Guitar picking is a group of hand and finger techniques aguitarist uses to set guitar strings in motion to produce audible notes. These techniques involve plucking,strumming, brushing, etc. Picking can be done with:
Using a singlethumb pick with the bare fingers is similar to hybrid picking. Another mixed technique is to play different passages with a plectrum or fingerstyle, "palming" the plectrum when not in use. This however requires the use of one or more picking hand fingers, and/or can reduce dexterity in the picking hand.
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The pros of each guitar picking style are indirectly correlated to the cons of the other.
Fingerpicking is useful in almost anygenre of music. It simplifies the motion necessary to play notes on non-adjacent strings as it does not need a pick, which requiresstring skipping. This, in turn, makes it easier to play not-adjacent strings at the same time, or immediately consecutively. It is also easier to playpolyphonically, with separate musical lines, or separatemelody,harmony andbass. It is possible to play chords with noarpeggiation, ie. exactly at the same time.
Picking with the fingers reduce the need to use the fretting hand to damp notes in chords (muting) since the guitarist can pluck only the required strings. It allows for a greater variation in strokes, accommodating expressiveness intimbre, as well as a wide variety of strums andrasgueados.
Fingerpicking players use up to four (sometimes five) surfaces, usually nails, to strike string independently. However, that does not equate to four plectrums, since plectrums can more easily strike strings on both up and downstrokes—which is much more difficult for fingers. Also, each finger can be over a different string, which greatly reduces or eliminates the need for traditionalstring skipping.[1]
Picks require no maintenance, and can easily be replaced when lost or damaged. With a pick, picking in both directions (down, up) with a pick is easier. Economy picking, utilizingAlternate picking, is the most efficient technique, however manyRussian classical guitarists are able to fluently do this with their fingernails.Tremolo effects (same note repeated in rapid succession) may be easier to achieve. As such, it is easier to play some styles of music with a pick.
On a non-amplified instrument, a pick can usually produce louder sounds compared to bare finger playing. It may be easier to maintain articulation or clarity when playing fast, especially with a less flexible pick.
Furthermore, plectrum picking lets the guitarist pick the string with less finger contact. This reduces damage to the fingers and uncoated nails when playing for long periods of time on steel string guitars; finger picking is more suited to nylon strings or lighter gauge steel strings (this does not apply to fingerpicks).
Plectrum picking can also be combined with finger picking. Hybrid picking can bring some of the advantages of fingerpicking, allowing the player to switch between fingerpicking and plectrum utilization on a dime or use them simultaneously.
To achieve tremolo effects, varied arpeggios, and rapid, fluent scale passages, the player must practice alternation, that is, plucking strings with a different finger each time. Usingp to indicate the thumb,i the index finger,m the middle finger anda the ring finger, common alternation patterns include:
In some genres, such as folk or country, the player can "lock in" to a picking pattern for the whole song, or even the whole performance, since these forms of music are based on maintaining a steady rhythm.[2] However, in other genres—such as classical, flamenco or fingerstyle jazz—it becomes necessary to switch fluently between patterns.
Tone production is important in any style. Classical guitar, for example, stresses many diverse techniques that are applicable to other styles. Tonal techniques include, (but in no way are limited to a set number of variations) imagination & personal skills + how much practice put in to learning, then adding more adaptive personality into your guitar playing making it really limitless when it comes to musical expression, in styles like Djent, Jazz-Fusion and Hybrid-Metal forms allowing greater precision in controlling your personal tone creations.
Playing parameters include
Some of the many possible fingerstylestrums include
Guitarists resolve the problem of playing notes on non adjacent string by practicingstring skipping. To achieve speed, plectrum pickers methods of mixing up and down strokes.
Flatpicking is a technique for playing aguitar using a guitar pick (plectrum) held between two or three fingers to strike the strings. The termflatpicking occurs with other instruments, but is probably best known in the context of playing anacoustic guitar with steel strings—particularly inbluegrass music and old-timecountry music. Probably starting around 1930, flatpicking developed when guitarists began arranging old-time Americanfiddle tunes on the guitar, expanding the instrument's traditional role ofrhythm guitaraccompaniment with an occasional single-note melodicrun.
