Fingerstyle Guitar - Self Taught VS Tuition.
- Joshua Poretti
- May 13, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 13, 2024
By J Poretti.
Yes yes Ladies and Gentlemen - Boys and Girls, the great debate, can I learn fingerstyle guitar without having to fork out cash and take direction from a Jedi master or Institution? Is it possible to achieve musical greatness without following a set of rules? Can YouTube be my guitar hero and guide? Let's find out:
Fingerstyle Technique
A look at Rules - “made to be broken?”
Have you ever watched a classical guitarist play? The way the guitar is positioned some would say looks “unnatural” requiring a footstool, an awkward guitar placement in between the knees rather than naturally resting on your lap, fingernails required on one hand only, sight reading with only outdated music being readily available, technique which being strictly “classical” restricts a guitarist from exploring multiple musical genres. Why do it? I know for some of you the reply must be - “because it is beautiful music and amazing technique” and yes, most would agree if they have heard classical music and seen a master classical guitarist perform, it is to be appreciated and admired but this genre of music is now dated to an extent. Guitar technique has evolved to allow what was once technique known only by “Classical and Flamenco” players, to be incorporated by “fingerstyle” guitarists who achieve a full range of musical dynamics “without the rules” set by the classical and flamenco genre. Examples of such fingerstyle guitarists are:
Mike Dawes -
Whilst Mike uses nails he does not follow a set of rules set by a musical genre associated with nail technique, rather he gained inspiration from other fingerstyle guitarists he discovered “online” and put his own spin on fingerstyle guitar. He manages to achieve a technical virtuosity which includes the melody and percussive elements that even a flamenco master would appreciate. Mike inspires others by sharing his techniques online mainly through YouTube content, showing how he achieves his techniques along with his personal musical inspirations and background.
Sungha Jung
Have you seen this kid play? chances are you have. From his beginnings as a child when YouTube still had limited guitarists of debatably watch worthy content, Sungha stood out with highly technical and masterful arrangements and interpretations of movie themes and popular song covers reaching and inspiring a multitude of guitar lovers worldwide.
Sungha uses a fingerstyle technique that while incorporating nails, does not follow the traditional classical or flamenco guitar techniques.
Tommy Emmanuel
The undisputed "King" of fingerstyle. This man can't read music, he prefers to play it.
Tommy does not use nails, he has and continues to perform with classical and flamenco guitarists relating musically with ease - a result of a lifetime of dedication to the fingerstyle craft. He is self taught one could say but he will be the first to admit to "begging and stealing" as he puts it from his guitar heroes. The Chet Akins and Django Reinhardt influence can be both seen and heard. The previous guitarists mentioned (Mike and Sungha) although being highly accomplished, do not have the knowledge (yet) to cross the musical genre boundaries that Tommy achieves.
Tommy with a Classical player:
Gabriela (Rodrigo Y Gabriela)
Where are the ladies? well to be honest the most advanced female players are still in the classical genre with exceptions such as Gabriela.
This woman has incredible right hand technique drawing from flamenco more so than classical:
Gabriela mentions being inspired by multiple genres including flamenco, not following rules but rather combining ideas and techniques from multiple musical genres with an emphasis on percussion and rhythm. The flamenco influence can be seen and heard.
These are all examples of guitarists who have not taken a traditional form of tuition but chose to learn by "any means necessary" or one could say self - taught but who is self-taught really?
Now with an "Ocean" of guitar lessons and tips available online, anyone can gain techniques and inspiration and with enough drive and passion achieve guitar virtuosity not owed to any one particular genre of music. So is it possible to achieve musical greatness without following a set of rules? - Yes, In saying that, I do feel everyone is different and we learn differently also, maybe lessons have the structure and steps required to keep you from hitting a wall or taking on too large a technical challenge ending in frustration?
I recently had the good fortune to catch 2 wonderful classical guitarists at
Herbst Theatre San Francisco - Thu Le and Marco Pereira - blown away especially with Marco being able to play like that at the age of 73. I doubt they were self taught.
Thu Le
Marco Pereira
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