Does anyone here play fingerstyle lead electric?

[daleandtheguitar]

I've been tossing this around for a while, but I think I'm gonna devote a lot more practice to playing without a pick (a la Lindsay Buckingham & Mark Knopfler). It seems to be the most intuitive method for my playing. I'm mostly curious about things like finger picks (how to choose size/fit/material/style), guitar setup to siut the style (string guage, action recommendations), instruction specifically for finger-style lead (not classical - I don't have a classical background), other prominent players who go without plectrums.


Anyone have anything to contribute?




D.

[eagan]

Just for additional information, you can add to that list, (apparently for some time now, in both cases) Jeff Beck and Steve Hackett.


JLE

[John Eppstein]

I play fingerstyle slide on a few tunes - Mostly ones where I want to hit 2 strings simultaneously but not the ones in between - or ones that started out on acoustic an feature a bass drone.......

I don't use picks for that because I both brush down and pick up - I've looked for years (about 35 years) for a fingerpick that allows that. Occasionally I'll use a thumbpick. I keep my nails on my right hand long (doesn't help my typing at all), but they wear down fast if I play a lot......

[G. Hoffman]

Well, I've played a fair bit of fingerstyle in my life, but when I'm playing electric I pretty much always use a pick. I will grab notes with my middle finger; James Burton style, but without the fingerpick (though I do usually have a long fingernail). Well, not James Burton STYLE, but James Burton technique. I can't really offer much advice, though. It does make string skips easier, though.


Gabriel

[otek]

Wayne Krantz is another player who plays an interesting finger/pick hybrid.

And you should definitely check out Danny Gatton. :Coolio:


otek

[transmetropolitan]

I love playing with picks, but my fingerstyle playing has improved a bit over the past couple of years (I sucked for a long time because I never really play acoustic, at least through choice). I use it a bit here and there, though when I do my still-fairly-ropey technique places limitations on the kind of stuff I can do with it. Like John Eppstein I use it when I want to play 2 strings but not the others in between, like if I’m playing a line in 10ths or something like that. I prefer the sound to muting those strings and hitting with a pick (most of the time anyway).

In terms of string gauge, playing fingerstyle is only one part of selecting this.

I play with .012s (.013s if I can find ‘em with a plain 3rd) on my Les Paul and .10s on my Strat… it’s the tone I’m after is the drives those choices. I don’t hit one guitar harder than the other (at least I don’t think I do). Obviously I have to wrestle the guitar a bit more on bends with my LP, and this changes my playing style a little, but more or less for me it’s a tone thing rather than a style thing. There’s no magic fingerstyle gauge – it depends how hard you pick (because this still varies a lot!), what tone you’re after etc etc etc.

Same thing with setup I think, although there are others here more qualified to comment than me. Ultimately this comes down to a load of personal preferences, how you like things, your OVERALL style of playing. It’s extremely unlikely to be a simple case of whether you use a pick or not.

As for advice on picks… my advice is go to a banjo forum. Seriously. Those guys will give you much better advice on this stuff than me!

[archtop]

I like/enjoy/need my hybrid style.
holding a pick while using the three fingered claw.

[sqkychair]

I like/enjoy/need my hybrid style.
holding a pick while using the three fingered claw.

Same here.

Playing country forced me to learn how to use pick and fingers together and now I can't play any other way.

[RJ Palmer]

Same here.

Playing country forced me to learn how to use pick and fingers together and now I can't play any other way.

Yeah, me too. For electric, anyway. Fingers all the way on acoustic.

Pretty sure Robbie Robertson has a hybrid pick/fingers thing going on. Might be worth checking out some of his playing with the Band and Dylan.

[John Eppstein]

Roy Buchanan

[Cary Chilton]

Regina, SK Canada Jack Semple is a genius in the pick-less technique :D I suck at it.

[chrisj]

You said 'anyone here' and most of the examples given aren't Womb posters. Here's one!

Check the lead on Cape Team Campfire and the chunky guits on Team Conception- I too got influenced early by Knopfler and by learning folk chord fingerpicking first.

It's easier to get legato stuff happening but the kinds of attacks you get clean fingerstyle (or compressed) all melt together under distortion, and chords get very weird- if you're hitting chords with the nails of several fingers on your hand, it's sort of all at once but a much much blunter 'pick' than any real pick, producing a very distinctive (not to say desirable!) dull thwack attack. Not good for creating a precise effect, and doesn't really project well, but interestingly percussive.

Strangely I don't find that I mute with right-hand fingers much, but my thumb is constantly muting stuff. Also sounds a lot of the notes. You could say that's not much pick attack, the ball of your thumb ;) killer on Hofner-style bass with flats though!

[EyreSpace]

There is only one Jedi master...

Lenny Breau! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9SvTtaQLC4&feature=related)

[Fulcrum]

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but doesn't Richard Thompson also do a hybrid technique?

[John Eppstein]

Let's not forget Chet Atkins......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdJ9RS_Xubs&feature=related

[transmetropolitan]

One other (awesome) player to consider in this category is Wilko Johnson of Dr Feelgood fame (he was also in The Blockheads after leaving Dr Feelgood).

Just a crazy player, one of the most unique I've ever seen.:Thumbsup: