fingerpicking guitar

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: gillymor
Date: 21 Mar 16 - 09:38 PM

I'm not a fan of tapping and have never tried it but I enjoy this piece.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: GUEST,Richard Bridge on the Intel Quad Core
Date: 21 Mar 16 - 06:33 PM

I recently went to the Croydon Craft Beer festival, and part of the critique I sent to the organisers afterwards read: -

"The sound system was potentially magnificent, a good quality Yamaha desk and ElectroVoice front of house, but at least to start with the sound quality was abysmal, very scratchy, far too much presence in the high-mid. Sibilants were "essey" and splashy, and voice not followable.

This certainly did not help the solo singer on first after we arrived (a man with a funny haircut and I think it was a perfectly decent Takamine guitar). He appeared to do some original songs - but because of the sound setup words were all but inaudible and the vocals unmelodic although I think he would probably have been a perfectly OK singer with a little help. Then he went on to ageing pop covers, where he was adequate vocally but his guitar work was exactly as I have seen widely criticised on some music sites I frequent - basic strumming. He hit every chord, and the chord changes were fine, but there was no light and shade and no infill, and again his guitar work was done no favours whatsoever by the splashy sound. I know how well most Takamines plug in and surely it need not have sounded like that."

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: The Sandman
Date: 16 Mar 16 - 10:30 AM

i prefer not to rest right hand on the guitar, this enables the playerto alter tone by moving right hand to different position up towards the nut or down towards the bridge.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: Will Fly
Date: 16 Mar 16 - 06:46 AM

Nor me much - it's clever, but players seem more concerned with technique than content.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 16 Mar 16 - 04:42 AM

Tell me about it Matt. I can't stand it either. Get a bodhran!

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: matt milton
Date: 16 Mar 16 - 04:21 AM

Plus there's the fact that the more technically ambitious guitar-playing kids who would previously have been into fingerstyle are really into all the tapping and knocking stuff - what's called "percussive fingerstyle". Can't stand it myself - if you want to play percussion, buy yourself some congas! it's a gimmick that's become institutionalised.

Here's some nice slide 'n' fingerstyle from Leeds' one and only young Woody-Guthrie-loving skateboarder Serious Sam Barrett to remind me how it's done properly. I think he's playing a 12-string Stella:

Serious Sam Barrett playing blues in a Leeds barbershop

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 16 Mar 16 - 04:17 AM

Hi Dick, not trying to prove anything, by the way. I just thought a thread about fingerstyle was as good as any a place to share the video. Glad you liked it.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 16 Mar 16 - 03:45 AM

I have a Lowden O-25, Martin D-18 and HD-28V, and a Martin OM-28M. I fingerpick them all, and I strum them all. The playing style depends not on the guitar I'm playing, but on what playing style the song I'm playing requires.

The size of a guitar isn't a limiting factor with regard to playing-style, IMHO.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: Will Fly
Date: 15 Mar 16 - 05:39 PM

That's possibly true in the US - not so sure about over here in the UK. I would never buy a dreadnaught personally because I dislike the body shape - and I like to play with both fingers and picks.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 15 Mar 16 - 05:34 PM

I believe one reason younger players aren't drawn to fingerpicking is the huge popularity of dreadnaught guitars. Bigger is better, right? A small guitar costs as much as a big one, so get the most bang for your buck with the bigger one. And anyway, small guitars are meant for little kids to learn on. Big kids have big guitars. Or so it seems that's how the novice guitarist's mind works.

But, as a general rule, dreads don't lend themselves as easily to fingerstyle playing as do their smaller-bodied relatives. Their bodies are uncomfortable to hold, their necks are usually a bit narrow, and they're usually not well-voiced for fingerpicking.

Of course, I'm speaking in general terms here. I saw Doc Watson perform numerous times and he certainly never changed guitars for fingerpicking. And there's doubtlessly some 15-year-old protégé somewhere fingerpicking the hell out of a Martin D-28. But those are exceptions to a very general rule. Most dreadnaught players play with a flatpick because that's what they're made for.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: GUEST,Spleen Cringe
Date: 15 Mar 16 - 05:32 PM

Imaginary 'like' button deployed, Mr Fly.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: Will Fly
Date: 15 Mar 16 - 03:49 PM

Dick - your opening post to this thread:

IS this skill dying out amongst young guitarists, just lately I keep coming across plectrum thrashing guitarists, they cannot seem to flatpick properly either, am i just unlucky?have others experienced this phenomenon.

