated melodies.^[14]

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.^[15] The most common pattern, sometimes broadly referred to as Travis picking after Merle Travis, and popularized by Chet Atkins, Scotty Moore, James Burton, Marcel Dadi, James Taylor,^[16] John Prine, Colter Wall 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

However, Travis's 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

A distinctive style to emerge from Britain in the early 1960s, which combined elements of American folk,

"Funky fingerstyle" emerged in the mid-2000s, as a style in which the sounds of a full

The six string guitar was brought to Africa by traders and missionaries (although there are indigenous guitar-like instruments such as the ngoni and the gimbri or sintir of Gnawa music). Its uptake varies considerably between regions, and there is therefore no single African acoustic guitar style. In some cases, the styles and techniques of other instruments have been applied to the guitar; for instance, a technique where the strings are plucked with the thumb and one finger imitates the two-thumbed plucking of the kora and mbira. The pioneer of Congolese fingerstyle acoustic guitar music was Jean Bosco Mwenda, also known as Mwenda wa Bayeke (1930–1990). His song "Masanga" was particularly influential, because of its complex and varied guitar part. His influences included traditional music of Zambia and the Eastern Congo, Cuban groups like the Trio Matamoros, and cowboy movies. His style used the thumb and index finger only, to produce bass, melody and accompaniment. Congolese guitarists Losta Abelo and Edouard Masengo played in a similar style.

Herbert Misango and

Even when the guitar is tuned in a manner that helps the guitarist to perform a certain type of chord, it is often undesirable for all six strings to sound. When strumming with a plectrum, a guitarist must "damp" (mute) unwanted strings with the fretting hand; when a slide or steel is employed, this fretting hand damping is no longer possible, so it becomes necessary to replace plectrum strumming with plucking of individual strings. For this reason, slide guitar and steel guitar playing are very often fingerstyle.

Slide guitar

• with the guitar in the normal position, using a slide called a bottleneck on one of the fingers of the left hand; this is known as bottleneck guitar;
• with the guitar held horizontally, with the belly uppermost and the bass strings toward the player, and using a slide called a steel held in the left hand; this is known as lap steel guitar.

Slack-key guitar

Slack-key guitar is a fingerpicked style that originated in Hawaii. The English term is a translation of the Hawaiian kī hō‘alu, which means "loosen the [tuning] key". Slack key is nearly always played in open or altered tunings—the most common tuning is G-major (D–G–D–G–B–D), called "taropatch", though there is a family of major-seventh tunings called "wahine" (Hawaiian for "woman"), as well as tunings designed to get particular effects. Basic slack-key style, like mainland folk-based fingerstyle, establishes an alternating bass pattern with the thumb and plays the melody line with the fingers on the higher strings. The repertory is rooted in traditional, post-Contact Hawaiian song and dance, but since 1946 (when the first commercial slack key recordings were made) the style has expanded, and some contemporary compositions have a distinctly new-age sound. Slack key's older generation included Gabby Pahinui, Leonard Kwan, Sonny Chillingworth and Raymond Kāne. Prominent contemporary players include Keola Beamer, Moses Kahumoku, Ledward Kaapana, Dennis Kamakahi, John Keawe, Ozzie Kotani and Peter Moon and Cyril Pahinui.

Electric guitar

Fingerstyle jazz guitar

The unaccompanied guitar in

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References