Flatpicking
Encyclopedia
Flatpicking is a technique for playing a guitar
using a guitar pick
(also called a plectrum
) held between two or three fingers to strike the strings. It can be contrasted to fingerstyle guitar
, which is playing with individual fingers, with or without wearing fingerpick
s.
Although the term is used in other genres and with other instruments, it is probably best known in the context of playing an acoustic guitar with steel strings, particularly in bluegrass music
and old-time country music
. Probably starting around 1930, flatpicking was developed when guitarists began arranging old-time American fiddle
tunes on the guitar, expanding the instrument's traditional role of rhythm guitar
accompaniment
with an occasional run
on the bass strings.
The melodic style in bluegrass is often fast and dynamic, with slide
s, hammer-on
s, pull-off
s, powerful strum
ming and rapid crosspicking
. Bluegrass flatpickers usually prefer guitars with a flat top rather than an arch top, and steel strings rather than nylon. The archetypal flatpicking guitar is the 'Dreadnought' series made by C.F. Martin & Company.
, George Shuffler
, Alton Delmore
, Don Reno
and Bill Napier. The lead guitar was sparsely used, and sometimes was considered a novelty. Other instruments may also be used in flatpicking, such as the mandolin. There are banjo styles other than bluegrass such as the plectrum or tenor tuned banjos which can be played either by strumming or flatpicking. This style can be typified by players such as Eddie Peabody
. and has connections to ragtime and dixieland music.
and the late Clarence White
. Watson and White both legitimized the acoustic guitar as a lead instrument in bluegrass and old-time country music. White brought guitar flatpicking to the forefront of bluegrass, while Watson brought flatpicking to folk audiences as he played fiddle tunes, blues, country, and gospel songs throughout America.
, Dan Crary
, John Carlini
, Mark O'Connor
, Russ Barenberg
, Larry Sparks
, and Tony Rice
further developed the art of flatpicking. Rice likely had the most profound impact on bluegrass guitar playing of anyone since his musical hero, Clarence White. Rice's tone, rhythm, phrasing, and improvisational skills have influenced an entire generation of bluegrass guitarists. Important elements Rice has used in his playing are jazz type chord substitutions, different from the straight major and minor chords common to bluegrass, and the use of the Dorian mode
and the minor pentatonic "blues" scale in his lead playing. While there have been several songs using the Dorian mode in Appalachian roots music, Rice made a different statement by using this scale to improvise during songs written in a major key. For instance, he is very well known for playing an F major scale during a song written in G major (the F major scale, when played from G to G, is a G Dorian mode). The use of this technique introduces the flat 3rd (Bb) and the flat 7th (F) over the G chord which has a unique sound popular to Bluegrass.
, Bryan Sutton
and Tim Stafford
have carried the guitar into the next millennium. Also, current "young guns" like Cody Kilby, John Chapman, Chris Eldridge
, Andy Falco and Sean Watkins
continue to explore this style of guitar playing. These players are still defining new standards and reaching wider audiences. Pioneers Rice, Blake, Barenberg, Crary, and Watson continue to produce music featuring flatpicking as well.
The annual National Flatpicking Championship is held at the Walnut Valley Festival
in Winfield, Kansas
.
Guitar picking
Guitar picking is a collection of techniques for setting a string into motion to produce an audible note; that is, plucking or strumming the strings on a guitar. Picking can be done:-* With a plectrum held in the hand...
using a guitar pick
Guitar pick
A guitar pick is a plectrum used for guitars. A pick is generally made of one uniform material; examples include plastic, nylon, rubber, felt, tortoiseshell, wood, metal, glass, and stone...
(also called a plectrum
Plectrum
A plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick, and is a separate tool held in the player's hand...
) held between two or three fingers to strike the strings. It can be contrasted to fingerstyle guitar
Fingerstyle guitar
Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking ....
, which is playing with individual fingers, with or without wearing fingerpick
Fingerpick
A fingerpick is a type of plectrum used most commonly for playing bluegrass style banjo music. Most fingerpicks are composed of metal or plastic. Unlike flat guitar picks, which are held between the thumb and finger and used one at a time, fingerpicks clip onto or wrap around the end of the fingers...
s.
Although the term is used in other genres and with other instruments, it is probably best known in the context of playing an acoustic guitar with steel strings, particularly in bluegrass music
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
and old-time country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
. Probably starting around 1930, flatpicking was developed when guitarists began arranging old-time American fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
tunes on the guitar, expanding the instrument's traditional role of rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
accompaniment
Accompaniment
In music, accompaniment is the art of playing along with an instrumental or vocal soloist or ensemble, often known as the lead, in a supporting manner...
with an occasional run
Lick (music)
In popular music genres such as rock or jazz music, a lick is "a stock pattern or phrase" consisting of a short series of notes that is used in solos and melodic lines...
on the bass strings.
