No Pick
 

I was just wondering: I know that there arent many guitar players like Lindsey that do not use a pick in most of their guitar playing. I'm not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to this so I'll ask, who else oout there in Rock or otherwise plays without a pick like Lindsey does?

Mark Knopfler

yeah, but no screaming pain in the head-solo's.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Uh.. no, he lacks in that department!

I don't use a pick. I don't play guitar either. So, I guess they go hand in hand. :cool:

I always thought the solo for "Sultans Of Swing" sounded very much like something Lindsey would have done on GYOW. I really wish they would have added him to the ranks in 1987, because I think his style was a much better fit for Fleetwood Mac.

Anyway, if we're being honest, some of the other Mac guitarists could kick Lindsey's butt in the guitar solo department. I don't see Lindsey being able to pull off a solo like Peter, Danny on "Something Inside Of Me," or Rick Vito on "Save Me." Lindsey's biggest asset is his finger style guitar, i.e. a live version of "Big Love," not his solos. I'm NOT saying his solos are bad, but they're just not as good as some of the others, technically speaking. But, I also think that Lindsey, in some ways, frowns upon the guitar solo, feeling it's a necessary evil.

Jeff Beck only uses his thumb. Roger McGuinn of the Byrds uses finger style guitar, although he sometimes uses picks on his fingers, which is common for banjo players. Lindsey used them on "Say You Love Me" on "The Dance." Folk, Bluegrass, country classical, jazz, and even acoustic blues guitarists are all usually well versed in finger style. That doesn't mean they use it exclusively, but many do. Slide guitarists rarely use picks. Bonnie Raitt doesn't use a pick, and I don't believe that Duane Allman used one either. In general, though, Lindsey is an abnormality as far as guitar players are concerned.

[QUOTE=SteveMacD]Jeff Beck only uses his thumb. Roger McGuinn of the Byrds uses finger style guitar, although he sometimes uses picks on his fingers, which is common for banjo players. Lindsey used them on "Say You Love Me" on "The Dance." Folk, Bluegrass, country classical, jazz, and even acoustic blues guitarists are all usually well versed in finger style. That doesn't mean they use it exclusively, but many do. Slide guitarists rarely use picks. Bonnie Raitt doesn't use a pick, and I don't believe that Duane Allman used one either. In general, though, Lindsey is an abnormality as far as guitar players are concerned.[/QUOTHey, thanks alot. I really appriciate the insight. :nod:

As did the late Toy Caldwell of the Marshall Tucker Band

He did and he didn't...depended on the song & the touch he was looking for.

Current Allman Bros Band guitarist Derek Trucks uses only his fingers.


Depending on the song, both Eric Clapton & Paul McCartney (when they play acoustic) "ditch the pick".

And, both Chet Atkins & Merle Travis (hence the moniker "Travis picking") use their fingers only.

Hmmm...I seem to recall one or two by him...can't think of the songs off-hand, though.

True. All of them are better. But Lindsey's solo's have more spunk, punk and emotion in rawnes, quitkyness and playing on the absolute edge. Knopfler's SOS-solo is brilliant but Lindsey's GYOW-solo tells the whole emotional story.

Knopfler in the band in 87? Oh my god I'm glad he didn't. I'd have died yawning.

I've seen him play live twice. (and that' was absolutely enough for me.) I recall pretty solo's, but the only one I recall which was a tiny bit paracetamol was a short one on the end of ...Twisting by the pool? Dunno for sure, it was such a dumb rocknroll-pastiche I think.

Also a guy name Richard Thompson uses a pick and three of his fingers. It's kind of his own amalgam picking technique...it's pretty interesting. Don't know of anyone really who does the flailing thing quite like Lindsey...except for me of course!

John Stewart did a little flailing on his Turner for the number "You Can't Go Back to Kansas" on Nov. 7, 1981, at the Valencia reunion of the Kingston Trio. But that was an obvious Lindseyization.

Nils Lofgren, but I think he uses some kind of ring... ? :shrug:

And, it was one HELL of a great song. :thumbsup:

I don't know if I agree that Lindsey's solos have more emotion. He's never had a solo that emoted anything like Peter Green did on "Before The Beginning." It's not a technical solo, but gawd, you can feel his pain. Same for "Jumpin' At Shadows" from the Boston Tea Party. Also, I think Peter Green's "Curly" defines playing on the edge. It's more Hendrix than Hendrix.

I know. Green is God. I was referring to the other ones mentioned. And Peter could do it all. He has emotion in everything he did those first years. Lindsey does not have more emotion. I said emotion in rawness, quirkyness and playing on the edge. But, agreed, in the last 1.5 years in FM, Peter Green did everything I love in a guitarplayer, especially live with the other axemen. The 24 minute jams of rattlesnakeshake say it all. Oh, Green and Buckingham are impossible to compare, but Lindsey's idiosyncratic ( :eek: ) style just rocks my boat like nobody did before, even though there were better technical players. AND he does it for SO long now.....Those two are above everyone as far as I'm concerned. So we don't disagree that much. ;)