Jazz guitar comping - pick vs fingerstyle

[mrman93]

Jazz guitar comping - pick vs fingerstyle

What do you guys prefer? Is something considered more "right"?

[backliner]

Speaking only for myself, I use fingers on Latin bossa figures, etc, but sometimes double up the feel into a Samba during certain passges while someone else solos, and that usually means using a pick I had buried in my hand somewhere.

Most of the time however, when I'm comping sparsely and staying out of the bass player's way, I use a pick on maybe the top two/three strings.

It's just the way it's evolved for me and my uses with various ensembles. It seems easier to control my volume and emphasis comping with a pick.

If I was dedicated to using my fingers more generally, I would likely re-tweak my amp settings and volume. I think I'm just more consistent with a pick on all but Latin figures, which seem to me to ache for that kinda nylon sound I can almost emulate with fingers (fleshy part) on a turned down archtop in a quiet setting.

[mrman93]

Thank you!

I find myself mostly using my fingers, but I start using a pick more and more, experimenting with different sounds and styles.

[backliner]

Yes there are some things that definitely require a pick for me, and it's taken a long time to develop anything close to what I hear others doing with a pick, but I keep at it. It has become second nature now, after decades of trying out various approaches.

I sometimes watch a friend of mine with a bit of envy, but his grip just doesn't work for me on a pick. He seems to almost have an up angle across the strings, whereas I am strictly the opposite. He is also taller, so his geometry on the guitar is different than mine too.

[ksjazzguitar]

I like having different timbres available, especially for different soloists. I may use pick, fingers, or hybrid (pick and fingers.) On more up things, I sometimes like to use my thumb for strumming the chord to get a different sound - a quick strum with the thumb. Play what you think sounds best, that's what matters the most.

Peace,
Kevin

[derek]

I prefer the freedom of having a pick in my hands. I can switch between pick only, and hybrid. I find this more flexible.

[jbraun002]

For me it depends on the style - for four to the floor or funk stuff I gotta use a pick (though I have used my thumb for the former). Usually for straight-ahead stuff I do piano-like comping with my fingers - I think that punch feeling works better for a lot of stuff.

[JohnRoss]

Originally Posted by mrman93

Is something considered more "right"?

I'd say it was the sound that counts, not how you get it - Freddy Green is the most common reference in terms of what is "right." What you can't usually do is break up the chord very much, you generally need to provide a solid chunk-chunk; it's easier with a pick, better still if it's heavy. You can shift into strumming with the flesh of the thumb sometimes, makes a nice mellow sound, for example behind certain soloists like clarinetists or a tenor sax, or when you're stating the first chord of every four or eight bars while the bassist is soloing. I used to try clawhammer picking occasionally, but frankly it rarely works for rhythm work except with a pianist who is on the same wavelength, or on the odd occasion they would let me lead the band back in from a drum solo in that way (and I was actually allowed to do tremolo on "The World is Waiting for the Sunrise").

[Reg]

I use both all the time... just depends what I'm playing and volume... Best Reg

[wizard3739]

me too, Reg