Presumably the answer to your question if "no" if you like the video - or "yes" if you prefer the busker...

Personally, I think the art of fingerpicking is still strong, and judging from the number of requests for my tablatures that I get from guitarists all over the world, people are still keen to learn the skill.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: The Sandman
Date: 15 Mar 16 - 03:30 PM

an interesting video, nigel spencer,it is of particular interest to me how they differ in the placement of the right hand one rests on the guitar the other does not.
personally i prefer not to rest my hand on the guitar.
yes, they are both very good finger pickers, but what does that prove. the day before yesterday i was in falmouth[between gigs] and there was a busker that would have been better if he had done some finger picking like jim and toby

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: GUEST,Spleen Cringe
Date: 15 Mar 16 - 03:01 PM

Two young British fingerstyle guitarists. Rather good, I hope you'll agree:

Jim Ghedi and Toby Hay

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: Leadfingers
Date: 25 May 15 - 04:13 PM

Having (Last weekend) spent some time at the South Hill Park (Bracknell - UK) Guitar festival
apart from the Concert and PROPER workshop stuff , most of the 'performers' at the 'Free On The Terrace' session were definitely thrashers ! One or two decent players , but most of them were of NO interest to me at all ! Sad , really .

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: GUEST,Desi C
Date: 25 May 15 - 11:12 AM

That and amost all using the awful open tuning strum eveything method. Ok it's an easy way to play, but shows no imaginated or skill, just a constant mind numbingly boring sawing sound, dreadful!

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 24 May 15 - 02:44 PM

My experience too - playing with, and studying and learning the styles and techniques of others, and also playing different types of music, not just folk.

I learned my performing skills as a young man, playing in pop bands around the WMCs and Miners' Welfare clubs of Lincs/Notts/Yorks/Leics/Lancs in the late '60s and 70s. You had to be highly professional and put on a top-class show in many of those places, if you didn't come up to the expected standard you were told in no uncertain terms, and had money docked (sometimes all of it!).

By the time I came to folk clubs in the late '80s, I knew all about how to perform a song, how to sell it to the audience, the importance of eye-contact, how to introduce songs etc.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: GUEST,MikeL2
Date: 24 May 15 - 02:18 PM

Hi

Will "< one of the best ways to improve - sit with good performers, listen to and look at what they do, and take in as much as you can. >"

I agree entirely. I originally, after a few lessons learned to play by myself. I learned from books, radio ( no TV then- for me anyway).

Then I met up with some guys who could really play and it opened my eyes. Luckily for me some of them were both helpful and patient. My playing came on in leaps and bounds. One of the best bits of help I got was how to practice properly.

This made me much more confident and with confidence my peformance improve also. This encouraged me to play in pubs,clubs etc as often as I could and of course this is how you learn to perform.

Cheers

Mike

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: Will Fly
Date: 23 May 15 - 07:11 PM

Of course I understand, Dick - I just don't agree with you about the relative place of folk clubs in the hierarchy of places to play.

We just have to agree to differ - nothing wrong with that.

I'll just make one more point about increasing playing skills. As far as I'm concerned, playing with other musicians - preferably those better than oneself, whether in private or in public - is a great way to up your game. As a young guitarist I learned so much from playing and jamming with people who were so much better than me, and learned an enormous amount from them - at parties, in each other's houses, in pubs, etc..

That's one of the best ways to improve - sit with good performers, listen to and look at what they do, and take in as much as you can.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: The Sandman
Date: 23 May 15 - 01:36 PM

Furthermore I do not just play in uk folk clubs, I live in Ireland and my experience of performing includes irish pubs,and irish singers clubs, I am used to playing performing in different situations, in other words i have differing performance experience.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: The Sandman
Date: 23 May 15 - 12:27 PM

But they are now only one of many musical platforms where performers young and old can test out their skills."
quantity does not necessarily equate with quality, in my opinion folk clubs are still the BEST of all the places available,Unlike working mens clubs they are essentially sympathetic not discouraging, and unlike open mics they are about not treating the music as background music, folk clubs are in my opinion the best places to learn how to perform., that is my point do you understand?

