Fingerpicking Solo

[mrspag]

Over the years I've gotten very good at lead guitar. I can play most stuff I try that's metal, rock or blues based. I have become really impressed with playing without a pick. I've been working a lot on fingerpicking songs on the acoustic guitar by learning songs, etc.



The one thing that I really want to work on is soloing, especially with the electric guitar, without a pick. I have not been successful in finding videos that give licks or practice routines to help develop the technique. What I have been learning from is little snippet of videos from players doing this technique, like John Meyer, Richie Kotzen, etc.



Here's a couple of examples that I'm talking about:



[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5DPqNnsIQ0[/ame]



[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnMBix9Zq5o"]The Winery Dogs - Elevate Music Video (Official) - YouTube[/ame]



[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqkEoF8tzpY[/ame]



I am also getting really into country and have watched videos in hybrid picking with the pick, but that's not exactly what I'm talking about.



Has anyone else tried this type of style and can you recommend any videos, etc., to help develop the technique? Also, any other examples of players that solo without a pick. I don't care about the genre of music. I can appreciate it all.

 

[dirk_benedict]

Lindsey Buckingham. Lots of live vids out there...

 

[Pitar]

Lose the pick, forever, and get a thumb pick. You can work out the details of that transition yourself.

 

[Noah]

I think many guitarists are pretty familiar with that "style" especially those who play country as there are lots of guys who use a thumbpick.

Basically all you need to know is learn to use your fingers to do upstrokes and your thumb to do the downstrokes. Many country players that use a thumbpick or hybrid pick style will use their ring and middle fingers for the upstrokes. Kotzen is a bit different as he tends to use his index finger for most of the upstrokes.

 

[JonR]

Mark Knopfler, Jeff Beck...

 

[arthur rotfeld]

I don't recall how much of the basics I covered here, but you might like this Knopfler lick.

IMO, Knopfler is a great place to start in fingerstyle lead—an ideal blend of technique and musicality.

 

[cantstoplt021]

Derek Trucks doesn't use a pick at all and he's perfectly fine without it. I'm recently in the same boat as I want to learn to play like those guys you mentioned without a pick. I've been doing scales alternating my index and middle finger and it seems to be improving. Just generally trying to play without a pick. It's very awkward at first, but its starting to feel more comfortable

 

[Pitar]

Basically, the idea is to play lead guitar using only fingers and get away from using a flat pick? I don't see the advantage if soloing (lead) with fingers is the intent, or goal. They won't provide much of an advantage over the flatpick considering the effort involved isn't much of a demand on the right hand. I don't see it from the examples the OP sampled above, anyway.

What I would promote in this thread is taking on the role of the bass, rhythm and lead melody simultaneously with both hands. If you're gonna go for it, go the distance. Get the thumbpick and first three fingers working. Go for all 4 fingers if you've a mind for it. All I can say is it's a whole new world of playing you owe to yourself to discover as a player.