Hey Friend,
Happy Mother’s Day! Hope you're enjoying your Sunday so far…
Sorry for missing Friday’s message. My oldest daughter is now in Florence, Italy, and we got a panicked text from her telling us she had forgotten her ATM card.
So I spent the morning arranging to have a new one sent, as well as doing a wire transfer of cash so she can eat!
Made for a glorious start to a Friday… but at least it was a Friday.
On to a more fun topic...
I know when I typically think about artists that use fingerstyle picking patterns, my mind doesn’t usually go to Rock guitarists. I imagine more contemporary folksy, acoustic players such as James Taylor or Jim Croce.
Or guys like John Denver and David Gates, who were my inspiration when I started playing guitar.
Their playing was based more on the classical finger patterns that were adapted to Folk and Country music.
While fingerstyle playing is typically better lent to acoustic-based songs, it’s found some real champions in the Rock arena. From what I’ve seen, Blues player's fingerstyle technique is what many Rock guitarists have emulated in their playing.
I point specifically to Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits), Lindsey Buckingham (of Fleetwood Mac) and Richie Kotzen (one of the former members of Poison and Mr. Big).
I found an article from Gibson that talks about these guys as well as seven others (including Jeff Beck, Robbie Krieger and Paul McCartney) that have done just fine without using a pick. That’s not to say they NEVER used a pick, but losing a pick never slowed them down!
I thought it would be worth the time to hunt down some examples of these guys playing so you can see their styles in practice.
Lindsey Buckingham on picking style -- This is a very interesting interview with some very cool revelations. You may also notice when he’s playing that the guitar sounds slightly out of tune. I wonder if that was on purpose, as it's a recording trick to tune a bit off to compensate for attack on the strings (how hard you pluck the strings when you play).
It’s interesting that neither one of these guitar players took guitar lessons - both are basically self-taught. So there’s hope for all of us!
The point is, learning beats, chords and progressions, and scales and melodies aren’t the only ways to be expressive with guitar.
You have many techniques you can use to pick/pluck/strum strings, whether you’re using a fingertip or nail, a plectrum, a coin or any other item to work sound out of the strings.
And I forgot to mention slapping strings to get a very percussive sound. That tends to be more of a bass guitar technique, but you can use it on guitar as well.
Anyway, we’ll talk more about some fingerstyle patterns in the days to come. Enjoy your day, and don’t forget your Mom!
Peace~
Dave | 
