Talk:Flatpicking

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Might be good to have a fuller list of well-known flatpickers somewhere.

Is the term flatpicking exclusive to bluegrass/country? If it's commonly used in jazz or other genres then perhaps someone could expand on these areas. Ophir 02:07, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

POV tag

This is opinion, and not NPOV:

"Proper use of a flatpick (plectrum) enables the player to establish, maintain and contribute to a good 'in-the-pocket' groove while playing. Employing down-picks on the down-beats and as important, but rarely utilized properly by most players, up-picks on the up-beats, according to the rhythmic/beat-style of a song, for playing rhythm and for playing solos, enables a guitarist to achieve virtuosity at the guitar."

219.73.89.163 (talk) 05:52, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

The only folks who think that's opinion, rather than established fact, are those who can't pick fast. EVERY flatpicking teacher I've heard talk about the subject says to play your upbeats with up-picks and your downbeats with down-picks (until you're playing 8th notes at 240 beats per minute and faster, which is indicitive of "virtuosity"). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.111.149.253 (talk) 00:38, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Request for discussion: scope of this article

I would like to open a conversation about the nature of this article. Is it best left as a definition of the term Flatpicking? Or would a more in-depth article similar to Fingerstyle guitar be appropriate? Please see the edit by Loom91 on Sept 17 2007 that removed everything except the definition. There doesn't seem to have been any discussion around this, either before or after. Thanks, Chuckiesdad (talk) 15:17, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

• No discussion yet, but I've re-added most of the content, with some corrections and updates. Needing references. Chuckiesdad (talk) 02:59, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

Deleted content

Following content was removed from lead section of article: Using a flatpick gives a sharper and brighter sound than finger picking, while finger picking is more flexible and gives a richer and more variable tone. For this reason, classical guitars are almost always finger-picked. Removed because this is only true if finger picking is with bare fingers, since (often) metal finger picks give a sharper and brighter sound than (usually) plastic flat picks (or thumb picks). This is also a fine point about fingerstyle guitar that might fit in that article but not in the lead section of this one. Chuckiesdad (talk) 04:17, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

Definition

The definition is unclear. Is flatpicking:

• the technique of playing a guitar using a pick held between two or three fingers, or
• one of a number of techniques for playing a guitar using a pick held between two or three fingers.

Nurg (talk) 10:52, 31 May 2012 (UTC)

I changed my original definition from 2006. Since then, virtually all the web references to the term flatpicking are in the bluegrass genre and I think there may be some confusion over whether the term is relevant to any other genre. To differentiate classical guitarists from those using a plectrum, a style known as 'Plectrum Guitar' was coined but it has nothing to do with flatpicking. It may be hard to define the term and to some extent it is also a style; suffice to say that Dan Crary is a flatpicker; Eric Clapton uses a plectrum. --Ophir (talk) 15:36, 20 September 2014 (UTC)

Johnny Bond

From the few clips I have seen of Johnny Bond, he only strummed an acoustic guitar with a flat pick. Can anyone say if he actually played flatpicking tunes? --Ophir (talk) 15:36, 20 September 2014 (UTC)

The globalize tag is unfair in my opinion

As many others have pointed out in this talk page, the term "flatpicking" is used almost exclusively in the context of Bluegrass and Old-time music. Outside of these genres, people just say that they are "playing with a pick". But flatpicking in bluegrass is not just playing with a pick, it is a specific style of guitar playing. For example in bluegrass there is a different playing style called cross picking, where a flat pick is also used, but cross picking is distinct from flatpicking. See this article for more info https://lessonswithmarcel.com/youtube-hate-what-even-is-crosspicking/

Given that Bluegrass and Old-time are regional folk music styles, it is unfair to add the "globalize" tag to the article IMHO. Mastazi (talk) 06:20, 30 April 2025 (UTC)