Re: About finger picking...
I don't fingerpick a whole lot, but I do use it now and then as a variation, an effect, a different color in the sonic palette. It makes a fair approximation of the Robert Johnson-style simultaneous walkdown and static note motif, for example. I would never use fingerpicks - much too clumsy and clunky for my tastes - and use my fingernails, which I keep long on my right hand just for this purpose and others, among them brush strokes, flamenco-style flourishes, and continuing through a song if I drop my pick.
But I do play one tune exclusively with fingerpicking, which I have posted before elsewhere but will do so again here. I regret that the video function on this still camera is substandard and doesn't provide a good view of the activity. Key elements include playing a bass figure with my thumb on the lower two strings (especially in the A part) while keeping the top two strings in play with my index and middle fingers. Nothing too terribly fancy, and the intent was to simulate a banjo roll, though it ends up sounding pretty tinkly, more like a music box. It's a fun piece though no great shakes, and more an illustration of the technique's possibility than an exemplar. Still, it has its charms.
Enjoy!
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller
Furthering Mandolin Consciousness
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