Jazz guitar without a pick

**Christian Miller** · 12-16-2021, 05:41 AM

Did Mancuso start as a electric bass player? His technique looks more like that to me than a traditional guitarists right hand.

obviously we’ve had the whole couple of generations of bass players influenced by Jaco playing really athletic lines with fingers for almost 50 years now; but that hasn’t crossed over to the six string much.

**kris** · 12-16-2021, 05:57 AM

Originally Posted by Christian Miller

Did Mancuso start as a electric bass player? His technique looks more like that to me than a traditional guitarists right hand.

obviously we’ve had the whole couple of generations of bass players influenced by Jaco playing really athletic lines with fingers for almost 50 years now; but that hasn’t crossed over to the six string much.

I do not think so.
I think he uses nails.
It kind of reminds me of playing flamenco on the electric guitar.
He often only uses the two fingers of his right hand.

**RJVB** · 12-23-2021, 06:20 AM

Somehow I never saw this one before, exactly what I was looking for though:

(definitely not his best guitar btw...)

**wolflen** · 12-23-2021, 04:33 PM

Originally Posted by seaguitar

Wow! He’s amazing. Makes me feel like giving up

LOL

sea...NO..you cant give up !

exceptional players that inspire us..push us to go beyond our limits today..

I realize I cant be those players..but I can be me..and over the years I pushed myself..until I could hear and play things I have heard them play

and when I feel satisfied with my playing..I take another challenge ..step by step . and..

it does not stop..practice is a musicians breath..we have to evolve

I have watched a few YT of Mancuso...he says "..I learned this from watching Eric Johnson.." as he plays one of EJs riffs ..

what he does not tell us is..how long did it take him to digest that riff and make it his own

**voxsss** · 12-23-2021, 04:55 PM

**voxsss** · 12-23-2021, 05:13 PM

TY Litterick...........

**voxsss** · 12-23-2021, 05:22 PM

**Alter** · 12-23-2021, 05:34 PM

And of course jazz without a pick doesn't necessarily mean fingers, first player that came to mind was... WES!

**seaguitar** · 12-23-2021, 07:45 PM

Originally Posted by wolflen

sea...NO..you cant give up !

LOL - thank for the words of encouragement

**Cunamara** · 12-24-2021, 01:11 AM

Daddy Stovepipe (sic) on a Slaman "Dome" nylon string archtop:

Adam Miller on a Thorell:

**RJVB** · 01-26-2022, 08:37 PM

Some more ...

**BickertRules** · 01-27-2022, 03:10 PM

Frank Potenza.

Also handy with a pick - plays both ways here:

Frank has some very nice courses on TrueFire and MyMusicMasterclass.

Frank Potenza Online Guitar Lessons - TrueFire

Frank Potenza - Artist Profile - My Music Masterclass

A very nice piano/guitar duo album:
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His lovely tribute album to Joe Pass:
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Great player; great guy all around.

**Oscar67** · 01-29-2022, 02:14 PM

Originally Posted by seaguitar

There is one huge name missing, a monster of a guitarist - Yamandu Costa - who pretty much can pick up and play and improvise in any musical language spontaneously including jazz and classical. He plays classical, brazilian choro, jazz etc and lives in all the worlds at the top. Astonishing player with mind boggling technique

Thank you for mentioning him! Very inspiring.

**2bornot2bop** · 01-29-2022, 02:26 PM

Originally Posted by gitman

THE first name that comes to mind when we're talking about "jazz" guitar played fingerstyle is Joe Pass. He abandoned his pick around the time he recorded his first "Virtuoso" album in the mid 70's. Even before him it was Lenny Breau who played only fingerstyle. Ted Greene, Ralph Towner, Romero Lubambo, Gene Bertoncini, Earl Klugh, Paul Meyers, Pat Metheny, Mick Goodrick, Steve Herberman, ... and I'm missing most for sure. Which guitar ??? ANY guitar !!!! Just go for it and don't give up. No rules .....

Uhh. You left out the guy who was before all of those. Ever hear of Wes Montgomery?

**Cunamara** · 01-30-2022, 02:10 AM

I've never comfortably been able to include Wes as a fingerstyle player, I have to admit. He played with his thumb, maybe it should be called thumbstyle. He really did not use his fingers much at all on his right hand for playing notes. And quite frankly with the results he got, he didn't need them! He remains the pinnacle of jazz guitar for many people and it would be pretty hard to argue against that.

Should Chuck Wayne be included as a fingerstyle player? Granted, he played hybrid style using a pick and the other three fingers, but he preceded everybody else we've been talking about in developing this technique.

There was a guitarist in maybe the late 40s, early 50s who played nylon string finger style jazz guitar; he was a little before Charlie Byrd and they had the same classical guitar teacher, if I remember correctly. I can remember all those details but for the life of me I can't think of his name.

Also, nobody has mentioned Duck Baker, who had instructional videos about finger style jazz guitar back in the 80s. I think those were sold by Homespun Videos (Happy Traum) but maybe it was Hot Licks (Arlen Roth). And has Jody Fisher come up? He has a bunch of stuff on YouTube demonstrating fingerstyle jazz guitar.

**Christian Miller** · 01-30-2022, 04:22 AM

I think of Wes as a pick player who happened not to use an actual pick. The mechanics of his right hand are actually pretty similar to rest stroke gypsy style picking.

**John A.** · 01-31-2022, 06:48 PM

Kevin Eubanks
George Van Eps
Francesco Buzzuro
Sylvain Courtney
Steve Masakoswki
Jimmy Ponder (thumb)
Tuck Andress
Tom Lippincott

**pcjazz** · 01-31-2022, 06:57 PM

Originally Posted by Cunamara

There was a guitarist in maybe the late 40s, early 50s who played nylon string finger style jazz guitar; he was a little before Charlie Byrd and they had the same classical guitar teacher, if I remember correctly. I can remember all those details but for the life of me I can't think of his name.

Laurindo Almeida?

**Cunamara** · 02-02-2022, 01:13 AM

Originally Posted by pcjazz

Laurindo Almeida?

Bill Harris.

**RJVB** · 02-02-2022, 07:43 AM

Nice! Pity the recordings aren't the best, intonation is (more than) iffy (flutter?)

**PaoloZ** · 02-07-2022, 02:15 PM

This is a very nice thread. Besides Yamandu and Baden Powell, I would humbly suggest hearing (and seeing!) Helio Delmiro the brazilian musician playing electric & classical guitar using basically the same technique. His blistering single line work is mainly using i & , while the thumb touches lightly the loewr strings and uses "pima" for chords counterpoint and arpeggios [thumb(police), index, middle and ring(anular) fingers]. Very similar to Lenny Breau but without a thumb pick.

The complete use of the right hand opens up polyphonic possibilities (having 4 or 5 instead of a single plucking device at the any given time). It also opens up new musical possibilities and centuries of other instruments (from European lutes to guitars, etc.) and music. For those embarking on this possibility it is a very, very interesting endeavor. Yes, there is a large repertoire for classical guitar that you can play in the steel stringed electric and and have lots of fun (studies by Leo Brower, Villa Lobos, etc., for example).

Helio Delmiro samples:

Spanish Guitar: "All the things you are".

(if you liked this go after the Assad brothers duo work...)

Electric guitar: group music (the camera focus a lot on his right hand so that you can se what he is doing).

I hope you enjoy.

**PaoloZ** · 02-07-2022, 02:37 PM

Mancuso, declared that the studied the classical guitar and his right hand position and use shows this. Notice that the the hand changes angle from free to rest strokes. Yes, he is using the rest stroke i&m used by flamenco musicians to play fast lines. Very nice and complete technique.