By Jennifer Berkowitz

Origins of Flatpicking

While fingerstyle has deep roots in the American South and was made popular by guitarists Merle Travis and Chet Atkins, it is embedded in a long history of music that can be traced all over the world. Fingerstyle guitar has come to influence players in many genres of music such as jazz, ragtime, country, folk, classical, flamenco, blues, bluegrass, gospel, rock, and more.

There are many ways to play fingerstyle--each producing a distinct musical effect. The term "fingerstyle" describes a technique in which the strings over the sound hole are plucked with individual fingers instead of strumming with a guitar pick. It is a technique that expresses the direct relationship between rhythm and melody, in which melodies and bass lines can be articulated on one guitar, often sounding like two. To give the strings a clean and clear sound, many fingerstylists grow the nails or use fake nails to act as individual picks. Fingerstyle is largely associated with the steelstring guitar.

As a testament to fingerstyle's rich history, early sounds can be heard in the music of Spanish and Italian guitarists of the 19th century who had long been developing right hand techniques that explored the independence of the thumb and fingers to create a rhythm and melody. In the 1920s and 1930s, fingerstyle techniques were prominent in the artistry of early blues players such as Charley Patton, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, and Reverend Gary Davis. Joseph Spence, who emerged after these artists and was heavily influenced by Bahamian traditional music, had a dramatic effect on fingerstyle guitar in the U.S. Also noteable is the impact of Hawaiian music on fingerstyle in which the guitar was horizontally rested across the lap (faced up), and Hawaiian players applied slide and fingerstyle techniques to the instrument. Also, Brazilian guitarist and composer "Garoto" Anibal Augusto Sardinha employed a fingerstyle technique in the 1940s that was incorporated into the tradition of Brazilian music.

Among the most well known American pioneers of fingerstyle guitar is Merle Travis, who was first heard on the radio in 1937. Travis developed a distinctive approach by integrating bluegrass banjo and ragtime techniques--a style that came to be known as "Travis Picking" in which a thumbpick is used to play independent bass lines and chords, while the index finger is used to play arpeggios, chords, and melodies. Travis was influenced by two coal-miners: Mose Ranger and Ike Everly who demonstrated how to use the thumb for the bass while playing the melody on treble strings. Travis played on acoustic and electric guitars such as the Gibson L-10 archtop, and in 1948, Leo Fender developed a solid-body electric guitar for him, which was built by Paul Bigsby, famous for designing the Bigsby Tremolo.

Travis's revolutionary style quickly influenced contemporaries such as Chet Atkins, who is regarded as one of the great guitarists of the 20th century and the evangelist for fingerstyle guitar. Atkins worked in the studio with such artists as Hank Williams, the Everly Brothers and Elvis Presley before becoming a country star in his own right. He became well known not only for playing a key role in developing the "Nashville sound" as both producer and musician, but also for his contributions to the design of acoustic guitars. Heavily influenced by Les Paul, George Barnes, Merle Travis, and Django Reinhart, Chet's technique applied the use of three fingers (with nails) and a thumbpick; the index finger played the harmonic and the ring finger played the natural notes.

Also significant is Atkin's guitar designs. He recorded with classical, electric, and western style guitars. Gretsch made a series of eight "Chet Atkins" guitar models, including the Chet Atkins Hollow Body 6120. Later Atkins played the role of innovator with his idea to reduce feedback by including more solidbody characteristics in order to produce a "true" acoustic sound. Gibson worked with Atkins to develop four "Chet Atkins" models: the Country Gentleman and the Tennessean (both hollowbody electrics), the SST steel-string, solidbody acoustic and the CE/CEC (standard neck on the CE, wider classical-style neck on the CEC) nylon-string solidbody acoustic. Because of Atkins, acoustic guitars can now be heard at full volume with no feedback, and the legacy of his fingerstyle sounds can live on with the innovations of these guitars.

Key players in fingerstyle, also influenced by Atkins and Travis, include John Fahey, who played a blues based fingerstyle technique; Leo Kottke, "the great 12 string innovator," who blends folk with ragtime and blues; Ry Cooder, who worked in various styles such as jazz, Hawaiian, blues, Caribbean, rock, gospel and country; the U.K.'s Davy Graham, who helped shape the British folk movement; and more recently, Michael Hedges who introduced new fingerstyle techniques.

Thanks to fingerstyle's rich history and diverse application in many genres, it will continue to be a popular technique that allows guitar players to create, express and explore musical ideas for generations to come.