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I'm playing with the idea of ditching the pick entirely. After a year of primarily playing solo and duo accompanying a singer, I'm feeling much more comfortable with my fingers than with a pick. Currently, I still play with a pick when playing melody with a band, but I play almost all of my accompaniment parts fingerstyle. This has led to a technique where I either keep the pick awkwardly tucked in my palm or in my mouth, and have to grab it when it's time to change gears.
I'd like to be able to play anything I'm capable of without thinking about grabbing or getting rid of the pick. This works in both directions-- I want to have access to my full chordal vocabulary when soloing, and to my full linear vocabulary when playing accompaniment or solo guitar. It seems like the solution is to develop my linear playing fingerstyle until the pick is completely unnecessary. There's also something rewarding about the idea of playing with the absolute minimum of stuff-- just fingers/ guitar/ cable/ amp.
I'm curious whether anyone else out there has made this transition. If so, what were the biggest hurdles and payoffs?
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03-20-2025 12:10 PM
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I've been playing exclusively using fingerstyle picking for about 5 years, I'm only a hobby player, but I enjoy playing.
In the video below, I'm playing the red guitar (left) in my amateur finger picking style, with a very talented local player Andy Hulme (right):
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I use hybrid picking.
I really haven’t heard a lot of fingerstyle jazz with the kind of articulation I like.
Please don’t come at me — lots of wonderful fingerstyle players — this is a musical personal aesthetic (whatever) choice
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You get a really nice sound. For lines, are you alternating PI, IM, something else, or just winging it?
Originally Posted by GuyBoden
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For sure-- I wouldn't be pursuing this direction if I weren't attracted to the particular sound of playing with fingers. But no sound is for everybody. Personally, I can't deal with the difference in timbre I get between fingers and pick when playing hybrid, and my days of playing with nails are long behind me. But I love the results that Ed Bickert, Julian Lage, and many others get with this technique. Originally Posted by pamosmusic
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I spent a considerable amount of time developing a five finger picking style, I'm using a lot of legato, so over 40% of the notes I play aren't picked. Originally Posted by porter.fitch
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I've never heard a guitar player with the articulation of a good sax player, which is the articulation I prefer. But, it's only my hobby, I'm happy with my limited ability. Originally Posted by pamosmusic
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This is already a big part of my double time lines, and I imagine that'll only become more true as I leave the pick behind. Most of my favorite pickstyle soloists rely pretty heavily on LH slurring. Still, I'm interested in developing a technique for faster articulation. So far, PI feels like the most natural choice, given how close it is to the mechanics of alternate picking.And of course, IM is necessary when playing counterpoint Originally Posted by GuyBoden
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Joe Pass would keep the pick in his mouth, which is what I do. I like both. One solution is actually to get better with the pick. I have learned to play a lot of things with the pick that 10 years ago I could only play fingerstyle. Having both makes for a more versatile approach. I also tend to think on a tune wither I'm going to basically play fingerstyile and use the pick for selected passages, or play mainly with the pick and switch to finger style for limited sections.
Both techniques can stand on their own with sufficient skill and fluency.
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Obviously, you've must have seen Matteo, he's not really Jazz, but has an incredible fingerstyle technique.
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This is basically where I've been for the past ~10 years. I'm finding that, for me, pretty much every tune has become a basically fingerstyle tune, which makes the occasional pickstyle passage a less desirable solution than if I were playing some tunes mostly or exclusively with the pick.Joe Pass would keep the pick in his mouth, which is what I do. I like both. One solution is actually to get better with the pick. I have learned to play a lot of things with the pick that 10 years ago I could only play fingerstyle. Having both makes for a more versatile approach. I also tend to think on a tune wither I'm going to basically play fingerstyile and use the pick for selected passages, or play mainly with the pick and switch to finger style for limited sections.
Both techniques can stand on their own with sufficient skill and fluency.
Yes! I don't know how much his music moves me, but his technique is a really staggering accomplishment. I see a lot of Paco de Lucia in his right hand approach-- I'm curious whether he's primarily using rest strokes on those fast alternating passages.Obviously, you've must have seen Matteo, he's not really Jazz, but has an incredible fingerstyle technique.
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For fast lines that are primarily linear he uses rest stroke and will adopt a RH position like that of a bass player. His other RH position is for more arpeggio based stuff. Originally Posted by porter.fitch
After trying for some time and to some extent play jazz with a pick, about a year ago I swapped that for classical fingerstyle. And while my fingerstyle technique has come on in that time, recently I actually realised I still need to slow the heck down, particularly playing scales - there is no getting round this, to build good fingerstyle technique takes TIME - or, at least for me it does (has anyone else seen the clip of Matteo at 11 years old? He had mad fingerstyle chops even back then).
