Why I Play Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar

One of the most common questions I get asked by other guitarists is, “Why do you play fingerstyle jazz guitar?”

It’s not an easy question to answer, as it was a long process that led me from playing with a pick to playing completely fingerstyle. 

Though I’d used hybrid picking for a long time, I had never played pure fingerstyle jazz until my senior year at McGill University. 

After a long period of reflection on how I wanted to express myself on guitar, I made the decision to ditch my pick and switch to fingerstyle. 

Though there were days early on where I wished I’d stuck with the pick, over time it has shaped my personal jazz guitar sound. 

And…

Playing fingerstyle jazz allowed me to expand my harmonic and textural approach to playing, opening new performance opportunities in the process. 

Playing fingerstyle isn’t for everyone, especially jazz guitarists. 

But. 

Reading about my journey from pick to fingers can help you assess your playing and hopefully inspire you to explore new and exciting techniques on guitar.

Now that you’ve read the Cliff’s notes version, here’s a recap of how I ditched my pick and became a fingerstyle jazz guitarist.

Outpicking My Ears

I had always wanted to play fast. 

I was a big fan of DiMeola, Martino and Holdsworth when I was a kid, and so I equated speed with musicality when it came to soloing. 

But. 

The faster I played, the more I realized that having chops for chops’ sake was having the opposite effect on my playing. 

It made it less musical, at least for me.

After assessing the situation, I realized that because I was focused on speed, my fingers were running the show. 

My ears weren’t participating in my creative output because they couldn’t keep up with the pace my fingers were setting on the fretboard. 

I also realized that I wanted to explore different textures, playing situations, and techniques in my solos, and I needed a change to make that happen.

But the big question remained, “How was I going to get my ears up to the same level as my chops?”

Letting My Ears Catch Up

After thinking it over, I decided that the best way to get my ears and fingers on the same level was not to speed my ears up, but to slow my fingers down. 

I looked at the source of my speed on the guitar, my picking, and decided that the best way to level the playing field was to get rid of the pick. 

I know that sounds drastic to a lot of guitarists. 

It was drastic for me as well. 

I was completely starting over with my picking approach. Which wasn’t easy, but ended up being totally worth it. 

When switching to fingerstyle, I immediately slowed down my chops, since my fingers couldn’t play the speed tricks that I learned with a pick. 

The effect of this decision on my playing was huge. 

My lines become slower and shorter with more focus on motivic development in my jazz guitar solos.

As a result, my ears become more involved in my creative output, creating a bond between my ears and fingers that changed my playing from that day forward. 

I began to hear lines in my head as I played them, which later grew into hearing lines in my head before I played them. 

I could hear a line moving up or down the neck before I played it. 

I could hear whether I wanted to play a chord, double-stop, octave or single line. 

I could hear when my ears wanted me to play a scale or arpeggio line, a chromatic or diatonic line, and more.

Everything my ears wanted me to play before, was now coming out in my improvisations.

And…

After sticking with my fingers, I gained back most of my speed and there were some cool side effects that popped up unexpectedly along the way. 

Basslines, Chord Melodies and Chord Solos

As I explored fingerpicking further, it led me to transcribe and study legendary jazz fingerstyle players, and guitarists who played in a melodic style. 

This opened my ears up to amazing players such as Lenny Breau, Ed Bickert, Jim Hall, Ted Greene, Ralph Towner, and many more. 

In this process, I was drawn to how they used chords, double-stops, and other textures in their solos as a way of creating intensity and interest. 

Alongside improving my ears, I dug deep into chord soloing, chord melodies, and learned to walk basslines and comp behind singers and other soloists. 

These new skills created new performance opportunities as I could now play bassline, comp, and solo all at the same time. 

I could handle the harmony and basslines behind a vocalist or soloist and then play chord solos and bassline-chord solos during my improvisational sections. 

I also began to get work playing solo gigs and later solo concerts, which is something I had never been able to do when I played with a pick. 

Fingerpicking in a jazz context isn’t for everyone, and it shouldn’t be or else everyone would sound the same. 

But, for me at least, switching from a pick to my fingers was a pivotal moment in my career as a jazz guitarist. 

Though I had big doubts in the beginning, it turned out to be one of the best choices I have made during my development as a player.  

Next time you feel stuck in your playing, or are in a rut, look at your technique, and ask yourself, “Is my technique serving me, or am I serving my technique?”

The answer just might change your playing forever.