Fingerpicking

Fingerpicking is a string-instrument technique in which fingers pluck individual strings, often in repeating patterns, instead of strumming several strings together.

Travis picking: A guitar fingerpicking style that alternates bass notes with syncopated melody and chord notes. Its alternating bass demonstrates how one hand can maintain a pulse beneath a moving melody.
Plucked string instrument: A string instrument whose sound is initiated by displacing and releasing its strings. Fingerpicking is one way to excite strings on instruments in this broader family.
Classical guitar: A guitar tradition centered on nylon-string instruments and fingerstyle performance. Classical guitar commonly uses independent fingers to voice polyphonic music.
Strumming: A playing technique that sweeps a pick or fingers across multiple strings in a single rhythmic gesture. It produces grouped chord attacks rather than fingerpicking’s separate string notes.
Arpeggio: A chord whose notes are played successively rather than simultaneously. Many fingerpicking patterns unfold chord tones as arpeggios.
Guitar: A fretted string instrument, usually with six strings, played by plucking or strumming. The guitar is the instrument most commonly associated with fingerpicking.
Fingerstyle guitar: A guitar performance approach in which fingers pluck strings individually, often combining melody and accompaniment. Fingerpicking forms a core technique within this broader guitar approach.
Flatpicking: A guitar technique that uses a held flat pick to play individual notes or strum chords. It separates notes with a plectrum instead of assigning strings to several fingers.
Alternating bass: A bass pattern that moves between different chord tones, commonly in successive beats. The thumb often supplies an alternating bass beneath treble-string notes.
Nylon-string guitar: A guitar fitted with nylon or other synthetic treble strings and wound bass strings. Its softer strings and wide neck suit many classical fingerpicking patterns.

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