Thumb / Finger Picking Technique

[andreshum]

Hi folks,

Merry Christmas! I've been playing guitar these few days during the holiday. I'm kinda self taught and learned everything I know online, mostly this website and Youtube. But the problem with this approach is I don't have a teacher to turn to. I hope fellows here can give me some advice.

I watched this video and have been wondering how did this guy play with his thumb so clean

It seems to me he didn't apply any muting technique. It's been bugging me a lot that I can't keep the other strings from ringing unintentionally. I know I can mute strings with my palm when I use a pick but not sure how with finger style picking

Wish you guys can give me some insight. Thanks in advance!

[Mick-7]

Don't see anything unusual, he's hammering on every other note.

"It's been bugging me a lot that I can't keep the other strings from ringing unintentionally."

Why would the strings you're not picking ring out? Only the strings you pick should sound.

[AllanAllen]

As you get more developed you’ll learn to mute strings with both hands. The palm of the right and the fingertips of the left. Muting becomes part of your strum and fretting.

[RJVB]

Not really possible to say much about anything in a 2-second video, but from watching it frame-by-frame it looks like the guy uses only his thumb here.

Here's a video I found when I started myself, also on my own:

I'm still doing some of these exercises daily, for warm-up. There are others from a video I can't find right now.

Two more by the same player:

The only thing I'd do differently for really concentrating on your picking hand is to not use the fretting hand. Focussing on picking is also about tone production and IMHO you want to do that the way the instrument can give its most, which is with open strings.

[andreshum]

Don't see anything unusual, he's hammering on every other note.

"It's been bugging me a lot that I can't keep the other strings from ringing unintentionally."

Why would the strings you're not picking ring out? Only the strings you pick should sound.

Sometimes I touch the adjacent strings unintentionally when I release the fretting finger. Also the lower strings (bass side) tend to resonate wildy if they are unattended. I noticed classical guitarists use floating hand free stroke without other parts of the picking hand touching / muting other strings except the picking fingers. I wonder how can they play the guitar so cleanly without unwanted strings noise

[James W]

I noticed classical guitarists use floating hand free stroke without other parts of the picking hand touching / muting other strings except the picking fingers. I wonder how can they play the guitar so cleanly without unwanted strings noise

Remember the classical guitar is a resonating instrument. That is to say, much of the time the string noises won't be unwanted.

Otherwise, much of the muting will be taken care of by the fretting hand.

[GuyBoden]

I play with all fingers and thumb, initially I used a string dampener, but once my technique improved I didn't need it.

String dampener below:

[RJVB]

Remember the classical guitar is a resonating instrument. That is to say, much of the time the string noises won't be unwanted.

I think there must be at least 2 schools there, one as you imply and the other that teaches you to play what's written and will have you train to prevent even sympathetic resonances. An interesting exercise that will often require to use both hands.

[Cunamara]

A nice demonstration of thumbpick/finger technique close to what I've been trying to achieve (from another thread):