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 23 May 15 - 11:13 AM

Yep, absolutely spot-on Will. 👍

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: GUEST,MikeL2
Date: 23 May 15 - 09:35 AM

Hi

Wot Will said !!!

Cheers

Mike

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: Will Fly
Date: 23 May 15 - 08:41 AM

Dick, with respect, you're missing Rob's point.

You're saying quite firmly (and I quote you) that: "folk clubs are still the best way to learn how to perform."

He disagrees with that statement, and so do I. Folk clubs are indeed excellent places to learn how to perform, and certainly fulfilled that role in the much more critical '60s and '70s folk scene. But they are now only one of many musical platforms where performers young and old can test out their skills.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: Will Fly
Date: 23 May 15 - 08:35 AM

Very true, Rob - I couldn't agree more. At the risk of a little thread drift, I would say that if you want to really test out and improve your performance skills, spend a few years playing in British Legions, Trades & Labour Clubs, Working Mens' Clubs, etc. These places are, on the whole, far more demanding than folk clubs, and you don't necessarily have to be the greatest musician or singer in the world to entertain people.

It's a different ball game and a different world. One thing I do know - if you don't entertain the customers in these places, you'll get told so in no uncertain terms, and you won't get asked back! Which doesn't mean you have to pander musically to the lowest common denominator - but you have to be up front and professional in what you do.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: The Sandman
Date: 23 May 15 - 08:33 AM

I have not disparaged any young people, in fact there are some very good young performers in folk clubs, that you are missing out on.
I would like to see buskers using the skill of finger picking thy do not need to thrash if they have amplification.
I would like to see more good finger pickers in folk clubs too, that does not mean that i am saying there are not good young performers in folk clubs, there are.
now old man with your blinkered attitudes about folk clubs ,do you finally understand what i am saying?

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: Rob Naylor
Date: 23 May 15 - 08:12 AM

GSS:rob naylor, manY GUEST BOOKING folk clubs STILL ARE THE BEST WAY TO LEARN HOW TO PERFORM.
Open Mics, rely upon microphones, microphones are a barrier in the art of performing, opoen mics encourage the music to be background music, in my opinion that is the wrong approach.

Firstly, your initial posts were putting forward the thesis that fingerpicking was dying out among younger guitarists. Myself and others disagreed, and gave concrete examples, stating that folk clubs were perhaps not places that these younger finger-pickers frequented.

You then appeared to change tack and say that these youngsters "should" go to folk clubs as they were the "best places to learn to perform". We'll have to disagree on that....regarding the learning *from* people, I pointed out above how much learning went on at the 2 open mics I attend semi-regularly AFTER the PA was turned off, everyone else had left and those musicians who were interested swapped techniques, tips and ideas. More productive, I reckon, than watching Carthy or whoever and trying to see what they're doing from the back of a crowded room.

There are many other places than open mics where youngsters can hone their skills. As I pointed out above, in Tunbridge Wells there's the Grey Lady Music Lounge, and The Forum, both of which showcase young talent to mainly respectful audiences. There's also the Trinity Theatre which showcases during spring and summer many of the artistes who play at the "Local & Live" festival at the end of August. I reckon local musicians will learn to perform in these venues more easily, and to more enthusiastic audiences mainly their own age (myself and a few others excepted!) than they would in folk clubs.

You sound remarkably like my dad did in the 60s when he dismissed all then "modern" music as noise, and disparaged the musicianship of youngsters....at a time when the Carthys, Grahams, Joneses etc of our generation ( not to mention the Claptons, Pages etc) were getting to the tops of their forms.

To summarise: fingerpicking is certainly not dying out. It's alive and well, but going on in places that you don't frequent. Youngsters are learning to perform in a variety of venues, some against background noise (though you can hear a pin drop at the Ax Open Mic when a performer "grabs" the audience) and some where the audience's default mode is quiet. Not many of them are doing this at folk clubs, which they don't seem to find very relevant. Which is probably as it should be. In the 60s folk clubs were part of the cutting edge of youth culture. Now they're not.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: The Sandman
Date: 23 May 15 - 06:03 AM

buskers are interested in making money, good performance means more money

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: Will Fly
Date: 23 May 15 - 05:08 AM

Heh heh - the bidet scenario sounds like one that could have featured Alex Campbell, Derroll Adams and Jack Elliott!

