Should you be fortunate enough
to have retained all of your digits
through the travails of life, you have
five built-in, fleshy picks on your
hand. The fingerstyle approach is
not just for acoustic guitar, and you’ll
get a much softer, rounder tone with
fingers than you will using a pick. In
addition to picking, try strumming
with your fingernails or the soft side
of your thumb. Chances are you’ve
done this before—perhaps a pick
wasn’t available and you wanted
to strum a few chords. Try doing it
on purpose next time, and write a
song that way. I’d wager you’ll play
it like you wrote it, and you may
just like it too. If you just can’t part
with a pick, try using a thumbpick
and work on developing a hybrid
picking style so you can have the
best of both worlds.
34
TONE TALK //
The EBow uses a magnetic field
to vibrate your guitar’s strings.
The result is a smooth tone with
zero attack and infinite sustain,
somewhat similar to the sound of
using a volume knob to create swells.
If you add some delay and reverb,
you’ll have a haunting, majestic
soundscape that is guaranteed to
captivate even the most indifferent
audience member. One thing to
watch out for when using an EBow
is how close you hover it over your
pickup. Placing it directly above
will result in very high output, so
it will probably take some practice
finding the sweet spot on each
guitar. While it probably isn’t a
device you’ll use on every song,
the EBow is a great way to add a
little spice to a particular song or
passage. It operates on a nine-volt
battery, so be sure to have a spare
in your gig bag just in case.
Drop the Pick (on purpose): 5 Alternatives to Try