• From: Nottingham, UK
  • Registered: 2006-08-08
  • Posts: 690

Topic: Finger Terms

Fingerstyle - anything that's not strummed. Playing the guitar using fingers.

Flat picking - striking individual notes using a flat pick. Often using individual picks around the fingers.

Thumb picking - A flat pick on the thumb. Used to create a bass line.

Arpeggio - picking out individual notes usually in an ascending or descending line.

Hybrid picking - one pick held between thumb and fore finger, leaving the middle and ring to pick out treble notes.

Clawhammer - thumb picks the bass note, first and middle strike strings with the back of the nail.

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  • Zurf
  • Zurf
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Re: Finger Terms

Add to arpeggio that you are picking out individual notes OF A CHORD in either ascending or descending order.  If you pick the notes of a chord out of order, it's called an inversion. 

- Zurf

Granted B chord amnesty by King of the Mutants (Long live the king).
If it comes from the heart and you add a few beers... it'll be awesome! - Mekidsmom
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  • From: A black hole in deep space
  • Registered: 2007-10-28
  • Posts: 7,864

Re: Finger Terms

Slap and pick or strum creating a rythem by slapping the guitar in between beats of a measure used extensively in flemenco and some latin folk songs as well as american folk songs I had a vidio tutorial i made of it on u tube a while back

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  • tandm3
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  • From: Florida Panhandle
  • Registered: 2006-03-04
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Re: Finger Terms

I didn't see anything here about frailing..!

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  • From: Lincoln
  • Registered: 2007-05-16
  • Posts: 36

Re: Finger Terms

frailing?

Ben

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  • From: Anchorage
  • Registered: 2006-03-04
  • Posts: 82

Re: Finger Terms

Define:    Chicken picking?

               Travis Picking?

               Country Style?

  • Zurf
  • Zurf
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Re: Finger Terms

tandm3 wrote:

I didn't see anything here about frailing..!

So add something about frailing.  This board is for each of us to share what we know, even if what we know is wrong (in which case we'll hash it out in good faith and everyone learns something).  Pitch in, we're eager to hear what you've got to say.

- Zurf

Granted B chord amnesty by King of the Mutants (Long live the king).
If it comes from the heart and you add a few beers... it'll be awesome! - Mekidsmom
When in doubt ... hats. - B.G. Dude
  • Zurf
  • Zurf
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Re: Finger Terms

Royce Drake wrote:

Define:    Chicken picking?

               Travis Picking?

               Country Style?

I think chicken picking might be what I've heard called chicken scratch.  George Thorogood uses it, as do some of the old bluesmen (who called it "scratching my back").  I'm not sure how they make the sound, but it's a staccato, muted scratch.  I think it involves scratching the side of the pick against the low strings kind of like you might do with a wood block.

Country Style to me is that Johnny Cash Boom-chika-boom sound.  Bass note, strum, alternate bass note. 

No clue about Travis picking, and no confidence in the other two answers.  I'm just setting up a straw man that others can shoot rubber bands at. 


- Zurf

Granted B chord amnesty by King of the Mutants (Long live the king).
If it comes from the heart and you add a few beers... it'll be awesome! - Mekidsmom
When in doubt ... hats. - B.G. Dude
  • From: Madeira Beach, Florida
  • Registered: 2007-12-05
  • Posts: 3,311

Re: Finger Terms

Travis Picking:

One of the favorite styles among folk guitarists is called Travis picking. It is named for Merle Travis, a country guitarist who was one of the early developers of the style (Doc Watson was so impressed he named his son Merle).

The term “Travis picking�  is used to describe a wide variety of fingerpicking styles, but generally it is a style of fingerpicking that involves a steady rhythm of bass notes played with the thumb while the 1st (index) and 2nd (middle) fingers play the melody on the treble notes (the higher strings).

http://www.ezfolk.com/guitar/Tutorials/ … cking.html

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  • From: A black hole in deep space
  • Registered: 2007-10-28
  • Posts: 7,864

Re: Finger Terms

got a great book on it the thumb is refered to as the " pulgar" and I for indice(index) m for medio (middle) and a for anular(ring) travis pickin is used extensivly by many of the top country and folk artist it was a frustrating style to learn at first but with perserverence it paid off i feel a lot more comfortable  with this style it was worth the effort smile

"Growing old is not for sissies"

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  • tandm3
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Re: Finger Terms

Sorry Zurf,  I stepped away from the computer for a coupla days.

Frailing is a technique more at home on the banjo, but certainly can be done on the guitar. It entails picking notes with your thumb and using a downward strumming pattern using the back of the nails of your other fingers.  There are several examples on you tube.

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