Chord melody technique

[59nebula]

Hi everyone! Please, I need your advices and explanations about which right hand finger must be used when practicing chord melody with pick. I am new to jazz guitar, I come from acoustic finger picking (mainly country blues). I learnt finger picking with the great Stefan Grossman: about the right hand, he explained that in country blues there are no rules, he used thumb, index, middle finger and 2-3 times a year his ring finger! But in country blues you did not imply picks...When I approached my first standard, Autumn leaves, doing chords between melody lines with pick, I used thumb on D string, index on G and middle finger on B. I use thumb to have more sustain D bass string. Thank you in advance for your help!
Stefano

[alltunes]

Hi everyone! Please, I need your advices and explanations about which right hand finger must be used when practicing chord melody with pick. I am new to jazz guitar, I come from acoustic finger picking (mainly country blues). I learnt finger picking with the great Stefan Grossman: about the right hand, he explained that in country blues there are no rules, he used thumb, index, middle finger and 2-3 times a year his ring finger! But in country blues you did not imply picks...When I approached my first standard, Autumn leaves, doing chords between melody lines with pick, I used thumb on D string, index on G and middle finger on B. I use thumb to have more sustain D bass string. Thank you in advance for your help!
Stefano

So are you using a pick? Then there would be no thumb. I hold pick as usual between thumb and index fingers and then use that in conjunction with middle ring and rarely pinky, I need to use pinky more. This is called "hybrid picking" . I have read on this forum of an instructional book dedicated to hybrid picking. In the end whatever works.

Stefan is a great player, teacher and keeper of the flame.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Lots of players with combine (1) finger picking (and jazz finger pickers are all over the map, probably more so than country blues guys) (2) hybrid (as mentioned above) and (3) strictly pick use, all this depending on the moment. Players may hold the pick between their teeth or tucked between their fingers.

[Christian Miller]

Could use your thumb

[59nebula]

So are you using a pick? Then there would be no thumb. I hold pick as usual between thumb and index fingers and then use that in conjunction with middle ring and rarely pinky, I need to use pinky more. This is called "hybrid picking" . I have read on this forum of an instructional book dedicated to hybrid picking. In the end whatever works.

Stefan is a great player, teacher and keeper of the flame.

Thanks for your answer. Yes, I use pick for melody lines and thumb index and middle fingers (example, thumb D string etc). All this, keeping pick between thumb and index. I think this not the right technique but I have a more balanced sound: if I use pick, middle and ring finger I produce a strong bass sound with pick and a soft sound with fingers.
Stefan Grossman is a great person first of all. Once he told me: sound, sound! this is important. You have to play the guitar, do not let the guitar plays you!

[pcjazz]

You might try a thumbpick, which would give similar dynamics while allowing you freer use of your index finger. Have a look at some of Lorne Lofsky’s videos for example.