The melodic style in bluegrass is often fast and dynamic, with slide
Slide (guitar technique)
A slide is a legato guitar technique where the player sounds one note, and then moves their finger up or down the fretboard to another fret. If done properly, the other note should also sound....
s, hammer-on
Hammer-on
Hammer-on is a stringed instrument playing technique performed by sharply bringing a fretting-hand finger down on the fingerboard behind a fret, causing a note to sound. This technique is the opposite of the pull-off...
s, pull-off
Pull-off
A pull-off is a stringed instrument technique performed by plucking a string by "pulling" the string off the fingerboard with one of the fingers being used to fret the note.-Performance and effect:...
s, powerful strum
Strum
In music, a strum or stroke is an action where a single surface touches several strings of a string instrument, such as a guitar, in order to set them all into motion and thereby play a chord...
ming and rapid crosspicking
Crosspicking
Crosspicking is a technique for playing the mandolin or guitar using a plectrum or flatpick in a rolling, syncopated style across three strings. This style is probably best known as one element of the flatpicking style in bluegrass music, and it closely resembles a banjo roll, the main difference...
. Bluegrass flatpickers usually prefer guitars with a flat top rather than an arch top, and steel strings rather than nylon. The archetypal flatpicking guitar is the 'Dreadnought' series made by C.F. Martin & Company.
Early Styles
The chief proponents of the early country and bluegrass styles included Riley PuckettRiley Puckett
George Riley Puckett was an American country music pioneer mostly known for being a member of Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers.-Biography:...
, George Shuffler
George Shuffler
George Shuffler is an innovative bluegrass guitar player and an early practitioner of the crosspicking style. During his career Shuffler played with The Bailey Brothers, The Stanley Brothers and Ralph Stanley's Clinch Mountain Boys...
, Alton Delmore
The Delmore Brothers
Alton Delmore and Rabon Delmore , billed as The Delmore Brothers, were country music pioneers and stars of the Grand Ole Opry in the 1930s...
, Don Reno
Don Reno
Don Wesley Reno was an American bluegrass and country musician best known as a banjo player in partnership with Red Smiley, and later with guitarist Bill Harrell.-Biography:...
and Bill Napier. The lead guitar was sparsely used, and sometimes was considered a novelty. Other instruments may also be used in flatpicking, such as the mandolin. There are banjo styles other than bluegrass such as the plectrum or tenor tuned banjos which can be played either by strumming or flatpicking. This style can be typified by players such as Eddie Peabody
Eddie Peabody
Captain Edwin Ellsworth Peabody was an American musical entertainer. His career spanned five decades and he was perhaps the most famous plectrum banjo player ever...
. and has connections to ragtime and dixieland music.
1960s
The foundation of Puckett, Reno and others were built upon heavily in the 1960s by Doc WatsonDoc Watson
Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson is an American guitar player, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. He has won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded...
and the late Clarence White
Clarence White
Clarence White was a guitar player for Nashville West, The Byrds, Muleskinner, and the Kentucky Colonels. His parents were Acadians from New Brunswick, Canada...
. Watson and White both legitimized the acoustic guitar as a lead instrument in bluegrass and old-time country music. White brought guitar flatpicking to the forefront of bluegrass, while Watson brought flatpicking to folk audiences as he played fiddle tunes, blues, country, and gospel songs throughout America.
1970s-1980s
Building on the contributions of Doc Watson and Clarence White, artists such as Norman BlakeNorman Blake (American musician)
Norman Blake is an instrumentalist, vocalist, and songwriter. In a career spanning more than 50 years Blake has played in a number of folk and Country groups...
, Dan Crary
Dan Crary
Dan Crary is an American bluegrass guitarist.He helped re-establish flatpicked guitar as a prominent soloing bluegrass instrument. Crary is an innovator of the flatpicking style of guitar playing. He is also a Speech communications Professor at California State University, Fullerton...
, John Carlini
John Carlini
John Carlini is an American Grammy nominated jazz guitarist and arranger based in New Jersey notable for blending bluegrass and jazz. He has performed with David Grisman, mandolin player Don Stiernberg, singer Bill Robinson, Bucky Pizzarelli, Rio Clemente, flatpicking guitarist Tony Rice, and many...
, Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor is an American bluegrass, jazz, country and classical violinist fiddler, composer and music teacher. O'Connor's music is wide-ranging, critically acclaimed, and he has received numerous awards for both his playing and his composition...
, Russ Barenberg
Russ Barenberg
Russ Barenberg is a Grammy-nominated American bluegrass musician.-Biography:Barenberg began playing guitar at age 13, taking lessons from Alan Miller, whose brother John Miller Barenberg he would later play with. His style was heavily influenced by the flatpicking technique of Clarence White. He...
, Larry Sparks
Larry Sparks
Larry Sparks is a Bluegrass singer and guitarist. He was the winner of the 2004 and 2005 International Bluegrass Music Association Male Vocalist of the Year Award. 2005, won IBMA for Album of the Year and Recorded Event of the Year for his album "40," celebrating his 40th year in bluegrass...
