Physically, 'Fingerstyle' refers to using each of the right hand fingers independently to play the multiple parts of a musical arrangement that would normally be played by several band members. One definition of the technique has been put forward by the Toronto (Canada) Fingerstyle Guitar Association: The timbre of fingerpicked notes is described as 'result in a more piano-like attack,' and less like pizzicato.īecause individual digits play notes on the guitar rather than the hand working as a single unit (which is the case when a guitarist is holding a single pick), a guitarist playing fingerstyle can perform several musical elements simultaneously. Fingerpicking is less common on electric guitar. Fingerstyle is a standard technique on the classical or nylon string guitar, but is considered more of a specialized technique on steel string guitars. Some fingerpicking guitarists also intersperse percussive tapping along with the melody, chords and bassline. Often, the guitarist will play the melody notes, interspersed with the melody's accompanying chords and the deep bassline (or bass notes) simultaneously.

Music arranged for fingerstyle playing can include chords, arpeggios (the notes of a chord played one after the other, as opposed to simultaneously) and other elements such as artificial harmonics, hammering on and pulling off notes with the fretting hand, using the body of the guitar percussively (by tapping rhythms on the body), and many other techniques. The terms 'fingerstyle' and 'fingerpicking' also applied to similar string instruments such as the banjo. The term is often used synonymously with fingerpicking except in classical guitar circles, although fingerpicking can also refer to a specific tradition of folk, blues and country guitar playing in the US. The term 'fingerstyle' is something of a misnomer, since it is present in several different genres and styles of music-but mostly, because it involves a completely different technique, not just a 'style' of playing, especially for the guitarist's picking/plucking hand. Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking (plucking individual notes with a single plectrum, commonly called a 'pick').

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