The melodic style in bluegrass is often fast and dynamic, withslides,hammer-ons,pull-offs, powerfulstrumming and rapidcrosspicking. Bluegrass flatpickers usually prefer guitars with a flat top rather than an arch top, and steel strings rather than nylon. The archetypal flatpicking guitar is the 'Dreadnought' series made byC.F. Martin & Company.
Alternate picking is aguitar playing technique that employs strictly alternating downward and upward picking strokes in a continuous run, and is the most common method ofplectrum playing. If this technique is performed on a single note at a high speed, then it may also be referred to astremolo picking.
Sweep picking involves a continuous "sweep" with the pick across two or more strings (using down-strokes when moving down, and up-strokes when moving up), and is commonly associated with playingarpeggios. To produce a series of distinct notes requires that each note be fretted individually with the fretting hand, rather than held together as a chord.
A combination of sweep picking and alternate picking,economy picking involves using alternate picking except when changing strings. In this case the guitarist changes to sweep picking, picking in the direction of travel: an upstroke if changing to a lower (pitch) string, a downstroke if changing to a higher (pitch) string.
Thepicking technique ofgypsy jazz has been described as similar to economy picking when changing from lower to higher strings, but performed withrest strokes. When changing from higher to lower strings, a down stroke is used instead of a sweep or economy stroke. For instance, on switching from the G to the B string, the plectrum moves in the same direction and comes to rest on the E string—though while switching from the B to G strings both strokes would be downward reststrokes. All down strokes are rest strokes, while all up strokes are free strokes. In general while playing consecutive notes on the same string if the tempo is slow enough all down strokes may be employed. If the tempo is faster alternate picking is generally used, though often consecutive downstrokes are used to emphasize certain notes, particularly in the end of phrases, or to prepared the pick for an easier string change. This technique has become associated withDjango Reinhardt in the 1930s, but was also employed by plectrumbanjo players, mandolinists and many pre-electric jazz guitarists seeking a strong, projecting acoustic sound on their instruments.
La Pompe is the rhythmic pattern used ingypsy jazz. This form of percussive rhythm is similar to the "boom-chick" in stride piano. The first beat is astaccato chord, emphasizing the lower strings with a more "bassy" sound, produced by a down stroke; the fretting hand immediately afterward releases the strings slightly to deaden them. The next beat is a percussive strum, produced by a down stroke, that emphasizes a more "trebly" sound by engaging a fuller range of the strings. Various artists prefer different levels of staccato on beats 1 and 3, and beats 2 and 4, but in general both beats are short, but still voiced to some degree. The pattern then repeats, but before every first and third beat, an upstroke is performed very quickly (typically with the strings still deadened), giving the music its heavy swing feel.
Anchoring is a practice in bothfingerstyle andplectrum where part of the picking hand, usually the little finger, or "pinky," touches the guitar body. Although anchoring is common, many guitar teachers advise against it as it limits flexible hand movement. The contrary approach is known as "floating."
Hybrid picking is mixture of plectrum picking and finger picking. Normally the player holds the pick with thumb and index finger, picking the string, and utilizing the middle and ring finger to finger pick adjacent strings. In the context of styles of music from theAmerican South, such ascountry music,bluegrass, androckabilly, it is often called "chicken pickin'."
Hammer-on is astringed instrument playing technique performed (especially onfretted string instruments such asguitar) by sharply bringing a fretting-hand finger down on thefingerboard behind afret, causing anote to sound. This technique is the opposite of thepull-off. Traditionally, this technique is supplemental to conventional picking, being used to achievelegato andornamentation effects. This is connected to the fact that hammering imparts less energy to a string, so that hammered notes are less audible. With electric instruments, it becomes possible to use these techniques much more extensively.
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Tapping is a guitar playing technique, where a string is fretted and set into vibration as part of a single motion of being pushed onto the fretboard, as opposed to the standard technique being fretted with one hand and picked with the other. It is similar to the technique ofhammer-ons andpull-offs, but used in an extended way compared to them: hammer-ons would be performed by only the fretting hand, and in conjunction with conventionally picked notes; whereas tapping passages involve both hands and consist of only tapped, hammered and pulled notes. Tapping is used exclusively by some players (such asStanley Jordan) and on some instruments, such as theChapman Stick.
Strings can also be played withbows,mallets,drum sticks,funk fingers or electric devices such as anEbow or aGizmotron.
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