Topic: Good tone on bare fingers

[Zischkale]

Have read up a lot here on preferences for bare fingers vs. finger picks, and seeing a lot of y'all choosing the former. Johnm looks like a strong advocate for it. I'm playing a lot of John Hurt stuff using bare fingers, but find that when I want to increase the volume I'm getting alot of thin string snap I don't care for.

Thinking I need to focus on striking the string across rather than plucking straight up off the guitar - are there some good models I can watch videos of online for how to get a smoother tone with the right fingers?

[mike scott]

Having taken lessons from John for many years (although he most likely wouldn't admit to it given my lack of ability) I use bare fingers to finger pick.  I have no problem with clean volume.  I do sort of diagonally pull up on the strings but not too much.  Hopefully John will chime in here.  He never commented on that part of my lousy technique so......  I hope this helps a bit.

[Johnm]

Hi Zischkale,
I don't know if it is necessary to be taught how to get the tone that you would like to have, picking with your bare fingers--in fact, I don't know if it can be taught.  Issues of tone are worked out by listening to your own playing, having an idea in your head and ears of how you would like to sound, and working and experimenting with different hand positions, angles of picking the strings, etc. until you figure out how to achieve the tone you're seeking.  You can't tell how people are achieving the tone they get by watching them anyway, except with regard to the big effects.  Almost invariably, when you watch people who really know what they're doing, they look like they're faking it.  It doesn't seem possible that what you're hearing could be the result of what you see them doing, because they don't appear to be doing anything.  They're so efficient that the minutiae of their technique is invisible.  Work on your own to get the sound you want.  Good luck with this.
All best,
Johnm