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 22 May 15 - 06:13 PM

Will, thanks for your reply. You may be interested to know if you don't already that someone is working on a documentary film on Davy Graham. Just a few weeks back they were in Paris visiting the locations where he used to busk back in the early sixties.
I remember Malcolm Price telling me about those times and about three guys that used to share a pad there during their busking days. Bidets were pretty well unknown to Brits at the time and Malcolm told me how one guy used the bidet to piss in, one to puke in and the other to wash is hair.
Sorry about the thread creep and getting off subject.

Dick, as has been pointed out above you have gone off at a tangent re fingerpicking / busking / electrification / performance.
I rarely visit folk clubs but have seen some very good younger guys fingerpicking. I normally attend sessions where fingerpicking is not really practical in a group of six or more which includes banjos. However I do know six players at least four of whom are very capable at fingerpicking given the right circumstances.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: Will Fly
Date: 22 May 15 - 02:30 PM

Hi Hoot - I do know that Davy Graham picked up a lot of ideas from Steve Benbow from conversations I had with DG in the 60s, and I've read interviews with him in the first Graham Fanzine in which he mentions SB. But, no, I couldn't swear that it included fingerpicking - more likely just general musical influences from SB - which included visiting North Africa, for example.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: GUEST,MikeL2
Date: 22 May 15 - 02:28 PM

Hi GSS

In your opening of this thread you never mentioned PERFORMANCE.

Mind you I think that many so called "folk singers" need to learn about performance.

You were bemoaning the lack of good young finger-picking today.

I and others here believe that you are wrong on this point. They are out there. Maybe you haven't seen them in folk clubs.

IMHO Most buskers are not really interested in performance - they want to let the people know they are there.

Mike

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: GUEST
Date: 22 May 15 - 02:11 PM

"if there is any reason why fingerpicking guitar should not be given the same respect as classical music" Was Blind Blake as great as Sor? I guess.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: The Sandman
Date: 22 May 15 - 01:43 PM

could you tell me if there is any reason why fingerpicking guitar should not be given the same respect as classical music, fasck off with open mics they treat the music as background music.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: GUEST,Joseph Scott
Date: 22 May 15 - 01:27 PM

"what aspects etc?
well now, english medieval music, the lute tradtion..."

Some lute music (not the stereotypical most famous lute music sound) does sound a lot like American parlor guitar. Such as this (although it's not from England):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BOwlgNubEI

Note the I to IV to I to V to I chord progression in the first strain, a la Mississippi John Hurt and Hobart Smith, from a guy who died in the 1600s.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: The Sandman
Date: 22 May 15 - 01:09 PM

mike , learning from you tube helps you to play it has nothing to do with learning to perform.
I am not blinkered, i hear good performers including floorsingers in folk clubs, i was talking about performing, do you onderstand [relating to an audience you cabt do that via you tube] the best way to learn how to perform has and still is folk clubs.
rob naylor, manY GUEST BOOKING folk clubs STILL ARE THE BEST WAY TO LEARN HOW TO PERFORM.
Open Mics, rely upon microphones, microphones are a barrier in the art of performing, opoen mics encourage the music to be background music, in my opinion that is the wrong approach.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: GUEST,MikeL2
Date: 22 May 15 - 12:18 PM

Hi Gss

"what a feckin stupid thing to say, or do you believe that youth has nothing to learn from older performers?@"

Of course I know that young people can learn from their elders. Take off those blinkers - folk clubs are not the only place where one can see good guitarists. I learned by playing in jazz clubs. I never went to a folk club until I was in mt fifties.

Most of the kids I know learn by watching on youtube and the like. Most would never go into a folk club.

Cheers

MikeL2

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: Rob Naylor
Date: 22 May 15 - 05:12 AM

GSS: well they might learn to improve their performances from watching performers like carthy, dow, wizz jones.wilson family, vin grbutt
folk clubs are the best place in my experience to learn the art of performing, many other examples apart from those i mentioned, such as barbara dickson derek brimstone.

Maybe folk clubs WERE the best place to improve your performance "back in the day"....and at the time when people like the older people on here were wanting to improve their performance, the people they were looking at (Carthy, Jones etc) were only a few years older than themselves. Nowadays youngsters are also emulating other skilled youngsters just a couple of years older than themselves. They go and see the people in my examples above (Little Unsaid, Sean de Burca, Jamie Roberts etc) to improve their own skills.

