Most contributors seem to have an idea of what i meant by prissy, re fingerpicking.
To correct a few misconceptions....   

*prissy refers to a type/style of fingerpicking.

*I am NOT saying finger picking in itself is prissy.

*I was lucky enough to hear Will Fly play live - Will's picking is a good example of playing that is dynamic ie. not prissy. Many blues players are pretty dynamic - but many copyists are not. They seem to have turned blues into something quite sterile - something which happens often when the twee middle classes get hold of working class art?

*Guess what - those who seem to think I'm knocking fingerpicking coz I can't do it - I do several fingerpicking styles. How many of the nice-but-boring players do just the one pick: 'Prissy!'

Like Will and some other contributors I make the picking part of the song, not the looptape upon which many plonk the lyrics.

Lastly, the point of this thread was to ask if this bland pretty-but-twee stuff if putting off youngsters who turn up at folk nights who might like more energetic guitar styles. The wording may be a bit loaded but the point remains - however polite and inoffensive some think we should all be.

Ian Fyvie