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Chapter 3: Grab Hold, Tune Up, Play On!
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allows you to play independent bass lines against the treble voices. Even
though most of blues is played with a pick, you can play electric guitar
with your fingers, though it’s unusual and challenging.
Listen to the music of Robert Johnson, Skip James, and Blind Blake to
hear some masterful fingerstyle acoustic blues.
Use a thumbpick: Some fingerstyle players use a plastic thumbpick for
increased power in the thumb. So if you plan to play fingerstyle, try
acclimating yourself to a thumbpick. It allows you to get a stronger
attack on the string due to the angle of the thumb striking the strings.
Figure 3-3 shows how to wear a thumbpick.
Figure 3-3:
Using a
thumbpick
increases
the power
from the
right-hand
thumb.
Look at your thumb while you try to play fingerstyle
and notice that it hits the strings in a glancing
blow — unlike the fingers, which contact
the strings at a more perpendicular angle. A
thumbpick solves the problem by enabling the
tip of the pick to strike the string at more of a
All thumbs
right angle. Thumbpicks aren’t for everyone, but
many electric blues players (including Albert
King, Albert Collins, and Freddie King) and fingerstyle
players (such as Chet Atkins and Merle
Travis) have used them.
TEAM LinG