The School of Feedback Guitar Blog

This is a semi-geeky post. You have been warned.

Perhaps one reason classical guitarists, or classical musicians in general, are pretty anal-retentive is because this personality trait really lends itself to understanding the detail work of mastering their craft. Classical guitarists at some point in their development learn about how to use the fingers on the right hand, the plucking hand, as a system where everything works together as one. This also can apply to fingerpicking "Dust in the Wind," as well as many other popular fingerpicking songs. Luckily, we don't all have to be as detail oriented in order to make a smooth fingerpicking pattern happen.

The best way I can describe this "system" is through sharing my favorite analogy. If the fingers attack the strings individually, then the result is just throwing a rock up in the air and watching it come down in the middle of a huge, calm, pond. If the fingers work together, the result is like taking a skipping stone and skipping it right across the water, just barely touching the surface. Once they feel relaxed as a system, once it's like an impulse as opposed to concious motion, the result sounds smooth.

The reason I love this analogy so much is that it describes what someone has to do in order to really create something smooth sounding, if that's what they are after. Of course, disjointed music is fun too. When it comes to fingerpicking however, all of the fingers have to work together to create this skipping stone effect.

Oh, and the comment about classical musicians was not a knock. I can imagine one of them saying: "You say anal-retentive like it's a bad thing."