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Posted by: Tim_LaMaGra Apr 2 2009, 08:07 PM

Dear students/intructors,

I started out on the first steps after joining GMC about 4 days ago. And I decided for myself I wanne learn how to play with a pick cause I not only wanne play acoustic but also electric in the future. And from what i've been told u need a pick to play electric.

So i started out with my pick and everything was going just fine until i tried this lesson,

Malaguena
Classical Lesson, by Dejan Farkas

Very nice and romantic and something I can actually play. But they suggest to play it without a pick and use your index finger for the melody and thumb for the rythm. I'm just a little confused...do I need to play it with my fingers instead of a pick...

And is it true u can only play electric with a pick? Should I try to learn play both methods? and if so...is it difficult to switch methods...what are your experiences?

What are your suggestions in general...I just wanne play

thanks for the responses in advance,

Tim

Posted by: Fsgdjv Apr 2 2009, 08:16 PM

If you just wanna play, then just play. "Just play" means both methods to me, for example, if you wanna play that lesson by Dejan, use your fingers.

And you can use both fingerpicking and a pick for electric, and I think it's good to know both, even though I think playing with a pick is more important for electric playing. Eventually you'll need both.

Posted by: Emir Hot Apr 2 2009, 08:21 PM

Dejan should give you the best advice for that but if the lesson is classical then it should be played with fingers on a nylon string guitar. There are techniques on electric guitar where you combine pick and fingers (hybrid picking) but that's different from classical music. Country, blues and sometimes rock players use that type of picking.

Posted by: sted Apr 2 2009, 08:41 PM

Depends what you want to learn mate, its very hard to learn all styles of music at once but if your prefernce is acoustic classical guitar then you might want to try simple fingerstyle playing, a lot of players start out on acoustic and then progress to electric so dont worry about that! Just try to figure out what you like to play and then head off, the learning curve will be pretty steep no matter what you do!

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Apr 2 2009, 08:55 PM

It is normal for a guitar player to mix both techniques, so using pick for some songs is good, and using fingers for some other songs (like for example classical stuff) is good as well. You can play on the electric guitar with your fingers as well, but it is good to start off with the pick. When you see a piece that you like that you wanna play with your fingers, just do it. Rock on mate!

Posted by: Dejan Farkas Apr 2 2009, 10:30 PM

First I would like to welcome you to GMC and I am glad you like the Malaguena lesson

Classical guitar technique is very strict regarding picking, the only correct way is picking with fingers. So that means that the lesson shall be played that way, and it is a kind of introduction to picking with fingers and I suggest you to practice it if you are interested in that technique.

On the other hand, pick is allowed even on nylon stringed guitars when it comes to other music genres, so there are no strict rules for that.

I recommend to learn picking with fingers, because it will be easier to switch to pick then vice verse. And if you need any help with the technique I would be glad to help

Posted by: Enucleation Apr 2 2009, 11:20 PM

I don't own an acoustic so I am learning finger picking on an electric....F the rules!

But, seriously learn both ways. A lot of musicians can do both, James Hetfield is one that comes to mind right now but there are tons of others.

But I have been playing for 4-5 years with a pick and now just starting with fingers. For a few weeks it was hideous, i could be totally wrong, but I would say get all the learning curves out of the way quick.

Posted by: Muris Varajic Apr 2 2009, 11:21 PM

Pick only, fingers only, pick and fingers,
everything is fine as long as you get the result
which depends of the song/lesson of course.

Posted by: Ramiro Delforte Apr 3 2009, 06:45 AM

Wise words by Muris. I think he synthesize everything in those lines.

There are some pieces that could be easier to play with your fingers than with a pick although your main technique is the pick (as in my case). But I think you have to learn both techniques in order to choose then which way you want to play, is very different the sound you can get if you play with your fingernails, with your fingertips or with a pick.
So, I recommend you to try to incoporate everything little by little.

Posted by: Tim_LaMaGra Apr 4 2009, 11:49 PM

First off all, thanks for all the responses. I'm also glad that the auditor of the lesson itself responded. How strange it may sound...this kind of support is kinda new to me.

Maby I should give some more background on myself. I started playing about 4 years ago..I played an acoustic guitar for 3 or 4 months but lost motivation because I had the feeling I wasn't making any real progress. But a month ago I wanted to start again..from scratch...just begin at the beginning. I was discussing it with a collegeau and he showed me your website. But when I started doing the absolute beginner lessons I made a big discovery.

In fact, I did make some progress, but it was all boring loops I learned and all basic stuff. I understand that's very importent (as u guys probably know best). But u want to have the feeling that u are going somewhere. I don't wanne play loops, I wanne play songs I know. I wanne play ''smoke on the water''(for example)... its 3 chords and even if you just started playing you should be able to do it with some practice. But it was just strange that after 3 years I still could pick up a guitar and play some notes. I guess it's like riding a bike, when u know it...you know it for live.

So what I wanne say that is I'm happy that u guys are providing songs that I ...with almost zero experience.... can practice and play. But it's just hard to play with 2 different picking methods if u just start playing. But if u say its for the best for the future, especialy when I wanne play electric in the future I can understand that.


Anyway, i still only got the acoustic guitar and I wanne use that for practice until I got the most basic stuff before I go electric. So the basics are important and I'm still playing the scales of justice. I just want a solid basis on which I can build.

U still suggest the hybrid method after my long story?

Posted by: Ramiro Delforte Apr 7 2009, 12:42 AM

I think is good to learn it both ways.
When I started playing the guitar it was with an awfull instrument and playing most of the time with my fingers, then I started with the pick, but when I went for the pick practicing I wasn't really really good with the fingers.
What I wanted to say is that if you want to play with your fingers now and then incorporate your pick there's always time. But I think that if you start dividing your practicing time with every technique maybe the results will be better

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Apr 7 2009, 06:48 AM

With classical pieces that don't use 5 fingers of your picking hand, you can use combination of things.
Just fingers; just pick and pick and fingers together (known as hybrid or chicken picking).

I recommend practicing all ways as they have different sound flavor to them, so that will add some creativity to your overall performance.

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Apr 7 2009, 11:20 AM

As I said in the previous post, the kind of music you play will determine what picking technique you will practice the most. If you have a classical piece and you want to practice that, then fingerpicking is the right way to go. If you want to learn some music that it is better to use the pick that you will practice with the pick.
Practicing both picking with fingers and with a pick is useful, regardless if you play on acoustic or electric guitar. If you think you will some day transfer to electric guitar, then you can start using the pick right away. The technique will translate later to electric guitar later.

Posted by: Tim_LaMaGra Apr 7 2009, 01:23 PM

Thanks for all the advice,

I got a good idea on how to go furthur.

Rock on