I should know this as I’ve been playing guitar literally for decades, but I don’t. Every so often I’ll come upon a reference to someone who is a great ‘flatpicking’ player. But almost all of us use flatpicks, as long as we’re not playing fingerstyle, so what does it mean to be a great flatpicking player? From what I’ve been able to discern it’s played on folk-style ‘dreadnought’ guitars such as Taylors and Martins, and it seems to come out of that part of the musical universe that includes bluegrass and similar genres.
Would a great flatpicker be playing alone or with a band? That is, is it a style of solo guitar music, or an ensemble style? And would he or she never use the right-hand fingers at all, or would they occasionally do so?
I think of Flatpicking - with the capital F, as opposed to all of us who use picks, as you mentioned - to be country, bluegrass, Travis/Atkins/Doc Watson pickers. They are superfast with a straight flat pick, but can also throw in some picking with their middle and ring fingers as needed. I suppose that is mostly the James Burton school of picking, too…
Anyway - I agree: Flatpicking conjures up an image of a person just doing straight bluegrass runs (limited bends or bends that approximate a pedal steel - no blues bending really) superfast on a big dreadnought acoustic…
I am, however, very open to being enlightened differently. Picker - care to chime in?
Chet Atkins and I think Merle Travis mostly used THUMBPICKS, not flatpicks. In Atkins case, the thumbpick allowed for the synchopated bass line that was the hallmark of his style.
Doc Watson is a Flatpicker. A flatpick is typically used in most Bluegrass style playing. Tenor banjo players also use a flatpick in a similar manner. It’s the in-and-out technique that creates the typical sound.
An unusual style of flatpicking is Junior Brown. He uses a flatpick AND metal fingerpicks, which makes for kind of an odd style. Probably why he is pretty unique. That and the hybrid instrument he invented…
Just a related question: isn’t that style of picking, using the pick and one other finger for picking known as Travis picking? I thought I’d read that somewhere, and I assumed that’s what people meant when they said flatpicking.
I believe “Travis Picking” refers to a thumbpick and one finger. (Truly amazing what that guy could do with just those two digits)
Whereas “Flatpicking”, as I understand it, refers to using ONLY the flatpick.
Earlier I mentioned Chet Atkins and may have muddied the issue slightly: Atkins’ style, as opposed to Travis, utilized a thumbpick and multiple other fingers.