My performance improvement, what there is of it, has come about mainly through "after hours" sessions at open mics. For example, the OM I mentioned above on Wednesday night "formally" went on until 0030, but in fact at least 10-12 people stayed on after the PA was switched off, jamming, learning new riffs and techniques from each other and swapping tips until at least 0200. It was still going on when I left, as I had to work in the morning, so no idea when they finally ran out of steam. Some of us get together to jam at peoples' homes. Here's one of those jams:

Anja Neil Paolo Jam

Not exactly complex finger-picking, but far from "thrashing". And very typical.


GSS: Firstly you tell me that young finger pickers are not going to folk clubs then you tell me buskers are not representative, i can only talk from what i see, from my own experience , and that tells me that overall the skill of finger picking in my experience has been replace by strummers, your examples are very good , but my point is that they are a minority, are you trying to say they are a majority? I HAVE CHECKED OUT YOUR SITES AND IT DOES NOT ALTER MY OPINION THAT OVERALL IT APPEARS TO BE UNFASHIONABE.

But what do you see and where? As I said before, MOST buskers have ALWAYS thrashed. The ones I remember in Leicester and Bradford in the early 70s certainly did. And I guess if you went to venues that were more "fashionable" than Folk Clubs, you may change your mind. Going to a Folk Club these days to find out what's fashionable is just a little out of the loop! A GOOD open mic would, I think, throw up some surprises for you. As I said, of the 19 performers on Wednesday, EVERY ONE did at least one song of his/ her 3 song set fingerstyle or hybrid picking. Well, I tell a lie....one played keyboards, one was on ukulele and one played a fiddle, so I guess that's 16 out of 16 with guitars who did some fingerstyle stuff. And where I live, in Kent, the Grey Lady Music Lounge or The Forum are the places to see young talent. The performers at the Grey Lady in particular almost all use fingerstyle when playing guitar. It's a tiny venue and "thrashing" would be OTT there.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: The Sandman
Date: 21 May 15 - 03:40 PM

Regarding lack of finger pickers as opposed to "thrashers" among buskers, does it ever occur to you Dick that trying to attract people's attention with quiet subtle finger picking might be like flogging a dead horse among a crowd."
no the opposite, most buskers these days are amplified [sadly, in one sense]so they do not need to thrash to get volume, furthermore it is such a raity these days its bound to be a money spinner

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 21 May 15 - 03:11 PM

How about Elton Hayes for an English guitar player who was around before the folk scare of the sixties? It's all a long time ago but I don't remember him as someone influenced by the Americans.

Will, not wishing to pick an argument but are you sure about Steve's influence on Graham? I knew Steve quite well and worked with with him (not as a picker except at parties)) and I don't recall him doing any finger picking. That doesn't of course mean that he wasn't able to. Also as I mentioned above it was all a long time ago.

Regarding lack of finger pickers as opposed to "thrashers" among buskers, does it ever occur to you Dick that trying to attract people's attention with quiet subtle finger picking might be like flogging a dead horse among a crowd.

As you rightly say Will It's a real mix in he UK.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: Stanron
Date: 21 May 15 - 03:00 PM

Just to muddy the waters, (get it?) DADGAD is only open D tuning where the guitarist has forgotten to retune the G string. Lots of Blues players used open tunings, it's a 'given' for bottle neck. I knew open D and open G tunings long before I came across DADGAD, and a lot longer before I came across Playford and Dowling.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: Will Fly
Date: 21 May 15 - 12:58 PM

There's no doubt that Davy Graham started off listening to American blues and jazz guitarists as a young man - and learned a deal from English musician Steve Benbow, who's rarely mentioned these days but who was very influential on him. There's also no doubt that he absorbed a great deal of North African and Indian music in his early days, which led to the very influential DADGAD tuning and to his interesting playing style.

And, as Dick rightly points out, there is a lute tradition in English music, which had various continental influences - Spanish, French, etc. - and tunes from Playford. A great many English fingerpickers - I was one - adopted Graham's style as far as they could, but they also absorbed picking as exemplified by Merle Travis and Doc Watson. And they listened to players like John Williams and Julian Bream. John Renbourn, for example, took classical guitar lessons.

