"With no offense intended to Will, here's how Travis picking is really done, from the man who learned it at his father's kneeThom Bresh--I'll See You in My Dreams"

Thanks to all of you who posted YouTube links- there is some really good stuff on there. My favourite is the one above, though it did make me feel like selling my guitar...

For me "prissy" refers to the way that some people play arpeggios up and down the strings in a repeated rhythm with no variation or dynamics, usually to accompany a sweet rendition of a ballad in a high voice.

One of my favourite guitarists is John Renbourn, who has never, as far as I've heard, played anything other than fingerstyle. (OK- correct me if I'm wrong, but this style is mainly what he is known for isn't it?) He brings our subtleties in the instrument that you couldn't achieve with a pick.

However, if there's one guitar style that I absolutely hate above all others, its the frantic full-on strumming that some singer-songwriters give their instruments. Perhaps they think that by thrashing their guitars to within an inch of their lives they will add excitement to the bland, self-indulgent rubbish that they write...

I hate this style even more when it's applied to Irish music, and once had to leave the room during a session at a folk festival when a 12-string player (twice the volume as well!) went berserk, squeezing in as many beats as possible, completely obliterating the lead instruments (who were all excellent players, which made it doubly frustrating) and murdering everything that the others were playing.

On a practical level, the one problem I have with fingerstyle playing is that of getting enough volume, especially in a big room. I can't adapt to finger and thumb picks. I've sometimes thought of getting one of those little battery-powered amps to help out. What's the opinion on using these in an otherwise acoustic environment? I have quite good voice projection as I went to singing lessons when I was younger, but people have sometimes said that they can't hear my guitar very well at the back of the room.