, and Tony Rice
Tony Rice
Tony Rice is an American acoustic guitarist and bluegrass musician. He is considered one of the most influential acoustic guitar players in bluegrass, progressive bluegrass, newgrass and acoustic jazz.Rice spans the range of acoustic music, from traditional bluegrass to jazz-influenced New...
further developed the art of flatpicking. Rice likely had the most profound impact on bluegrass guitar playing of anyone since his musical hero, Clarence White. Rice's tone, rhythm, phrasing, and improvisational skills have influenced an entire generation of bluegrass guitarists. Important elements Rice has used in his playing are jazz type chord substitutions, different from the straight major and minor chords common to bluegrass, and the use of the Dorian mode
Dorian mode
Due to historical confusion, Dorian mode or Doric mode can refer to three very different musical modes or diatonic scales, the Greek, the medieval, and the modern.- Greek Dorian mode :...
and the minor pentatonic "blues" scale in his lead playing. While there have been several songs using the Dorian mode in Appalachian roots music, Rice made a different statement by using this scale to improvise during songs written in a major key. For instance, he is very well known for playing an F major scale during a song written in G major (the F major scale, when played from G to G, is a G Dorian mode). The use of this technique introduces the flat 3rd (Bb) and the flat 7th (F) over the G chord which has a unique sound popular to Bluegrass.
1990s-2000s
In more recent years, players such as David GrierDavid Grier
David Grier is an American acoustic guitarist. He is considered to be one of the premier flatpicking guitarists in the world. His unique phrasing and his ability to create multiple variations on a theme are hallmarks of his playing style...
, Bryan Sutton
Bryan Sutton
Bryan Sutton is an American musician. Primarily known as a flatpicked acoustic guitar player, Sutton also plays many other instruments including mandolin, banjo, and electric guitar....
and Tim Stafford
Blue Highway
Blue Highway is an American contemporary bluegrass band. They have released eight CDs, their sixth and seventh – Wondrous Love , and Marbletown – received Grammy Award nominations.-Personnel:...
have carried the guitar into the next millennium. Also, current "young guns" like Cody Kilby, John Chapman, Chris Eldridge
Chris Eldridge
Chris Eldridge is an American guitarist and singer best known for being a member of Punch Brothers. He was also a founding member of the bluegrass band The Infamous Stringdusters. His father is noted banjoist Ben Eldridge of the Seldom Scene.-Punch Brothers:...
, Andy Falco and Sean Watkins
Sean Watkins
Sean Charles Watkins is a guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He is a member of the contemporary folk band Nickel Creek, the duo Fiction Family and the supergroup Works Progress Administration.-Nickel Creek:...
continue to explore this style of guitar playing. These players are still defining new standards and reaching wider audiences. Pioneers Rice, Blake, Barenberg, Crary, and Watson continue to produce music featuring flatpicking as well.
The annual National Flatpicking Championship is held at the Walnut Valley Festival
Walnut Valley Festival
The Walnut Valley Festival is a well-known acoustic music festival, held annually in Winfield, Kansas. The main genre of music is bluegrass, but other acoustic styles are represented...
in Winfield, Kansas
Winfield, Kansas
Winfield is a city situated along the Walnut River in the west-central part of Cowley County, located in South Central Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 12,301...
.
Flatpicking styles
- Alternate pickingAlternate pickingAlternate picking is a guitar playing technique that employs strictly alternating downward and upward picking strokes in a continuous run, and is the most common method of plectrum playing...
- CrosspickingCrosspickingCrosspicking is a technique for playing the mandolin or guitar using a plectrum or flatpick in a rolling, syncopated style across three strings. This style is probably best known as one element of the flatpicking style in bluegrass music, and it closely resembles a banjo roll, the main difference...
- DownpickingDownpickingDownpicking is the technique used by musicians that perform on plucked string instruments in which the plectrum, or pick, is moved in a downward motion, relative to the position of the instrument, against one or more of the strings to make them vibrate....
- Economy pickingEconomy pickingEconomy picking is a guitar-playing technique for a guitarist who uses a pick. A hybrid of sweep picking and alternate picking, economy picking involves using alternate picking except when changing strings...
- Hybrid pickingHybrid pickingHybrid picking is a guitar-playing technique that involves picking with a pick and one or more fingers alternately or simultaneously. Hybrid picking allows guitar players who use a pick to perform music which would normally require fingerstyle playing. It also facilitates wide string leaps Hybrid...
- Lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
- Sweep-pickingSweep-pickingSweep picking is a guitar playing technique in which a 'sweeping' motion of the pick is combined with a matching fret hand technique in order to produce a specific series of notes which are fast and fluid in sound. Despite being commonly known as sweep picking, both hands essentially perform an...
- Tremolo pickingTremolo pickingTremolo picking, also known as alternate picking or double picking, describes the musical technique of picking on a guitar or other string instrument in which a single note is played repeatedly in quick succession. It can be achieved either with the fingers or with a pick...