It's a real mix in the UK - from various sources.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: The Sandman
Date: 21 May 15 - 12:26 PM

what aspects etc?
well now, english medieval music, the lute tradtion, tunes from playford, tunes such as nonsuch,these tunes were in existence at the time that america had not been colonised, however there is a reasonable strong influence of USA trad music on english finger picking ,there is also a morrocan influence, THAT DAVY GRAHAM USED SUSCH AS THE IDEA OF DADGAD.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: The Sandman
Date: 21 May 15 - 12:12 PM

"Why would they??"
well they might learn to improve their performances from watching performers like carthy, dow, wizz jones.wilson family, vin grbutt
folk clubs are the best place in my experience to learn the art of performing, many other examples apart from those i mentioned, such as barbara dickson derek brimstone.
what a feckin stupid thing to say, or do you believe that youth has nothing to learn from older performers?@

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 21 May 15 - 11:38 AM

Joseph, I do believe you've hit the nail on the head. I've always (or at least ocassionally) wondered why some folks attempt so strenuously to deny this obvious truth. After all, it's a fine tradition to nick ideas from! Having said that, I guess a British take on this appropriation has developed over the years, especially as people have come to see the 60s British guitarists as the motherlode, rather than the people who inspired them. The Harry Smith Anthology is still out there, though, as a kind of aural bible...

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: GUEST,MikeL2
Date: 21 May 15 - 11:35 AM

Hi

Today's strummers in many cases are tomorrow's finger pickers. Unless things have changed drastically since I was learning most players learned to strum first.

Strumming in itself can be very skillful if it is done properly.

I take the point that young players are not going to go to traditional folk clubs.

I help out at a local school teaching young kids to start to play guitar. Some have turned out to be fine musicians, but they don't go to folk clubs.

Why would they??

Cheers

MikeL2

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 21 May 15 - 11:32 AM

Hi Dick, of course fingerstyle guitarists are in the minority - just as they always have been. After all it takes a lot of dedication to hone those skills and I guess a lot of people are happy to be able to bash out a few chords, which is fine if it works for them. But that's not the point I'm making, which is simply that at the moment there are a lot of good ones out there, who have clearly been listening to Basho, Fahey, Kottke, Lang, Renbourn, Jansch and so on, as well as more recent reference points like Jack Rose and Glenn Jones.

Very few of the new generation of players have anything to do with folk clubs - it probably wouldn't even occur to them. I rarely see any buskers anymore, though there is a very good fingerstyle guitarist who sometimes plays in my local precinct. Mostly it's kids doing Arctic Monkeys covers, though, bless 'em.

And who said anything about it being fashionable? Though Daniel Bachman is pretty hip at the moment: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=44ZiWkQl_bE

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: GUEST,Joseph Scott
Date: 21 May 15 - 11:08 AM

"I would object very strongly to English folk guitar being dismissed as some sort of tributary of American folk music." What aspects of English folk guitar would you say didn't come from American folk guitar and did come from traditional English music?

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: The Sandman
Date: 21 May 15 - 10:26 AM

Firstly you tell me that young finger pickers are not going to folk clubs then you tell me buskers are not representative, i can only talk from what i see, from my own experience , and that tells me that overall the skill of finger picking in my experience has been replace by strummers, your examples are very good , but my point is that they are a minority, are you trying to say they are a majority? I HAVE CHECKED OUT YOUR SITES AND IT DOES NOT ALTER MY OPINION THAT OVERALL IT APPEARS TO BE UNFASHIONABE.

Subject: RE: fingerpicking guitar
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 21 May 15 - 09:39 AM

My compliments to you,once again, S.C. for your North Country Primitive site. Keep up the good work.
I found that wide-ranging interview you linked to with Stefan Grossman utterly fascinating. I have a lot of those Kicking Mule LP's with tab books and learned so many tunes out of them. If not for Grossman a lot of us here in the U.S. might never have heard of great European players like John James, Ton Van Bergeyk, Leo Winjkamp etc. I was sort of amused to hear that Stefan spliced and edited some of those ragtime numbers performed by Van Bergeyk and Winjkamp. I learned some of those rags and worked very hard to get all the way through them with minimal mistakes.









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