The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26

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    Are plectrums strictly necessary?
    Nothing is necessary until you really find it so yourself...

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #27

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    Hi,

    Good to be hear again on this great Jazz website!

    In answer to your question, it is really all about feel and what YOU are comfortable with: if you like playing with just fingers then do it. Wes Montgomery used just his thumb! Many many player use their fingers to play guitar or a combination of both.
    Sometimes when I comp using three/four note chords I have recently started using my thumb to hit the 6th/5th string root and 1st,2nd and 3rd fingers to simultaneously play the other chord notes. I mainly use picks though such as: Ernie Ball Prodigy, Jim Dunlop Jazztone, Clifford Essex bull horn; all are 3mm. I also like a felt pick for comping. I also use a large black triangle bass guitar pick which sounds very mellow.

    Good luck?
    Experiment is key!

  4. #28

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    Personally, I think for a time I was interested in going full-time fingerstyle because my first instrument was piano, and I wanted to do more pianistic things on the guitar. Over the years I more fully embraced the unique limitations and capabilities of the guitar, and realized that I like the plectrum for its tone/dynamics and rhythmic precision.

    Of course there is still hybrid picking, which I love. You have fewer fingers, but it's often more about just opposing your picking motion against your plucking motion, like a downstroke/upstroke feel, as opposed to making each finger act independently. Again, there is a real rhythmic capability there.

    But if fingerstyle is your thing, it certainly has its advantages too.