So yeah. it's standard to carry on playing repertoire at a slow tempo, even while moving the tempo up, I'll always when I sit down to practice start at that slow tempo, even when I can play it at the tempo I'm aiming for.
I would like to start playing jazz again though, but I feel I need a baseline RH technique that is comfortable playing continuous swing eighth notes at around 160 BPM. Actually, I could probably do that alternating P and I as others here have pointed out - that is the easiest combination to get together, though actually I don't use it much in the pieces I play. So I guess I have no excuses then, I need to start getting into playing jazz again.
But I do sort of agree with what Peter says - I kind of prefer the articulation jazz guitarists get with using a plectrum. I am a lover of John McLaughlin and spent many hours trying to get proficiency with the plectrum but it just wasn't happening. (And Holdsworth was no string-hopper)...
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I play hybrid using a pick held by the thumb and first finger at the same time fingerpicking with the middle, ring and pinkie.
I ditched nails and just play with flesh. For some songs, like a Bossa, I play without a pick. For some bluesy songs, I play with just my thumb (like Wes).
All of these have different sounds and feel. Give them all a try and see what feels right to you. And don't accidentally swallow your pick!
One nice side effect of playing with your fingers is that the notes in a chord are heard at the same time as opposed to staggard when "strumed" with a pick.
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It's funny-- I've seen a lot of people on this site talk about preferring the articulation you get with a pick, but I couldn't feel more differently. Playing with a pick, I always want my sound to be less sharply articulated & have a subtler distinction between picked and slurred notes. Fingers get me closer to a horn-like articulation than picks do. But that may just be me.
I also don't listen to many straight-ahead jazz guitarists, so my tonal goals may be different than others'.
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Only advice I have: bite the bullet and use the classical method. Don't go down the road of P i or other alternations. i m is really the only way to play lines properly. It's much harder and more arduous, but the reward is worth it.
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What benefits do you find to IM over PI? My sense is that classical guitarists largely use IM because P is busy playing basslines. Originally Posted by jazzyfan
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It doesn't have to be either/or, one can play fingerstyle with a thumb-pick, a la Lorne Lofsky.
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Does Lofsky ever alternate with just the thumbpick? My impression was that his technique wasn't meaningfully different from an exclusively fingerstyle technique. Originally Posted by Mick-7
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The sound is MUCH more balanced between the fingers, you can play faster. but most important is that you can employ the thumb for dampening the lower strings while playing single lines. Originally Posted by porter.fitch
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I started with classical guitar so I've always played classical fingerstyle and stuck with it even after getting my first electric. I tried learning using a pick after 5 or 6 years of fingerstyle and I quickly abandoned the idea because it was frustrating not hitting the right string, getting tangled up, and being a lot slower than with fingers (and no, I am not a patient man
) and then I also found the noise the pick makes against the strings very un-musical.
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You’re a very talented and modest player. And your timing is exquisite! Originally Posted by GuyBoden
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Having experimented with PI, the main drawback was the tendency for P to catch the string a bit on the top two strings and therefore be a bit twangy... Originally Posted by porter.fitch
Yeah you are right about classical guitarists. But the problem I experienced with PI would disappear with practice. At the same time, you'll want to develop IM as well.
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For a masterclass in fingerstyle picking without nails, study the exacting detail of our superb forum member Rob Mackillop's technique.
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I usually play with a pick (I get more speed and articulation with it), but for solo guitar I sometimes use fingerstyle. As mentioned above, it allows for precise attack on chords, which sounds good, also the separation of bass notes. I use IM (with some legato notes) since I also play classical guitar, so that’s more natural for me.
I use a combination of flesh and nails, I don’t like having really long nails (eventually they always break on something, also they can get in the way a bit when using a pick).
Anyway here’s something played fingerstyle which I did a while back on my 175.
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p-m was used by lutenists and it gives an inherent strong-weak attack that is considered a requirement for that repertoire. Most classical guitarists moved away from this in favor of the even attack of i-m.
Mancuso’s technical level is average when compared to top tier classical guitarists today. Here is a young guitarist playing Bluesette (arr Dyens) for an CG competition audition. The technical level of CG today is high due to a solid pedagogical approach that is taught globally.
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